I’m glad I rousted myself out early enough to catch the sunrise at Bayport because the weather took a turn for the worse as the day went on. Poor Santa must have had a heck of a time making his deliveries in the wind and storms we were having by last night. I hope he made it to everyone’s house okay.
Finally the sun was up and it was time to leave, but just as I drove out of Bayport Park I saw a large bird on a snag and had to pull over to take it’s picture. I thought it was an osprey, judging by it’s coloring and by the fact that it was so easy to spot just at the side of the road. But when I looked at the pictures in the computer I saw that it’s a young eagle, it just hasn’t gotten it’s full coloring yet. Now I’ll be disappointed when ever I go there and don’t see an eagle. I should just be happy to have seen him when I did.
A few days after Thanksgiving I sat back in the recliner with my coffee and noticed out the sliver of window between the sheers and the valance that there was a big, round moon hanging low out there. That was all it took to send me racing to Aripeka to try to see it hanging low over the houses in the west as the sun came up. I didn’t rush fast enough I guess, because it was gone when I got there. Which left me time to kill before catching the sunrise at Bayport.
As soon as I arrived at Bayport I set the camera to take a set of three exposures intending to turn them into an HDR photo. But as the camera began taking the first of the three long exposures a boat came up the inlet right through my shot. Resulting in this photo.
That sent me down the rabbit hole of taking lots of shots of boats traveling through my shots. They were all awful, in fact most of my shots that morning weren’t great. The sky stayed gloomy and my shots were all dark. But I’ll be out again soon I’m sure.
I went back to Bayport again already, and I had a fun time shooting. There was enough of a pretty sunrise to make me happy, plus a great blue heron dropped in on the fishing pier, probably looking for treats from the fishermen. When I was heading here frequently for the sunrise I came to expect a great blue to show up before I left. We may not have been able to go to the park for several years, but the great blue was probably there every day, enjoying himself without us. I love to see the boats leaving from the boat dock, creating photo ops for me. Yes, a fun day. But then I got home and looked at my photos and they all looked too dark, I almost didn’t even attempt to edit them. I’m glad I didn’t give up because when they were merged into HDR they looked a lot better.
There was another unexpected sight that made me smile that morning. One last boat that was heading out for the day with a dog onboard, and boy did he look as if he was going to have a great time. Lucky dog!
Bayport was a favorite sunrise location for me for quite a long time, but several years ago they closed the pier, and then closed the entire park while they replaced the pier. A sunken ship was the cause of the delay, but yesterday then reopened the park, complete with a ribbon cutting ceremony. I would probably still be in the dark about this if not for my former neighbor who posted about the reopening yesterday, which meant that today I was going to make sure to be there for the sunrise.
I wasn’t the only one there. Many very happy fishermen were also there, greeting each other and teasing me about taking pictures of their great, but imaginary, catches. And the sunrise didn’t disappoint. I could have lived without the guy with a drone who was buzzing the area as the sun rose though.
And again the weather was wonderful enough that even after the sunrise I was reluctant to leave, but once the sun was up I thought my day was done. That was until I noticed the grackle on the mirror of one of the parked cars, and then the birds took over the shoot.
The grackles are noisy, but for some reason I enjoy their antics. And of course the seagulls were plentiful too. I saw a Great Blue Heron land and intended to see if I could get a photo of him, or two, but I was busy with the sunrise at first. He was no where to be seen when I did look for him.
I guess the great blue heron that I missed is why I decided to take an alternate route home and see if I could see One-Foot Fred. I wondered what he did once the sunrise was over and his benefactor got on with his day. And when I got to the Hammond’s Creek Bridge there he was, standing right in the curb area where I would have pulled over to park. He paid no attention to me as I pulled over beyond him and got out and took a few pictures. I felt a little sorry for him standing there all alone, not a fisherman in sight. But as I pulled away I saw a fisherman arriving, carrying his tackle box and fishing pole. That made me happy.
I have always spent a lot of time arguing with myself over what I should or should not do. Rules have always dominated my life, and most of those rules I made up myself. Going through my old photos brought me to this one, taken at Bayport a couple of years ago. The first thought that came to mind was that this part of the park isn’t gated off, I could still go there for pictures. A happy thought, until I remember the rule, stay home. Would it really matter if I headed out, just me and my camera? Even if I go out and don’t see another person have I somehow contributed to this current state of emergency we find ourselves in? I shake my head over speeders and people who run red lights for obvious reasons, but is it up to me to decide if these new rules apply to me? And how much inactivity will it take at my age to create a situation where my body won’t cooperate with what in my mind I think I can do? It will be sunrise soon enough, and light enough for me to take a walk, so that’s what I think I will do. I will go out and get my 10,000 steps in while I still can. It’s a rule…
I stopped at Bayport for the sunrise on the way to my hike date yesterday. I had read that they had finally begun work on the fishing pier that’s been out of commission for several years now. I wondered how things were going. I didn’t expect the road to be closed however. It was pretty overcast and I wasn’t expecting much from the sunrise, but I told myself that I’d take pictures of the fishing boats as they left the launch area. Only there were no fishing boats, no fishermen, no one at all. With time to kill I took pictures anyhow. And, as it frequently does, the sky did get pretty. But I wonder how long they will have the park closed…
