Island in the Stream: Part I

Jöttnar photo blog   

- Deep water soloing on Bermuda  - 

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 In this week's photo blog, climber and photographer Dr. Grant Farquhar documents the opportunities for deep water soloing on the limestone sea cliffs of Bermuda, a British Overseas Territory in the North Atlantic

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Timothy Claude on Tortura Del Agua (5.12a) at Clarence Clove

Tim Emmett on the first ascent of Spicy Times (5.13a), one of Bermuda's hardest climbs to date.

A shark's eye view of Ward Byrum on Atlantis (5.11c) at Clarence Cove. The photograph illustrates the 'Snell's window' phenomenon by which an underwater viewer sees everything above the surface through a cone of light of a width of about 96 degrees.

Underwater view of a Longsnout Seahorse

 Jazmyne Watson on Sinister Sister (5.11) at Clarence Cove

Jazmyne Watson on the powerful crux roof of Xavier (5.12d)

Bermuda from the air. The island is circa 20 miles long but never more than 3 miles wide. It is formed by a group of small volcanoes in the Atlantic Ocean, near the western edge of the Sargasso Sea, roughly 665 miles east-southeast of the coast of North Carolina, USA.

A humpback whale passes Bermuda on the annual migration that takes place during March and April. 

David Pickford making the first ascent of Fifty Shades of Pink (5.12c) at Clarence Cove 

Long exposure image of night-time deep water soloing at Clarence Cove

Jazmyne Watson on Bathos Party (5.10d) at Clarence Cove

Surfing a hurricane swell on the famous break near Tucker's Town on the south coast of Bermuda

Mark Burgess cuts loose through the final roof of Xavier (5.12d) at Clarence Cove

Catching a tiger shark whilst deep sea line fishing off Bermuda. Note the heavy steel trace to prevent the shark biting through the line. 

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There was no documented rock climbing on Bermuda before British climber Dr. Grant Farquhar moved to the island in the late 'noughties. Along with a small team of local climbers and visitors, he has pioneered the sport of deep water soloing on the island. You can find out more about climbing on Bermuda, including topos for the various crags, on Farquhar's climbderock.com website 

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The second part of this photo blog will be published on LEGEND next week