Alexander Stuart

A squadron of pelicans in a feeding frenzy. All p hotographs Copyright  ©  2013 A lexander Chow-Stuart. Living and writing by the ocean - in a spot we like to call Aldabra (which in reality is a remote and very beautiful atoll in the Indian Ocean) - the beach figures large in my thoughts and daily routine. Usually I wake early, and on occasion I walk at dawn through the waves, past the occasional fisherperson, enjoying the darkness slowly transforming into light, the spray of the breakers, the pull of the tide around my feet, the constant barking of the sea lions, the damp of the ocean mist - and the sight of the sun breaking over the horizon to the east. Dawn panorama on the beach. P hotograph Copyright  ©  2013 A lexander Chow-Stuart. Running from the waves. P hotograph Copyright  ©  2013 A lexander Chow-Stuart. Recently, a few days before what would have been his birthday, I thought of my father as I trod the beach at dawn. He came from a tiny Scottish fishin

All photographs Copyright  ©  2013 A lexander Chow-Stuart. As we enjoy our lives on this magical island of Aldabra - which might be located in the Indian Ocean somewhere between Madagascar and the Seychelles, or might equally be found in the mighty Pacific, along the California coast - we experience exceptionally beautiful events such as this high tide, one Friday evening a few weeks back. Tugged by the gravitational pull of an almost full moon, the waves came far up on the beach and created tide pools that were glorious to wade through. The waves were spectacular, the weather was perfect, the light and the sea air offered pure natural enjoyment. I never tire of the ocean. All photographs Copyright  ©  2013 A lexander Chow-Stuart.