Hurricain Bill in Acadia

Photopaddler

Some of you may have seen some of the news last week end when Hurricain Bill past to the south of the Gulf of Maine, the shoreline of Acadia Natioanl Park got pounded by seas averaging about 15 feet with some waves as tall as twenty feet. This created a show not to be missed, I headed down on sunday morning well before high tide, and compleatly by passed Thunder Hole not wanting to be in the midst of the huge crowd sure to gather there. I got some great shots.

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cmkultradome

Very nice!! My parents were over at Schoodic Point on mainland Acadia and said that it was also impressive. I love watching that surf, however your last 3 photos in particular show how people just don't use common sense in situations like this. Even during non-hurricane periods I've seen park rangers warn people about being too close to where the surf is breaking (those visitors in your pictures are just way too close). As soon as I heard the unfortunate news that day about the people being washed out to sea I informed my two teenage boys who are always whining when I make them move back on the rocks. People just don't pay attention and don't understand the raw power of the ocean. Looks like you had a beautiful day, hope you were using a long lens. Again, great photos!!

Stephanie

Photopaddler

Thanks Stephanie, I was indeed using a fairly long lens to get these shots, as a sea kayaker I am well aware of the power in the surf zone and got nowhere near where the waves were crashing. Two things about that day are amazing to me... first only one of the people swept off of the rocks died, looking at the conditions out there that day it is nothing short of a miracle that any of the people in the water survived, and second the storm never got within 250 mile of Mount Desert Island.

Secluded Valley

Great shots, Photopaddler. I totally agree with Stephanie, those folks look like they are WAY too close to that large surf.

Kristine

squirl033

spectacular shots of the power of nature! you wouldn't see me out on those rocks, though it does look like the worst danger would be getting really wet from the spray... still, it was nice of those brave (or foolish?) folks to stand there and lend a sense of scale to the whole thing...

Photopaddler

Thanks for the feedback, I shot at that location for almost 30 mins and it looked like they were out of the path of the spray, I think that they look a little closer than they are... however the tide was rising quickly and conditions can change and become dangerous very quickly.

Awais Yaqub

Amazing show of Power !

Lasting Light

Brilliant action shots of the waves crashing.
I am amazed anyone would stand so close to the action in those conditions, though as you point out some of it may be the illusion of the longer lens.
Here on the other side of the Atlantic, the remnants of Hurricane Bill, just brought us grey and wet with nothing of the drama.

Photopaddler

Thanks Melanie, the crazey thing was Bill never got within 250 miles of us we just got the waves and some clouds. The people in my pictures might have been far enough away from the ocean but just noth on the coastline near Thunder Hole almost twenty people were sewpt off the rocks into the sea by a big wave, one little girl died and the rest were resqued by the U.S. Coast Guard.