sand bird

Early morning in Hoevatra. The day started out beautiful, but became steadily worse, and when we went for a long walk along the headland we were lashed by wind, rain and sea spray. I worried my camera would be damaged by the rain and kept in inside a drybag, under my raincoat (my raincoat was very little use and I was soaked - but my camera was okay!), and took very few photos all that day.

We arrived, cold and wet, back at camp for rice tea and lunch, before packing up to hike (in the rain) back to where we left the pirogues. Then had to pirogue back, against the current and wind, to Lanirano base camp. By the time we got back everything everyone had brought with them was sodden, cameras and iPods were too wet to work - some never worked again. My camera, pills, first aid kit and sleeping bag were all in dry bags - if you ever travel anywhere in the rainy season put those at the top of your list!

First thing in the morning though, when most of my compatriots were still asleep (we had partied and partook the night before...), I enjoyed the sun and watched the waves (true white horses) and the crabs and shore birds. I managed to capture a shot of this wee bird - as hard to spot in the sand in reality as in the photograph.

The image was slightly soft, the birds move fast and my focus couldn't keep up, so I've sharped it a little, in iPhoto.