This photo,
dated 3rd
May 2007, downloaded from Flickr
was taken
here - Isla do Faro
(google maps street view)
We note the
heavily overcast sky. We also note the almost total lack of shadow.
The
conditions and temperature may reasonably be deduced from the
clothing and the body language and stance of the girl.
We also see a
small patch of blue sky, and are entitled to ask where this was.
The direction
of the photo may be easily deduced, by taking the shoulder of the
girl, the beach, the walkway, the concrete wall, the lamp post with
the distinctive globe shape and the windows of the hotel in the
middle distance as markers.
Thus
This then
takes us here, and we can reasonably include the clouds
Once again the pattern is clear. Open sky over the sea, heavy cloud over the land.
We could
also, perhaps frivolously, fill in the details of their day. They
planned a trip to the island, woke up to a cloudy day, and dressed
appropriately.
They
crossed the causeway, but it was so cold and windy that they did not
even get far beyond the car park, before taken the obligatory photo,
and immediately adjourning for a hot drink in a local cafeteria.
Later that
evening, just before sunset (which was at 2022) they had a romantic
stroll along the beach and he took another photo of his girlfriend
Let
us now turn to the photo of the rock on the beach.
Some have
argued that since it shows patches of blue sky, it is capable of
negating all the other evidence of the weather conditions in the
South of Portugal for the period under consideration.
The photo
dated 3rd
May 2007, was taken from Flickr
An educated
guess from a local resident and a search on google
maps shows that it is here.
Praia Dona Ana, Lagos
and on that
same page it is included among the visitors’ photos
We can then
calculate the direction in which the photo was taken
First we find
the rocks in question through google
maps
then apply
compass points
giving us
this
which when
applied to a larger map gives us this
And once
again the weather pattern is clear.
We look back
at the photo, and roughly place the patches of blue sky, and the
observable overcast, and find there is no surprise.
Over the sea
there are patches of open sky.
Over the land
- total cloud cover
Thus
The distance
from Praia Dona Ana to the children’s pool at the Ocean Club in
Praia da Luz is
5.59
km (3.47 miles, or 6110
yards)
At the Ocean
Club children's pool we are told the weather was like this
- bright
sun, sharp shadows, hot, sweaty, flat calm, in fact the sort of
weather which merits shorts and T shirts and sleeveless sun tops, and
sun hats, and sitting with one’s feet in a very cold pool . . .
whereas less
than three and a half miles away the weather was like this
What may we
deduce ?
We observe
that apart from the girl who took the photo, the beach is EMPTY
This little
beach should look like this
In the area
covered by the 3/5/7 photo there are no fewer than 42 people shown
So we apply
logic, we note that Thursday 3rd
May was in the fortnight including Portuguese Freedom Day Bank
Holiday on 25th
April, Labour day on 1st
May, and Mothers’ Day on 6th
May.
The season to
celebrate and have family outings to the beach
The Praia
Dona Ana is on the edge of a heavily built up residential area at the
edge of Lagos
But the beach is deserted.
May we at
least ‘purport
the theory’ that the reason for this state of affairs was that . .
.
The weather
was cold and windy, as everyone else says, and as all the official
weather reports along the coast say, and as the World Windsurfing
Championship reported, and as local residents recorded in their
diaries, and as all the photos in the public domain demonstrate ?
The
possibility that the Last /Pool Photo was taken at lunchtime on
Thursday 3rd
May 2007 becomes ever more vanishingly small.
Balance
of probabilities ?
or
are we yet at
Beyond
a reasonable doubt ?
Refs;
Rock Photo
Girl photo