I’ve been talking about Baie des Tortues (Turtle Bay) on my last couple of posts and once or twice before that, but they’ve been detail photos, except for one that was taken from this exact spot but at night, so I thought I’d share a day image of the beach of Baie des Tortues (Turtle Bay).

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The luck I had was that it was almost low tide when I took this shot, revealing the tunnel of the cliff, the Pierced Rock (la Roche Percée). Situated smack bang in the middle of the image with it’s own tiny beach in front of the entrance. At low tide you have access to the tunnel from the beach. The hole goes straight through the cliff to the other side where you join the other beach and peninsula, la Roche Percée, which you can see behind the cliff and to the right of the image. The tunnel is quite narrow and is part of the Sentier des Trois Baies (the Three Bay Trail) which includes Baie de la Roche Percée (Pierced Rock Bay), Baie des Tortues (Turtle Bay) and Baie des Amoureux (Lovers Bay). A beautiful walk if ever you have the time.

The beach behind the cliff is where I took the photo from my last post, Le Bourailais. This rock formation at the end of the cliff, known as le Bonhomme (the Man), is a landmark in New Caledonia with spiritual importance in Kanake culture. Hop over to my last post for more information on the Bonhomme de Bourail.

On the left side of the Roche Percée (Pierced Rock) cliff is an amazing 280° lookout point with a shrine dedicated to Notre Dame des Flots (Our Lady of the Waves), who watches over the ships. Magnificent views up there.

And of course, just below that is the beach of Baie des Tortues (Turtle Bay). Well known for it’s turtle nesting season in late January, early February. A beautiful little beach, very popular with the locals and tourists for picnicking. Not a bad spot for a romantic sunset either.

This shot was taken from the Route de la Baies des Amoureux (Lovers Bay Road). This small section of the road is part of the Sentier des Trois Baies (the Three Bay Trail), mentioned above. Two photos were taken to make this image. A long exposure of 10 seconds to smooth out the clouds and water, and a shorter 1/8th second exposure to capture the cliff side when the sun shone on it. It was cloudy and rain was on it’s way, as you can see from the top left of the image, but the sky opened long enough on the horizon to provided me with this beautiful light. I blended the 1/8th exposure on to the 10 second exposure in Photoshop and finished editing in Lightroom. Mainly just accentuating the cliff side, beach and water.

So there you go, the gorgeous Turtle Bay in Bourail, New Caledonia. This whole area is worth a visit if ever you’re round the corner.

An early morning rise in hopes of seeing baby turtles but no such luck. A beautiful, clear sky though gave me the opportunity to tryout and test my LEE Filters. One of the subjects was this guy, le Bonhomme, a well known Bouraillais. This post is a follow up of my last one where I spoke about Turtle Bay, located just behind this rock formation.

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Le Bonhomme de Bourail (the Man of Bourail) is a famous monolithe of quartz shaped by the waves at high tide and under threat of collapsing by those same waves eroding it’s base. It is said to resemble the profile of a man’s head wearing a hat and with the water hole next to it, it has spiritual importance in Kanak culture. Few have met their demise here, the powerful suction of the water hole dragging them under, trapping them in the caves below, disappearing forever.

The Bonhomme is located between the Roche Percée peninsula (Pierced Rock) and Baie des Tortues (Turtle Bay) near the village of Bourail. Only a couple of hours drive north from Noumea, it is a popular place for tourists and locals alike, and especially surfers as it is one of the only surf beaches in New Caledonia.

To achieve the 2 second exposure on this photo I had to use my Little Stopper from LEE Filters. A neutral density filter that cuts down 6 stops of light. I also used their ND0.9 soft graduated neutral density filter to cut down 3 stops of light in the sky, giving me a balanced exposure with the foreground still in shadows. Though I focused before putting the filters on, I must have touched ever so slightly the focus ring as the Bonhomme is not as sharp as I would like. A silly mistake but one nonetheless. I had converted this image to black & white but I prefer the contrast of the golden glow on the rock formation to the cooler water and sky. It’s more pleasant to the eye and the reason why I photographed it in the first place. Glad I captured a bit of reflection on the bottom of the image too as it helps to lead the viewer’s eye to the monolithe.

Anyway, that’s it for me my friends, hope to see you on the next post. À bientôt.

Bourail, New Caledonia

When I got my new camera, the Sony a7 III with the Tamron 28-75, at the end of last year, I was eager to try my hand at astrophotography. I wanted to capturing our Galaxy, the Milky Way, in all it’s glory. The opportunity came in early February when my best friend, Géraldine, was minding a house in Bourail. A two hour drive from Noumea. A beautiful little beach-house situated only metres from the Roche Percée Beach. So I stayed there over two weekends, wandering off in the middle of the night, shooting the stars. I was quite lucky to have clear skies and the Milky Way close to where I wanted it. Especially for an unplanned shoot.

The very first thing I realised was that 28 mm wasn’t wide enough. I needed a wider lens, 21 maybe even 18 mm, but it’s all I have so I had to make do. I didn’t count on the moon rising from that direction either. And almost a full moon too. Not to mention the very bright star/planet but, that, I actually like. It took me a few trials and errors to get the exposure I needed to avoid star-trails. For this scene it was around 5 to 8 seconds of exposure with an ISO of 6400 and a wide open aperture of ƒ/2.8. It’s the best image I came home with, out of the half dozen I took over the two weekends. It’s not a large portion of the Galaxy but I’m happy with it yet definitely not satisfied with the results. I had a very hard time editing it and had to do some research on post-processing these kinds of images. I need more practice and experiment more with astrophotography. Never stop learning, right?

The beach at the bottom of the image is Turtle Bay and behind the cliff is Roche Percée Beach (very popular with surfers). Both are well known for turtle hatching which we were right in the middle of. Unfortunately, I didn’t see any but Géraldine and her two girls did. Every year, hundreds of turtles lay their eggs here, which produce thousands of baby turtles. It takes 45 days for the eggs to hatch so both beaches are patrolled every night for about six to eight weeks. Making sure the turtles, the nests and babies aren’t interfered with in any way. Keeping this area a sanctuary for these incredible creatures.

Carved from the natural erosion of the waves, the weird looking rock formation at the end of the cliff is Le Bonhomme. A landmark in Bourail and New Caledonia. There’s a lookout at the top of the cliff but unfortunately part of it is closed off now due to erosion at the base causing the edge to collapse. Still worth the walk or drive up there as the views are just magnificent.

I haven’t had the chance to photograph the stars since but I hope to in the next month or so. Fingers crossed.

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28 mm, 5 seconds @ ƒ/2.8, ISO 6400