WINTER 2007-8 part 2: Storm Odyssey - Aberystwyth!
- the giant seas of December 1st-2nd

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Following on from my trip to Pembrokeshire, the urge to get the films off in Monday's post prompted a lunchtime trip to coincide with high water at Aberystwyth. The big ground-swell was still with us and the wind was still strong. Aberystwyth is an excellent place for wave photography - something I had learned many years back as a student, especially on spring tides. Would a neap deliver the goods?

I headed straight down to the Harbour area at the S end of Aberystwyth. Here, there are the twin breakwaters - the Stone Jetty and the shorter Wooden Jetty. These guard the Bar at the mouth of the Harbour - a tricky spot in rough conditions! This is not a place to go astray - just to the north lies the notorious Trap - an area of bouldery shallows where it's easy to get shipwrecked in poor sea conditions. Once again the light conditions were quite good!
The swell was huge and it wouldn't be long before a wave got the timing right and broke over the Stone Jetty....
....like this!
With dense cloud to the south and the sun peeping over it, light conditions were perfect for looking southwards to the corner of the Prom where the road ends and the Wooden Jetty begins. Here, there is a turning-circle. Check out that car L - it appears in the next two....
The angle of the sunlight silhouetted the globs of foam thrown up with the breaking waves...
I've often oberved this - cars drive up and let the saltwater and foam crash down on them! Inadvisable as pebbles are often thrown up with the waves, not to mention the enhanced corrosion threat due to the salt! But it makes good photographic material!!
One final shot from this vantage-point. I was back a little along the prom and using a telephoto to get a close-in effect yet still have everything dry. Nevertheless it was still necessary to wipe my UV filter free of salt every other shot - the air was so full of spray!
As high tide passed and the light was lost, I drove round to the S side of the Harbour for a different perspective, but the skies gradually clouded up as the tide began to ebb. This was the last photo of the day, and the end of the third film, and a weekend of many results following such a quiet Autumn. Now, writing in mid-December, we are back to cold, frosty nights and clear days. That swell's still there, though, not as massive as it was, but enough to affect the fishing. The local beaches fish best in a wind-driven chop: big swells seem to push the fish out to sea a bit. So the bait stays in the freezer and the cameras in their bags, waiting for the next set of opportunities!
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