When we arrived in the Dominican Republic, it was close to midnight. No way to see anything but the inside of the hotel room. The next morning, I got up quite groggy from the short night and went on to the balcony.

There I was hit with a sound ambience that I decided to record immediately.

When you imagine yourself on a tropical beach in the morning, you expect to hear the waves and nothing else. Nothing could be further from the truth. Plenty of animals (humans not excluded) try to make your wakeup time as animated as possible.

Noise and screams are everywhere.

Despite the reputation of the Atlantic Ocean, Nova Scotia hardly gets the waves they get in western France, called Bretagne. Over there, the waves sometimes get over 20 meters high, high enough to cover lighthouses. One such lighthouse in Penmarch', called the "Phare d'Eckmuhl" is 65 meters high.

In Nova Scotia, this is virtually non-existent.

The end of the year has been tumultuous, to say the least. Relaxing for a few moments along the seashore was a welcome reprieve.

But the Atlantic Ocean and coast in January are hardly a welcoming place. Even if the waves are calm, the temperatures are somewhat hostile.