On The Western Shoreline Of Tseng-wen Reservoir

Just pictures from today, I will write up more later. I took my boat across the Tseng-wen reservoir from the eastern to the western shoreline. Going there was relatively easy and took about an hour, but coming back was a nightmare struggle against wind and waves that took over an hour and a half. These are a few of the shots that I took, but far superior were some of the things I saw on the return crossing in the boat - kites diving for fish off to my left, a fantastic sunset to the south-west despite the clouds - yet I could not photograph any of these things because throughout the return crossing I was at serious risk of capsizing if I didn't keep the nose of the boat forward to break the oncoming waves. A problem to solve for another time...

Later:

I had intended to leave Tainan before dawn and had set my alarms accordingly but again I slept through them entirely (yet this time the volume was on), and didn't wake up until around seven or eight, which is too late. I must be more tired than I realize. As it was I left at about 10.30 a.m. and got to the reservoir at noon. Early in the morning when I woke up, the sunshine had been glorious but on the late morning drive to the reservoir the skies were all overcast and grey and remained that way throughout the rest of the day. I resolved to at least scout out the best location to launch my boat from to reach the western shore so that I could repeat the trip in better light another time. I followed several different roads down to the shoreline, including the designated fishing area (which I didn't like as it was far too open and there were too many people there), before finding the one I preferred. I stopped on the little access road as a convocation of kites circled close overhead checking me out whilst looking for snakes and lizards at the same time. By the time I got my camera out, they had entered the thermals to rise some distance above me...

Once I got my gear unpacked and the boat ready, I set off thinking I would just paddle a short way out of the little bay onto the reservoir's main body and turn around to get some basic shots of the eastern shoreline from the boat. However, once I passed around the corner out of the bay I realized this was not going to be possible due to the greater height and frequency of the waves than in the bay; unlike Baihe reservoir which is mostly enclosed on all sides by islands and peninsulas, Tseng-wen reservoir is one large, open body of water over a kilometer across with the surface incessantly whipped by the breezes making my boat undulate over the water. Nonetheless, once out on the water, I desired to just go all the way directly to the western shoreline. I had two options to choose from, whether to head for an inlet further to the south, or whether to head for a path down to the water further to the north. Eventually I decided on the path because there was also a floating pontoon tied to the shore nearby which I reasoned would make it easier for me to disembark. The crossing took me an hour and I was aided somewhat by the fact that the waves were pushing me northward on my north-westerly heading. I reached the pontoon, and lifted my camera bag out and onto the platform with ease along with my paddle, and then I hoisted myself out and reached down to lift the boat out and onto the platform where I squeezed it in between two fences so it could not be blown away by the wind. I then set off barefoot across the western shoreline with my camera kit to take pictures...

As the sky was so grey I elected to use my grad-filters. One of my friends doesn't like them, she thinks it makes the sky look 'fake', but I much prefer that to the featureless, drab grey. In the first shot below looking southward down the reservoir no filter is used...

... whilst the following shot (otherwise identical) was taken using a filter...

During the crossing I had noticed something curious; there were several clusters of small black objects on the western shoreline that did not appear to be moving. As I got closer I eliminated the possibility of them being rocks due to their odd shape - they in fact looked like black Taiwanese dogs at that distance except for the fact that they were stationary. So one of the things I had to do once I had landed was to find out what on earth the strange objects were.

It turns out they were wild boars, which is something I have only ever read about...

They were all brown coloured adults apart from the smaller one which was pink with black spots. With their proximity to the little village of Dapu, it may be that the boars are semi-wild and the smaller one had been introduced to the area deliberately. Or perhaps not, I really don't know.

On becoming aware of my presence they all bolted, which is the sort of healthy fear reaction to be expected from wild animals...

After a few minutes interlude during which I took more landscape shots, one of the boars returned to nose around the muddy shoreline. I lay down in a prone position so as to take pictures without disturbing her...

Eventually, the solitary boar returned to the woods covering the hills to rejoin the others and I resumed my landscape photography. At one point a tourist cruise boat passed by me heading southwards*. Looking southeastwards toward the eastern shoreline with the mountains in the background...

Looking directly eastwards from the path - I had come here from a large bay out of shot off to the right of the image below...

Looking back up the path toward the hills and the forest into which the wild boars had retreated...

A final shot looking southwards before I headed back to my boat...

Rather than re-embark on the return crossing from the pontoon, I carried my boat across to the path which slopes all the way down into the water itself - it is much easier to get going that way because it enables me to get into the boat and into the right position without any great difficulty.

However, as soon as I had pushed off the waves were so strong and so frequent that I was immediately pushed back and my initial efforts at paddling resulted in me standing still, and so I instead zig-zagged a slow diagonal course eastward across the reservoir. It was very hard work as for every stroke I made to push me eastwards, I had to make a counter balancing stroke to keep the nose of the boat pointed southwards to break the oncoming waves. Along the way I was frustrated several times by the appearance of a Kite diving for fish in close enough proximity and in excellent light for me to have taken outstanding shots with my 300mm lens. Unfortunately, the effort required to ensure I did not capsize dissuaded me from risking a reach for the camera. I wish I could have gotten those shots.

*Much later, after I was already halfway into my return crossing, that boat returned heading northward up the reservoir and stopped at the pontoon. When I looked back from my boat I could see the wild boars gathering around the pontoon seemingly waiting to be fed treats thrown from the pontoon - none of the passengers got onto dry land. Yet because I was in my boat I could not take pictures of this. As the tourist boat came into dock at the pontoon they played Pavarotti's rendition of Nessun Dorma on loudspeakers just as the sun set over the mountains to the south-west. It was an odd fitting of sublime landscape and sublime music (an odd fitting since the song is actually about a man's desire to win a woman), but it made me smile as I had expended a lot of effort tackling the oncoming waves and was rewarded with an incredible sunset.