Pat Rooney: Chinaman's Hat as a Border Behind the scene : how this panorama was made If you're adventurous and willing to cross a border or two, you can walk to the island at low tide. Surfboards and kayaks are good too. A bit more adventurous and you might climb to the top for this view. I took a bodyboard and a backpack lined with plastic carrying a bunch of pano gear. Worked better than I expected; just took a long while to pack and unpack. I've been thinking of doing this panorama for the better part of a year, but never seemed to muster the energy to make the drive and the swim with all my equipment wrapped up water-safe. The equinox theme of borders generated all that I needed, though the weather, torrential for an entire month already, would have to cooperate. I decided to go through with it when Saturday, March 18 turned out to be a break between storms. I spent the better part of the day on the island, taking several panoramas and exploring, as it was my first visit. The idea was to get an entire island into the panorama. I knew that, as a spherical panorama, the island would only be a little piece of the whole picture, and likely not so striking on its own, but swimming about the picture makes up for it, as you get a great sense of what it's like to stand on the top of this small, tall island. The large screen version opens in a very wide view looking straight down, showing the whole island. Reflections of the clouds on the water make radial lines around the island. But zoom in for some detail too. See an odd study between the wide panoramic view and a satellite image here. Return