Sky Mirror & Blue Tears 30-31-March 2018

SKY MIRROR / BLUE TEARS 

   Sky mirrors were a popular activity in Meetups groups  Many are attracted by the perfect symmetry photographs of brightly coloured dress formation. Whereas blue tears were bioluminescent plankton which created the blue light resembled when disturbed. 

   This was my 2nd time going for blue tears. We were in Miri where blue lights were photographed a great distance from riding the crest of the waves. Here the blue tears are hidden in the sea and need to be dredged out ( literally scoop out).  So on 30  -31 March we departed 9pm and eight hours later arrived 8 am at our homestay not far from the river mouth.  After a quick breakfast, we headed for a no-name shore in the middle of the sea and did the Sky Mirror trick. We saw how it was set up and reflections photographed. Unless we mimic the same I wont know whether there are hidden tricks in photographs creation.

     TO reach the blue tears the boat travelled half hour in darkness. I can see the waves were reflecting full moon. A  netted scoop was lowered and in half minute it was brought to the surface with glittering blue light.  Attempts were made to photograph or video them. It was a far cry from walking on beaches covered with them in shallow water. 

    We also visited a rice processing plant, seen rice fields with still half-foot tall wet padi. We reached home after midnight with stomach grouching. The durian didn't completely seal the hunger. I headed for the shower and minutes later were doing unlit Tiangong 1 recording. It was cloudy, she remained unlit.

Lets go 

Fisherman boats - PK = Perak

Never mind just pull your pants higher

Boat ride to the sky mirror beach (flag)

Line of islands - 

DIsembark from the boat we headed for the low tide surfaced sandy shore

You can hunt for cramps here

Not quite the sky mirror standard but you get the idea of water reflections. I find with sandy textures as background look natural than the surgical white uniform background

Sequence - reflections only the back couple

Let's form an arc first....

A mirror pool of water was constructed by smoothening the sand and caged a body of water to act as a mirror

Blue tears in a net blurred by extended exposure and swaying of the boat

To go to the blue tear we need to take a boat all the way (~ 17 KM) to Pulau Lalang's vicinity.  Pulau Sembilan was closed

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Behind-the- scene look of how the sky mirror images was taken

Home stay 

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Gunung Panti (531m) 26-Aug-2017

Gunung Panti Barat 

• 2 hours up and 1 hour down on the same trails
• Leeches on forest floor leaves
• no river-crossing except a shallow stream
• high lite of the climb is a steep slope with ropes and accessible foot

Trails we took to G. Panti. Did not walk the rdige though

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View from the summit

Step by step

Traffic jam on the way down, they-fies instead

Cute fruits on a pandulus-like plant

Rocks faces near the summit 

Typical trail scene with fallen leaf where leeches stood on end trying to attach to 
your shoes using the other end.

Hard mushroom so big I think can support a heavy DSLR

Unidentified bunch of fruits

Gunung Arong Johore August 5 2017

 August 05 2017 

 One day trek/fireflies from Singapore crossing into Johore 7am - 10:30 pm

  

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One hour plus up and one hour down exits to a beach. Continue with the beach line northwards, crossed some boulders and reached Tg Gelok Resort for a shower. 

Elevation plot of the hike. A gradual climb and  (Missing a short distance) walking on the ridge of Gunung Arong before descending to a beach.

Waves coming into the beach viewed from P200 zoom end

The breathtaking view from the outlook point very close to the shelter. I frame the above using the flowering Tongkat Ali  trees there

Wear color attire for easy identification in a forest

Forest 

White lichen

Slippery coastal rocks and boulders to cross to get to the Resort for shower

Small section of the trek we had proper staircase built 

Fireflies yellow light shot from a moving boat.

In full moon - G5X can pick up the shrub green coloring with blinking fireflies. Iso 3200 f1.8 0.5 sec

Srikandi Mersing revisited

Perseids PER Meteor Shower / Milkyway / Beach Stroll AUG 11 - 13 2017

Johore Sentral> Larkin > Mersing ( 2.5 hrs) > taxi ( waited 2 hrs) > Kg sesik 

11/12 Aug - arrived in heavy downpour taxi $50 Ringgit

12/13 Aug - Neighbouring units with other drives in Singaporean family. Milky way briefly and it was cloudy all the way. Bitten by a centipede and had a sleepless night no stars and painful leg

Milkyway through gaps in the drifting clouds

Milkyway in clouded sky - using Peleng 8mm f3.5 EOS 20D

Tight clump is the Sagittarius Milkyway

wide angle look

Coconuts and sky

WIthin the Srikandi resort compound I saw this fellow bulbul sitting on the water meter 

Functional swing but the tiny attap is not going to shelter your from rain

Srikandi added the swings and pondok near the beach which also served as a landmark

The rain came

Shell p900

Can you see me?

Tumble weeds foreground

Cow boy coming home with the herd

Tioman twin peaks on the right.

Closer look at 2000mm