A sunset to die for...

Sleights holiday 12

Whilst on holiday, I met with a couple of friends from my camera club, who now live in Whitby. They were kind enough to take me to one of their favourite spots for photography, the atmospheric Saltwick Bay, just south of Whitby. It has features galore with a partly submerged wreck, the Admiral Von Tromp, and several rocks and sea stacks in the bay, including the impressive Black Nab. It's a key site for finding fossils and Whitby jet. It is north-east facing and renowned for its 'double sun' effect at certain times of the year, when the sun both rises and sets over the bay. We were there for the sunset, which turned out to be absolutely spectacular. 

Like many sunsets, it started out quietly but extremely prettily, with peaches, pinks and delicate pale blues in the sky. One of the features of the bay is a shallow rock outcrop that gives rise to pools of water at low tide, pools that reflect and amplify the colours. 

I was mesmerised by the light show and ended up taking about sixty photos (!), so it has been hard to narrow them down to just a few favourites. (Next week I'll probably decide I prefer some of the others!) I've tried to show the progression of the colours as the sun sank down behind the rocks, though the top picture, taken about mid way through 'the show', is (so far) my overall favourite, I think.  

It was like watching a light show, hard to believe that the vibrant colours were natural and not some movie maker's technicolour fantasy. If I had not seen it with my own eyes, I'd find it hard to believe the saturation of some of the images but I honestly have not boosted the colours in processing. Apart from the Northern Lights Aurora in Iceland, I can't think that I have ever witnessed a more stunning natural spectacle in my whole long life. I shall always remember it, such a privilege to enjoy. Indeed, a sunset to die for - or at least one to make me die happy! 

We had then to stagger back up the steep path to the top of the cliffs in the near dark, though a huge, waxing gibbous moon did help. This August supermoon, full on the 12th, is known as the Sturgeon Moon, named, I gather, by Native Americans after the abundance of fish at this time of year. Anyway, we made it safely back to the car all in one piece. I certainly wouldn't have done the trip on my own so I am grateful that my friends suggested it, and we were well rewarded for our efforts.