A Manmade Island In The Middle Of The Ocean

There is an island out in the Gulf of Para just off of the coast of San Fernando, our southernmost city in Trinidad. Upon this island was once built a grand sea house but now all that remains is the concrete foundations and the remnants of a jetty and singular tree that grows from its top. This is an iconic structure of the oceans of the south lands that can hardly be seen from the road that passes nearest to the coastline.

We head to the city of San Fernando and got as closest as possible to the to the water to minimize the amount of distance to fly the drone so that we should have more than enough battery to go and come back safely. The sun was just setting which meant that out photos and footage would be bathed in beautiful golden hour lighting!

Right where you see those cards parked there is where we parked as well on the edge itself of the shore! It was a great thinking as when I was indeed flying back, I made it back with just enough battery to land!

Here I was setting up the tripod, camera and drone in a haste to get everything in order before we missed crucial lighting conditions! It would be quite a shame to miss out on the beautiful sky and clouds! Before launching the drone, I took some shots with the mirrorless camera first of where we were as the scenes were just too beautiful to not capture!

This is what the view looked like head on facing the ocean. You can see a little spec on the trop right of the horizon and that is Farallon Rock where we were headed with the drone. I was so excited to make this trip!

There were some other folks also enjoying the amazing weather and taking in the breathtaking views that only the ocean at sunset could offer. They brought their fishing rods and their chair as well as other supplies to spend a leisurely evening fishing and relaxing! They looked so peaceful!

After hastily taking photos of what was going on around us, I saw that the sun was getting lower while I was distracted and quickly sent of the drone and began the journey. The sky expanded in the view finder as I gained altitude and moved closer to the man made island. Even after a minute of flying you could still see in the shot above how small the island still looked (on the right side). Luckily the wind was on our side and there was not much resistance to flight or power comsumption.

It was another 5 minutes of full speed flight before I actually arrived at the island itself and the setting sun silhouetted the structure as it moved closer to the horizon's line.

Details became apparent as I flew closer and I was surprised at what I saw! I had never seen the island before except when passing by on the road and seeing it from so far away and I always assumed it was some small rock out there with a small tree but it turns out that it was this huge concrete platform with place to stand and dirt on top where a tree grew!

I decided to first encircle the platform and observe what I could. There seemed to be a lot of damage and erosion that occurred over time by the harsh ocean. Of course she was as calm as can be right now but during storms and hurricanes, she can be quite violent.

Using birds as a sense of scale, even though the island still looked a bit small, I realized that this thing dwarfed a human bing as in that wall that you see there on the left where it looks like someone can sit is much taller than an average human! You could hold a huge party on this rock with 20 people at least and still be comfortable! I was told that the fisher men actually do!

I decided to move even closer as much as I could to see if I could see details on the top where the tree grew. There seemed to be a patch of dirt that was filled in during construction of the platform where plants started to grow after it was exposed to the the open air after the house that was upon this was broken down completely by scavengers. This tree eventually grew as well.

Moving to the other side of the structure, and closed to the most eroded and dilapidated area/ side, I noticed that there were a lot of garbage left by visitors who came via boat for their so called parties. I was informed that people pay the fishermen to be taken to the island via boat and be taken back up at a certain agreed time and so people come for such indulgences!

Here is an angle taken with the view of San Fernando in the background! You get an idea of how far away it is from the shoreline! I was getting quite anxious about the battery at this point in time but I pressed on for the sake of content!

As always, I needed to get that top down shot! Look at that water! I never have seen the water in the Gulf of Paria to be so clean and colorful! It usually always looks muddy and dirty and it was so clean and a beautiful emerald green out here!

This shot was taken just before I decided to head back as the battery was getting quite low and it was definitely the most favorite of the set! I manages to get a great profile view of the structure incorporating the best parts of it as well as amazing lighting and color of the waters. The mural that was painted on the wall as well as the other graffiti added a great flavor to it all as well as the tree! I just loved the composition and the look of it all!

By the time I flew back it was quite dark and the city had fallen into a magical dusk that enchanted the eyes and melted the heart. Most of the other people were gone and it was just my wife and I that got to see the sun set fully.

It was so much fun to fly all the way to the island and back. It felt like a mission that I was on and it was quite daring as the battery lasted only so long! The shots and footage that I got that day were amazing and some of the favorites of the year! Thanks so much for coming along!