WILD SWIMMING, WILD PHOTOS!

WILD SWIMMING, WILD PHOTOS!

Oh holiday in Scotland with my daughter Gemma and friend Alison, we met up with a long term friend who was currently working in the area, Hamza Yassin, a BBC Wild life photographer, who also has his own business https://www.facebook.com/hamzayassinphotography/timeline

Chatting in the pub one night we discussed the possiblity of Hamza taking some time out of his busy schedule to take some photo's of us and were delighted when he said he would. The weather was checked....oh rubbish..we were due to see the tail end of a hurricane...not a problem for us swimmers but we did not want Hamza's camera's getting ruined. Thankfully we had several breaks in the weather that enabled us to swim and him to take pictures.

Alison and i had already swam directly below Mingary castle but were eager to return to try the next bay along, so with Gemma and Hamza in tow we headed back down to try to find a dutch ship reported to have been sunk during battle many years before. Getting in was much harder this this time, our discovered steps cut out of the rocks no longer at our disposal, we instead walked on rocks strewn with razor sharp molluscs, thank the lord for rubber soled shoes!!!!

As Hamza set up his equipment, a Cannon camera with an impressive lens, Alison and i got changing into our wetsuits, normally we would when the water is as deliciously warm as it currently is we would go in the water in just our cossies but having heard the reports of large lions mane jelly fish and seen them the previous days in the water we did not want to take any chances of being stung. Wetsuits on, we got the signal to get in and against the stunning backdrop of Kilchoan we entered the briny waters. Swimming outward to where we had heard rumours of a sunken Dutch ship, our own camera's stowed upon our person we wowed at the marvels that the sea had to offer. Kelp and fish abounded, swaying gently in the swell of the water. 

Soon the water soothed the mind and thoughts of being photographed forgotten as we same and dodged the jelly fish. Some of which were tiny and cute....the non-stingers....and others like the ones below.....were around the size of a dustbin lid with two being around the size of a car bonnet!!!!! Scary nasty things to be avoided at all times!!! (The jellies are the only two pics taken by me the rest are by Hamza)

And so avoiding the jelly fish and hunting again for treasure we snorkelled and swam around the bay. Although there was little wind the current underneath provided us with enough entertainment, watching the kelp sway back and forth is magical and more than a little hypnotic. All the while Hamza safely placed on the shores was clicking away with his camera.

Its hard to pose for a camera when you are swimming, and as most swimmers will tell you we tend to forget everything around us other than the water and its effects on us, so getting action shots capturing movement and swimmer are special, it shows us doing what we love best.

The next few days were taken up by hurricane Bertha passing over the peninsular, a visit to the lighthouse a must to see the storm growing in strength and the waves pounding the shoreline, as it abated we headed to Sanna Bay with two other open water swimmers in tow....for a play in the waves. Reports of a dead minke whale proved true as we came across its headless carcass, but not even that deterred us (although we did wonder what had eaten most of it!!!)

 

Lars Eriksson and Adam Hultberg, who were working on the restoration of Mingary castle, whom we discovered were also open water swimmers, were kind enough to join us, both displaying great sense of humour and adventure when invited for a dip.

The water was not too cold, Sanna Bay is normally breathtakingly chilly, the wind still strong, we were able to bounce in the water and swim. The in-coming current too strong for us to swim out too far, but non the less we were able to find some good spots for body surfing and fish spotting...Alison and i would return for an impromptu swim several days later!

Our last swim of the holiday was breathe taking, a sunset dip...unplanned and totally spontaneous - sitting round, having eaten together i suddenly noticed the stunning colour of the sky, Sanna Bay, only a short distance from where we were staying, the conversation quickly turned to 'what time is sunset? how long will it take us to get there?....shall we bother wearing a costume?, discussion ended quickly as we scrambled for Dryrobes and car keys and headed out of the door. 

The light was truly beautiful as we drove through the now dormant volcano and headed towards the beach, a short walk and we where there...all of us stopping to appreciate the sight of the storm being caressed by the fading sun.

Stripping off behind a sand-dune, we donned the dryrobes and headed towards water the wind making the sand whip up around our ankles...giving us an impromptu body scrub!

The waves were still bouncing and the invitation to play in them was too much, throwing off the robes we ran to the waters end and soon submersed ourselves in it salty depths. Perhaps it was the excitement of a sunset skinny dip but we did not feel the crisp bite of the cold water, instead we plunged over waves trying to get further out. 

Refreshed and revitaised by the stormy waves we exited the water, Hamza, discretely lowering his camera as we got out and placed the robes over chilled skin, walking back up the beach we could just about make out his instructions..the main one being stand still....the light behind us was spectacular and he wanted to catch it on film. 

Was it fun being a 'swimming model' very much so...Hamza made it fun and let us be ourselves....hopefully in the near future we will have the pleasure of swimming for him again, after all who does not want GOOD pictures taken of themselves. Thank you sooo much Hamza for taking the pictures, your giggles and the fun it was swimming for you. 

You can find Hamza on twitter and facebook: - you will love his work....and if you contact him i am sure he will be able to set up a session for you....go on you know you are worth it!!!!

 Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/hamzayassinphotography

Twitter - @HamzaYassin3

Website - http://hamzayassin.photoshelter.com/