There’s a great little lake just north of Prescott on Highway 89 called Watson Lake. I’ve also heard it called Granite Dells for its beautiful rock formations. It’s a great lake for shooting in all seasons. You can get beautiful images from both in the lake (paddling) and around its shores.
The water is calm enough to take a first grader in her brand new sit on top kayak.
It’s also calm enough to play with reflections.
There are plenty of places to park and explore. Folks like to fish here but you are NOT allowed to swim. That’s a big bummer in my family.
There is abundant wildlife. The fun thing about paddling and shooting is the ability to be closer to it.
Plenty of Blue Heron which are SO beautiful.
Random geese hanging out watching the boaters. Speaking of which I’ve never seen a motorboat on this lake. I don’t think they are allowed. That lack of engine noise is really nice.
Last January Arizona Highways PhotoScapes did a two-day workshop here with Amy Horn, the photographer. Exploring the shore you can look for rocks and reflections…
…grass designs
…or designs in dried out wood.
The lighting is different in January, duh. And it’s the best season to come in and shoot sunrise as the park doesn’t open until 7:00 am. In the summer you’d be two hours after sunrise and miss all the good light. I like silhouettes.
The evening light in January was also beautiful. This might be a great place to catch incoming monsoons in August!
More silhouettes with sunset colors as a backdrop.
The Canadians were active on that weekend in January.
There are also plenty of geese and ducks which the park sends a guy around to feed a couple of times a week. I could have spent the morning shooting just them!
Here is the crew putting on their exposure suits. Not because it was remarkably cold out but should one fall in it would act as a life preserver and at that point you would want to stay warm.
Yeah, they are some GOOD looking suits. With cameras in hand we loaded the boat.
Duelling cameras.
I. Love. Lighthouses.
We floated close to the island that had the lighthouse and were able to see these elephant seals lounging in the warmth of the sun.
I love patterns. I was quite intrigued by the lines created by this floating seaweed and the accompanying balls.
Here’s a sad fact: The whales are often seen in the shipping lanes between the islands. Ships and whales don’t mix well, especially when there is a collision.
This was a cool shot but I was bummed I couldn’t get it without the other tour boat in the background. This whale was taking his/her large, heavy flipper and slapping it onto the surface of the water. It was quite loud and made quite a splash. I believe that is Mount Baker in the background.
And there’s the splash! It looks like a dorsal fin on the right but that’s his tail because he’s sideways making the splash.
Coming up for air.
This is one of my favorites. Most folks focus on shooting body parts of whales. I was enamored with the sounds they were making when they breath and shoot water out of their blow holes. I was happy with this one and the Olympic Mountain Range in the background.
This mornings breakfast is a funny story. Ellen needs egg whites only. The egg dishes were coming out fried, one at a time, so we asked that the next one be cooked with no yolk. The look of befuddlement on the poor man’s face was…cute. He disappeared, only to reappear a short while later beaming with pride. The kitchen crew had come up with this as a solution: cook the egg and dig out the yolk. We wound up showing them how to strain the yolk out with egg shells and they were SO excited to learn this new cooking skill. It was awesome.
Here is where the food magic happened. This is the stove behind the stick wall in the kitchen hut.
Here’s Grandpa and Grandson. Grandpa is here visiting from another island with his wife. As it turns out the Guna women have maintained the use of traditional clothing and the men have not.
As we were visited a cayuco sailboat was passing in distance.
Once I asked to take pictures they warmed up to us. They wanted pictures of the grand babies, the two of them, we ended up doing a whole family shoot. It was sweet. I have their address to send prints.
Gramps sent his three year old grandson to the family hut to get rain sticks. Ellen had to make the tough decision of which one to get and use in her yoga teaching.
On this day we travelled to an island that had several islands near it It also seemed to be a popular location for sailboats. We snorkeled near a long reef that acted as a sea wall. There were waves exploding on it that you could see from the island. There was a large sand bar with a volleyball net on it and some amazing snorkeling where we just got into the current and let it take us along while we looked at all the sea life.
