Camera in the Atlantic

Crab and Fateful wave, Buchanan, Liberia
April 14, 2006

I had a bit of an adventure last weekend - the wave shown in the picture above swept me off the rocks where I was crab-watching. (The picture below, shot previously, sets the scene. I was sitting on the rocks on the left but further back where both sides were sunny.) I went under water but held my camera as far up as I could. The surge was nice and strong and would have been pretty thrilling if I hadn't been worried about my camera and the fact that the park safety officer hadn't inspected this ride yet. I surfaced out beyond the rocks out of my depth where I treaded water and noticed that the lens was still dry! I had to time my kicks toward the rocks with the waves and brace myself the surf as I clambered onto a shelf - still holding the camera as high as I could. When I was stable I tried the camera - it seemed to work once I'd turned it off and on but I think it must have had a shock because it's been moody ever since - sometimes displaying nonsense on its status screen and sometimes refusing to auto-focus. Little does it know I'd been thinking of replacing it anyway.








'Surprise Notch', Buchanan, Liberia
April 14, 2006





I hope it will pull its socks up because we will have a special guest at the Liberian Government Hospital next Saturday - Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of the Republic of Liberia. She's coming to open our new Outpatient and Medical Imaging Departments and we have a lot of preparation to do. People are asking me if I'm excited but all I can think of to say is that I'll be excited when it's over. Luckily the photography won't fall to me and my camera - we've got an expert coming and although she doesn't have a Canon (this is one of my few big brand loyalties) I know she'll do a wonderful job.



I just did hospital rounds with the hospital matron. This job is teaching me so much - about development, myself, and a little bit about medicine. Tonight we saw a two-year old boy with severe malaria who is very unlikely to survive.



Everything else is the same - work personalities are testing my diplomacy and I'm really terribly busy, tired and lonely.