Bandon Beach - Oregon Coast

Bandon Beach

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Foam at Low Tide

Bandon Beach is about mid way up the Oregon Coast. What I like about the Oregon coast is how flat the beaches are. At low tide you can walk at times up to about 100 yards straight out into the surf and the water is still only knee to waist high. The surf softly rolls in. This is at "low" tide mind you. High tide is a different story.

Bandon is not only a beach but a coastal town. Very quaint and geared to tourism and retirement. I would like to do both.

The day before I left for this trip I came down with a raging cold so I did not have my "Man vs. Wild" attitude. The weather was hit and miss. There was lots of rain which gave good clouds but sometimes it was too much with constant rain and/or totally overcast skies.

"Sea Lion Cave"

Sea Lion Cave is the largest natural ocean cave in the world. The cave was found in the late 1800's when a sailor shipwrecked here and spent a few days stranded in the cave having to kill and eat one of the sea lions.

There was supposed to be about 150 sea lions here this day. It was pretty cool to see so many in one place and hear the commotion they make. Also the "aromatherapy" was INTENSE!! I can't believe the alternative medicine people have not caught on to this as the smell has got to cure something ;-)

It was actually snowing at sea level when I got here.

Use the first link above to see more of Bandon Beach and Sea Lion Caves.

More photos to come.

Step Into Blue

"Step Into Blue"

Clear Lake California

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I've had a few short outings since my last post. The above photo is taken from the north end of Clear Lake. There was a particular calm over the lake that day even though there was an approaching storm. Two more shots from this area can be viewed from the link above as well as two shots I took on the way here called "Fire Water" and "Pastoral Sunset".

"The Way Home"

Anderson Marsh

The above photo was taken on my way back from a venture into Anderson Marsh which is at the south end of Clear Lake. I had my knee high rubber boots with me as I was all jazzed up to go into the toolies and get some water/toolie/sunset shots but as the trail became more indistinct and the dry marsh grass got thicker and thicker until I just could not go any further I realized that with the lack of rain, Global Warming, etc. there was simply no marsh at this time!! The area was completely dry with the only water being once you made it to the lake itself. Even on my way back where I went over some boardwalks which are supposed to be over the deepest fingers of the lake, they were bone dry. I made up for it with the wonderful clouds and light-play on the way back. A total of 6 photos were added from this trip and can be viewed from the link at the beginning of this post.

"Silver & Gold"

Little River area of Mendocino Coast

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I made a trip to Little River which is a small community just south of Mendocino. I was told there is an ocean blow hole (of sorts) in that area. Sure enough, I found it. If you park in front of the Little River Cemetery and walk through the middle of the cemetery (be sure to read some of the interesting headstones but don't step on someone's grandma in the process) and follow the short trail that starts and separation in the fence, you come to what I would say is a hole about 40 yards across and the same distance deep with a flat bottom. There is a series of ropes to help you get down the very steep path to the bottom where there is a tunnel that is probably about 100' long and opens directly to the ocean.

At high tide the water can come all the way into the bottom of the hole but on this day it was just at the end of the tunnel but high enough so I could only stand about 10' into it. I ended up with a black & white shot called simply "Ocean Tunnel" and can be viewed thru the "Silver & Gold" link above.

On my way over here I stopped in some redwoods along the Navarro River to shoot some close ups of ferns and such. As I got close to the river which was only running like a small creek at the time, I heard something sloshing up the water. It was a pair of large River Otters. Before I could adjust my camera to get some shots of them, they saw me and quickly hightailed it back the way them came.

Next weekend I will be going up the Oregon/Washington coast for about a week. This will be a new adventure for me. So stay tuned in a couple weeks for hopefully some more good shots. So until then, be good.