Diamond Rock

Some nasty squalls approaching as we sail past Diamond Rock north of Grenada near Ronde Island. I love stormy light; it is by far my favorite conditions to shoot photos in, and on land I actively seek it out. Not so much fun to sail in, although I still have some irrational excitement when I see beautiful frontal storm systems even out at sea, at least until the appropriate level of storm anxiety kicks in 🙄. Social media gives the view that sailing is all pristine white beaches, neon coloured reefs, piña coladas, and rum punch. About 30 minutes after taking this shot, we had a second front come across quicker than anticipated and the force literally exploded one of our clutches into pieces that was holding the genoa sheet just as we were furling it in. We spent the next few days tracking down parts, having them shipped up, refitting the new clutch, and rebedding a hatch we noticed was leaking when we had the ceiling down to bolt the new clutch through.

Diamond Rock is one of my favorite islands in the territorial waters of Grenada and after passing it a few times I was stoked to finally see it in some light which hopefully did its ruggedness justice. I am still tying to perfect the art of taking photos off a moving boat. It is very different to shooting on land where you have all the time in the world to set up your tripod, get the perfect composition, and utilise long and/or multiple exposure techniques. The sea state was much worse then the photo makes out as there is a upwelling of current just off the rock. It historically was called Kick-'em-Jenny rock however the name was appropriated in the 1930s for an active submarine volcano a few miles to the west, which has erupted 12 times between 1939 and 2001. Since then Diamond rock seems to have become the preferred name.