My first full-moon hike!

My first full-moon hike! | Ecency

Greetings weekend lovers!
The previous weekend I finally crossed some things off my list.

Go hiking at night
Get more full moon shots
Support a friend...

As you know I'm what you may consider a moon-lover, after years of trying to capture it just right I now have the right lens to get some proper shots.
So when I got invited to a full moon hike I was all in!
On Saturday, which has become one of my busiest days, I woke up early to give a bball training to the kids, after which I went to play with the local veterans (who are training for an international competition).
This was a particularly unlucky training as I strained my adductor muscle 😕😕😕.

As I hobbled at home I remembered the hike... And there was no way I was going to miss it.
You see one of my friends has started his own hiking business called "Curinamer- Op stap met.."
(Curinamer is a word play in a Surinamer in Curaçao 😁).

He has invited me to a few of his early morning 5.30 am hikes and I've not been able to make it a couple of times. I felt like I let him down.
I think it's important to support your friends and given the fact that this was at night, I couldn't over sleep or anything 😂.

The hike was in Sint Willibrordus which is an area that is known for salt pans and flamingos and a famous church...
And the famous goat burger (but that's another story 🐐🍔🤣.

This was sunset time-lapse I took a while ago

The hike itself started a bit later but I didn't mind I was focused on getting all the shots I wanted any way.

What they did during this hike was make it about more that just sports. They actually invited yet another organization that focuses on mental health and wellness. And yes lately that has been right up my alley too...
So from time to time we stopped an stood in a circle to do exercises; Breathing exercises, gratefulness exercises... A particularly interesting one was partnering up and giving and receiving a compliment.
I say it's interesting because I realize that a lot of us don't know how to receive a compliment. We don't let it sink in. We don't allow it to really reach us. It's often a quick thank you and maybe a shy smile followed by quickly changing the subject.
But in this exercise we actually had to be quiet for about 30 seconds after receiving the compliment. Which to be honest can be awkward but then again that just proves my point above.

But back to the hike!!!
Since it was full moon you could basically turn off your flashlight and still see where you were going. We headed past some of the salt pans (which have water) up a hill, all the way to the ocean and back.
In total I think we were gone from 7.15 to about 10 ish.... We ended the night around the campfire, which in combination with a full moon a surreal vibe!
Here are some of the shots I was able to take. Mind you I had to find the right balance between stopping to take pictures and keeping up with the group 😁.