The early afternoon found us down at the beach again – this time for the purpose of shooting some film of our party member Lynne Howes, who confessed that she loved to water ski. Not far from Bridgetown is The Bay of Fresh Water, and for the sum of 5 dollars (cost for the boat) water skiers can practise to their hearts content.
Once Lynne became equipped and was making her first ‘run-in’ I positioned myself on shore near the jumping ramp with my Nikon. The ramp was not too far out and so the 135mm lens was ideal. My objective was to photograph her in mid-air as she took off from the ramp.
Unfortunatly our first attempt at the ramp ended in disaster. Lynne took the jump slightly off balance and made a perfect entry into the sea head first!
Restored and resolute we began again, this time she had her balance in check and the result was satisfactory. After I had taken two rolls of film on shore, I got into the boat and pointed the camera at the skier, shooting as Lynne was pulled along.
Back on shore one of our group had netted a spine covered Porcupine Fish from one of the deep rock pools. At the first sign of danger these fish blow themselves up to almost twice their normal size and remain thus until the danger has passed. Their sharp spines act as a good defence to any would-be predator.
Don’t miss the final part of my adventure on the wonderful sun-drenched tropical Island of Barbados…
