Kaye - As you may know, B & W is my very strong preference. I think part of the skill in shooting B & W (and one I continually aspire towards) is 'seeing' the image in B & W. And that means knowing what sorts of scenes will work in B & W. The reason I say this is because I would never think of trying to make a B & W out of a scene like this.
You say you can't get them right in B & W. I'd say that's not because of any skill shortage on your part, but because these are not suitable pictures for B & W.
I think photographs of scenes like this can only ever make colour images.
Thanks Donald - you're right as ever. All day I had been thinking black and white, but after that cup of tea and the decision to grab a final opportunity to be by the sea before heading back in land, those thoughts disapated. Thanks for the help as ever.
Donald's right (as usual?). The subtle variations in the warm tones contributes greatly to the success of the photographs. You are pretty cleaver retaining a little bit of shaddow detail looking directly at the sun. I assume the clouds and hazy atmospheric conditions helped a little but you did very well not to just end up with silhouettes.