While we were out playing the guys were out spear fishing for lunch which was fish, rice and salad. The island was inhabited by a single family that ran a little store that sold…cold beer. It’s amazing how good one of those tastes on a hot day after much exercise. Lunch was amazing, watching them scale and filet the fish was like watching an artist at work.
After lunch we boarded our water taxi and went out to the area they were spear fishing, right behind the reef wall with the exploding waves. We saw lion fish, lobster, a sting ray and one guy saw a shark, My batteries died by then so I didn’t get images of the guys spear fishing. They were hunting for dinner. We followed two of them around though and appreciated the energy and expertise they possess in providing us with daily meals.
Here are our guys taking a rest on some hammocks while we finish lunch and take one more stroll around the island and a last dip in the sea.
The first order of business was…coffee. We entered the dining room with this presentation on the table, Nescafe. Instant coffee. Hmmm.
Here is our crew. Front left is Ellen, my wife and awesome traveling partner, behind her is Harold (Columbia), Dafna (Argentina), Lucas (Argentina) and in the v-neck, Claudia (Miami). We really had a GREAT time getting to know these fine folks. And the guy with the plates? One of “the guys”. The gentlemen who took care of us were extraordinary. They seemed to be busy taking care of things after we went to bed and were certainly busy before we got up, preparing breakfast and the like.
Here is a typical breakfast. All three mornings we had some sort of eggs, the yummy pastry/bread things and…a hot dog. Couldn’t do the hot dog.
Following breakfast we went snorkeling. I was amazed at how clear the water was. I took the snorkeling images with my trusty Canon S120 in it’s waterproof housing. 
Then a walk around the island. The palm trees behind Ellen are at the far end of the island. They make up a bit of a palm tree forest.
In the forest the trees were closer to each other than anywhere else on the island.
The shade they created made for a lovely respite from the afternoon sun.
What amazed me most, well, beyond just the color of the water, was the ability to experience how other people live in the world. Here’s a hut with a couple of canoes. That’s it. That’s their transportation. They put them on small round logs in order to roll them into the ocean when needed.
This is the beach on the other side of the island. Look at that water color. This was not the best side to snorkel, though, because it mostly consisted of sea grass and sand. The side where our “resort” was had all kinds of rocks, corals and fish.
I just liked this one.
Then we went snorkeling again.
This straw sun had was sitting in a boat. I like how someone used their traditional mola designs to decorate the hat.
One of the homes had a solar panel. I love the mix of modern and not so modern that we found on the island and in Panama in general.
This is the other end of the island, opposite the palm tree forest. If you walk past the two huts to the right of the image you would see our compound.
We stopped by this little trinket shop not far from our hut. You could purchase shells, molas, bracelets and little carved wooden boats. I don’t think the red sippy cup was for sale.
It seemed like it was always wash day.
Seriously, pinch me.
This shows a cayuco, complete with downed sails, sitting just off shore with a neighboring island in the background. I’m guessing that the island is privately owned as you can see only two huts to the right. It wouldn’t take much to paddle over and say hi.
These birds were fun to watch. They traveled in a flock of about 35 and hung out on the sand going in and out with the waves looking for food.
The view behind our hut.
Our afternoon excursion took us to “la piscina”, the swimming pool. It wound up being a sand bar about four feet deep and crystal clear, like a pool. The sand was full of star fish, a few conch shells and an occasional sand dollar.
Claudia and Harold just hanging out in the middle of the ocean.
Lucas and Dafna doing the same.
Following the swim we were dropped off to explore a small island. It was beautiful. There were other islands nearby.
Ellen and I took this opportunity to shoot a couple of yoga shots. Here she’s holding a coconut.
While we were exploring the island the resort workers were busy gathering conch for dinner that night. Here is one of the guys getting the meat out just behind the kitchen.
