Waves unlimited

Autumn in Hong Kong seems specially made for going out. The weather is not too warm nor too cold and we got blue skies almost every day. Not having anything particular to do on Sunday, I took the MTR to Diamond Hill and then a bus to Wong Shek Pier to wait for the regular ferry but discovered that there was an even faster way of going where I wanted to go: taking a "kai do". As it did not cost much, I joined some other waiting passengers and took a sampan fitted with a powerful outboard engine and sped across the blue sea to my destination, the beautiful island of Tap Mun. It must have been almost 15 years since I last went there. It has changed quite a bit. Instead of the old uneven mud paths littered with rubble , we now have carefully constructed and well maintained concrete paths covered in parts with with anti-skid materials cut and colored like the surface of some irregularly shaped medium size boulders and there were beautiful benches everywhere on the look out areas and some were even covered. .

As I was sitting at the back of the converted "speed boat" (more precisely a "motorized sampan"), I would never have forgiven myself if I did not make use of the chance to take some quick photos of what I like most, waves.

I can never have enough waves. I enjoy looking at the milky foams, the frothy tips of the waves, the tens of smaller or bigger droplets of water as they fly through the air in all kinds of unexpected direction, like so many little snow flakes or glittering  starlets.  I like looking at the waves as they are forming and at the shimmer on the surface of the sea as they fall and spread out, getting lower and lower as they recede from the tips of the original waves.  But when it comes to describing the joy that the sight of waves evoke in me, words are pale and powerless. They appear to do little better in conveying the myriad shapes of the waves, which change from second to second, minute to minute, at the back of the boat or the shape and color of the waves as they come in from the sea, as they build up, as they crash upon the coastal rocks, promontory or as they are broken by the underwater reefs or strips of subterranean rocks. So let the camera speak for itself. 






The waves churned up by the outboard motor as we leave Wong Shek Pier.

The waves created by the motor

Thousands of tiny water droplets flying upwards and outward.

 

The wave tops look like little white mountain ranges of decreasing height.

As they fall, they form little frothy foams which spread across the surface of the sea.
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Occasionally, some waves would fly higher.

The wave in the middle spread out like the tail of a huge fish.

Water splashing at the back of the boat.

I like the look of the waves just before they break.

The waves being formed, with different shades of white or green and different shape as they move further from the back of the boat.

The waves coming in on one of the beaches on the island.

Waves forming white foam as they recede after impacting the coastal rocks.

The waves crashing in from the sea.

Clouds of white sprays.

Water leaping up from the force of reaction as the energy from the waves when they hit the uneven surface of the rocks ashore rebounds.

Thousands of powder size water droplets looking like a curtain of water sprays.

Another wave coming in and crashing upon another part of the beach rocks.

You can see the formation of the different layers of table top like rock slabs on the shore as the waves come crashing down.

Some waves building up as they reach shore.

The waves breaking.

More waves breaking.

The waves have broken but the residual force of the impact continue to propel them further towards the shore.