I was excited to revisit this beautiful rock just off the coast of Zambales. After a series of nasty typhoons, several ones in the span of a few weeks, weather was cooperating.

Its the perfect place for photographers fascinated by the great outdoors. Capones is raw, deserted, and wild. It has good views of the sunrise and sunset, and its easily accessible from Pundakit.

We started off early, by 4:30 AM we were already on an outrigger boat headed to the island. You can easily discern Capones' characteristic silhouette from the shores of Pundakit even on a dark night. After 30 uneventful minutes we hit the shores on the south side of the island. There were some local fishermen camping out, awakened by our arrival.

The first light of the day was already breaking and as soon as we dropped off our stuff, off we went planned locations. There was no need to scout as most of us have been in this island several times before. Instead of shooting by the beach, I decided to hike up to the hill on the middle part of the island. By the time I reached the top, sunrise was well on its way (first photo on this post).

who let the dog out?

I had this POV in mind and I was hoping for some colors on the west (anti-sunset). While the eastern sky was ablaze, there was nothing spectacular on the western side. An interesting thing happened though: I was surprised to see two dogs approached me. I know that nobody lives here. One of them followed me around and decided that she's a good foreground element. [Recently the Navy decided to put up a small detachment in this deserted island to thwart attempts of some individual to develop this into an island resort. The two dogs are their "guard dogs"].

We spend the rest of the day sleeping under the shade of the huge rocks. The other locals were fishing non-stop and would occasionally go back to camp to put their catch in a cooler (or sometimes straight to the coals). They are fishing with long "old school" bamboo poles and the bait are small fish and crustaceans.

sunset fisherman

By sundown the tide has ebbed, revealing interesting rock formations on one end of the island. But I decided to head out to the small hill where I shot the sunrise earlier. Its going to be hilltops for me for the rest of the trip.

clouds aglow on the east

I got some really good colors on the eastern skies (anti-sunset). I wished I had a 10-stop ND filter with me as there was some fast cloud movements.

rock garden anti-sunset

Though I had some shots of the anti-sunset that I really liked, sunset that day did a weak finish. I was hoping for more colors.

sunset by the rock garden

Woke up early the next morning for the sunrise. Climbed a hill (again) closer to our campsite. I was dismayed by the colors. I can hear the island saying "you can't have it all".

muted sunrise

The consolation was some very interesting crepuscular rays in the anti-sunrise direction. This seldom happens as most rays radiate from where the light source is.

crepuscular rays