My visit to Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands

By Andrew McLachlan, Wildlife and Landscape Photography Blog

Long Beach – Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands

On the second last morning of my two week visit to Cayman Brac, in the Cayman Islands I awoke to the alarm at 5:00 a.m. and drove out to the eastern tip of the island along the road running along the north side of the island. The entire island of Cayman Brac is 12 miles long and on average 1.5 miles wide, so it does not take too long to get from one end or the other, but one must remember to drive on the left side of the road.

Long Beach is hardly a beach as the shoreline is a rugged and jagged terrain that easily chewed up the soles of my sneakers. This rugged shoreline extends from the ocean to the bluff, which stands roughly 140 feet above sea-level. I knew photographing sunrise here would be tricky at best because the sun rises on the south side of the bluff and I was facing the north side. If the conditions were right though, it just may make a wonderful scene. The waves at Long Beach were a little troublesome as there was lots of salt spray to contend with. In order to cope with the resulting salt spray I chose to do what I most often do back in Ontario when photographing waterfalls. I will typically place a clear plastic bag over my camera and compose the scene. Once I have the composition I am happy with I will raise the bag up and away from the front element of the lens, focus, and press the shutter – this technique usually works very well and minimizes the amount of time spent cleaning the front element of the lens and/or filters that may be attached to the lens.

BTW – that large, house-sized boulder sitting in the ocean at the base of the cliff is affectionately referred to as ‘Little Cayman Brac‘

All photographs copyright Andrew McLachlan

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