There were a couple of huts on the island that acted as stores. At these stores you could purchase candy bars, soda, bottled water and …COLD BEER! The island had electricity which allowed them to have electric coolers and…COLD BEER! It was quite the treat at the end of a long day of walking, swimming, snorkeling, eating and napping. And we got to hang out with the loveliest of people!
Here’s a view of dinner with the rice, salad and conch. It was delicious.
The guys fulfilled our request for a farewell bonfire for Dafna and Lucas. They were scheduled to leave us the next morning.
This images shows a crew of surfers making their way to the water taxis lined up along the river bank. You can see one heading out in the right side of the image.
Some boats had one motor, some two. All were open air and most had a canopy overhead. Ours also had a plastic sheet that fell could be lowered down the sides as shown in the image above. That proved handy the morning we left as the splash worked perfectly with the wind and would have soaked us had our boatmen not lowered the protective sheeting.
There were also plenty of locals paddling in and out of the port in their cayucos, canoes dug out of the local Cayuco tree. Some of these boats actually had sails that could be hoisted to assist in crossing the ocean between islands.
It looks like this father and son team is heading in to fill water jugs.
Here is a water taxi approaching the mouth of the river. It is coming in from the islands.
We stopped at a neighboring island on our way to Naranjo Chico to pick up some plantains. This boat taxi was moored out away from the dock. It reminds me of a cowboy tying up his horse.
While waiting for the plantains I noticed some wee ones playing “out in the yard”? It looks like a one “car” family (the cayuco on the dock).
We arrived and got off the boat. This is an image of our “resort”. The hut to the left is for guests, the red roofed one is the dining room/kitchen, the two to the right are guest huts. Ours is the left one on the right.
We stayed here three nights. It was pretty cool having waves lap under our hut each night. Ellen is standing in the doorway of our front porch. Behind her is another door that leads to our humble abode. It was a single room with two beds AND a separate bathroom. Seriously, indoor plumbing. The walls let the breeze in between the sticks, it was heaven.
This is a view looking toward our resort. Look at the color of that water. Wow.
How iconic is THIS shot? Some of the best snorkeling I’ve ever done was right outside our front door. Hammocks were everywhere. I think they sleep in them. They, meaning the Guna People, live on the islands. There are around 365 islands in all but only 40 are inhabited.
This is the dock on the other side of the island. It took three minutes to cross the center of the island and get there. This side of the island is all grass and sand so it was great having the rocks and coral just outside of our hut for snorkeling.
This is the view down the beach behind our hut. Those palm trees in the distance are the far end of the island.
This is our resort’s dog. Dang, I forgot his name. Ruby? Maybe? He was sweet. We’d run into him all over the island. Here he is leaning up against the opening to the dining room. A couple of times we found him snoozing on our front porch.
Here’s the local school bus. A couple days a week this boat would load up with kids and they’d be ferried to a nearby island to attend school.
This was our personal taxi for the three days we were there.
Our resort was all inclusive. It included three meals a day and an afternoon excursion. Sunday’s excursion was to go to a nearby island and get a tour. It was very interesting. Here is a modern house as we pulled up to the dock. There were also huts.
Here’s another view, in a different direction, of less modern accommodations.
We were laughing as I was shooting at how my images would portray a ghost island as we were asked not to photograph any of the locals unless we compensate each of them. There were SO many, everywhere, that I chose to shoot in other directions. I think this is main street and it looks deserted.
Coconuts are an important commodity on the islands. On our own island we were asked not to pick any up and eat them but to purchase them from a native.
Clothes were hanging everywhere, all the time. I wondered if they just stored them on the line due to humidity instead of in a drawer where they would…mold?
This is one of the classrooms.
Our friend Claudia bought a bracelet from this lady. The other rule is, if you purchase something, you can photograph the artist.
We bought a mola from this beautiful lady, the mother of our island guide. Once I asked if I could take her picture she grabbed her grandbaby and wanted images of the two of them. It was really sweet.
Walking down the dock to leave I grabbed this shot of their transportation collection. I love boats.
