NavList:

Frank - you asked whether we could detect certain issues with the image.

I've done a little Milky Way photography over the years from both hemispheres but always in the mid latitudes.  The abilty to stack multiple digital images within a software tool has enables some beautiful views of the Milky Way that the eye cannot discern, even in the best dark sky locations (or the middle of an ocean).  But my limited skills are yet to reach the standards of the image you have shared.  I have not, for example, been able to catch an image of stars in from of the land in the background.  Nor have I been able to capture stars below the level of the water/sky interface (the horizon).  I am still searching for those magical opportunities, but this image appears to have captured both.  I have never captured the Milky Way lying so flat across the horizon though there are times of the year when it does stretch across the sky at a low angle. especially closer to the equator.  Of course I have tended to seek out a Milky Way stretching vertically from horizon to horizon in a dark sky so perhaps I have been missing out.  Such photos as I have taken, from the Northern Hemisphere, the feature Cassiopeia and Cygnus tend to be the other way around, but maybe my lens in on back-to-front.

Of course the biggest issue with this image is the fact that the vessel still has several fenders hanging off her gunwhale despite being well clear of the dock.  Poor form indeed.