Ha! You weren’t expecting that, said a voice behind me as I coughed up a little seawater. The old man at the far end of the outdoor changing area had been watching me take pictures of the waves as they crashed across the diving board on Salthill Prom in Galway. The wall of spray pictured above gave me a right drenching. He was right – I wasn’t expecting the wall of spray to come as far as it did – completely sweeping over the outdoor shelter at the Blackrock Diving Board. I was wearing waterproof gear and my camera was in a weatherproof cover [weatherproof is a technical term meaning not waterproof], but I was still nearly blinded by the spray, and the camera needed a bit of a wipe-down.
I love these sort of days. I grew up in the midlands and even after nearly 4 years living in Galway, I haven’t got over the novelty of the sea. And a perfect day for me is when the wind is strong, sending the sea crashing over the prom in Salthill [as long as I can get a usable picture or two]. Picture was taken a few weeks ago.It was shot with a very wideangle lens (17-40mm) which means that the picture was taken at almost the instant I got soaked. Picture below (taken from the Prom) shows the type of waves hitting the diving board [I had been standing at the red pillar on the right of the picture below].
P.S. The cold spell of the last week is over – announced by high winds driving heavy rain agains the windows yesterday morning.
P.P.S Well done to the member of An Garda Síochána from Salthill station who swam into the freezing sea at Salthill to rescue a man on Thursday night (and the Galway lifeboat crew who got them home)
i love the roaring water, too. i grew up on the edge of lake superior, and my father used to bring us down to the lake in november and we’d stand on the rocks and watch it crash and foam.