Trapped by the tide
/This is perfect! Just what we were waiting for!
That was the reaction of myself and my buddy Alex to an otherwise plain and uninteresting shoreline.
It was a beautiful day with lots of sun and warm weather, these type of days needs to be savoured when you live in Ireland. So we had decided to get out and wander the shoreline between Blackrock and Dún Laoghaire with the goal of getting some seascapes imagery. I packed my bag with tripod, neutral density (ND) filters a couple of lenses and extra batteries.
Nikon D700 | 1/3200sec @ f/8 | 62mm | Handheld
When we got there the tide was out and the sun was not low enough, so it made for some pretty uninteresting photography at the time.
We decided to walk to Dún Laoghaire and be back to a spot we picked out when the light was better. In the meanwhile we went on our merry way. While in Dún Laoghaire we managed to get some stunning golden hour light at the marina.
All in good time we started to head back to the spot we picked out walking the shoreline the same way back.
Nikon D700 | 5sec @ f/16 | 32mm | Manfrotto 055XB Tripod | Kirk Enterprises BH-3 Ball Head | L-Bracket | Self-timer
We could see the water was already coming in. We finally made it back to the spot we had picked out to shoot at going the other way. It was a small brick ruin sitting atop a cliff overlooking the water with a small secluded beach where we could see roughly how high the tide would be. We planted our tripods and took a few photos and did some creative lighting using our mobile phones to light the bricks inside the ruin and capturing that perfect ethereal moment when the water washes over the rocks.
We packed our gear up and started heading back to the car, but when we got to the point where there was supposed to be a beach we walked on to get there, it was gone! The tide had blocked our path back. We ended up climbing old ruins, balancing narrow walls and dropping ourselves down onto some slippery wet boulders while hanging off the ruin walls, all with our gear on our backs just to be able to get back to Blackrock where we parked the car.
The takeaway
Although the hight’s wasn't that high, probably about 2.5 meters or so no one broke their necks or fell on the slipper rocks, and in worse case, we could have walked back towards Dún Laoghaire to get another path back to Blackrock. But this could have been a lot worse if say this was out in the middle of nowhere and we only had one path back to civilisation, we could well have been trapped overnight or at the very least needed help to get back, and it’s not like we were dressed nor were we prepared for an overnight camping. But it does raise an interesting point.
Whenever you plan to go out where there is a chance of getting trapped by wind, water and weather and far from civilisation, do make sure you have a backup plan and inform people back home where you are going and when you expect to be back. At least this way you increase your chances of survival should you become trapped or hurt and cannot get back.
Thanks for reading, until next time stay safe!
