September, 2020
You might be wondering about the fact that I have been here two full days, and this is only my second time to go for a walk on the beach?! Let me set the record straight. My friends and I, or just one or two of us at any given time, walked on the ocean beach here at least once a day, sometimes twice. We sometimes walked on the beach in the morning and in the evening. Sometimes I took my camera with me, but mostly I didn’t. I wanted simply to “be” on that ocean beach so I usually didn’t even carry the camera, much less take pictures. Those times, without my camera, were really nice.
But I did take some photos on a few of those beach walks. Here are just a few photos from one late afternoon walk along the very edge of the mighty Pacific Ocean, the largest ocean in the world. The ocean this afternoon was so calm, we could hardly believe it.
Every time I went for a walk down to the beach, I walked from our campsites down through the driftwood at the edge of the beach. As I first stepped foot on that sandy beach, I always looked to the right first … to the north, to the cape or head or promontory there. And I always stopped for a moment, and felt the power of the ocean through my feet, and through my heart. (Click on photos to enlarge them.)
The ocean seemed to approach the shore gently here. On the other hand, towards the right side of the photo above, you’ll see a dark area in the cliff face where a portion of the rock cliff has been torn away from the rest of the cliff. So the ocean is not always gentle here.
But life (and trees) survive. This one tree (above and below) was torn apart when the rock was torn from the cliff face. Both halves of the tree are still growing.
At this point, as we were standing right next to this cliff face, we could go no further north, so we turned and headed south along the beach for a quarter of a mile or so, just wandering along and chatting, looking at seaweed and shells, driftwood, rocks, patterns in the sand, listening to the ocean rustle and roar. One of my friends always carried bags so she could pick up garbage off the beach. Sadly, there was always garbage to be picked up. But now I carry bags too. If enough of us carry bags and pick up garbage, we’ll make a difference.
After a slow, meandering, comfortable walk, we turned around and headed back north, back to where we could walk up through the driftwood again and back to our campsites.
It was starting to get dark, the fog was rolling in, it was definitely cooler. Yet is was proving to be a lovely, calm evening.
As soon as we turned around and headed back to the north, I noticed the lighthouse out on the cliff above … the lighthouse! It was the North Head Lighthouse … the one we had just visited earlier today. Evidently, at the spot where we first walked out onto the beach for this beach walk, the lighthouse was just around the corner from that spot and couldn’t be seen. But now, further south down the beach, the angle was different.
Besides a surprise view of the lighthouse, it was now an hour or so after we had first come down onto the beach, and the ocean waves had picked up a bit. Now there were at least a few relatively small crashing waves on the cliff face. I wondered what it would be like out here during a real winter ocean storm. That thought occurred to me, and then I realized that I might not own enough layers of clothing to keep me warm out here during a real winter ocean storm! But still, it was an interesting thought.
We walked back up the beach, then up through the driftwood, and back to our campsites. My friends and I ate dinner together at the picnic table under their sturdy green canopy and tarp. We visited a while and then said goodnight and climbed up into our trailers for the rest of the evening and a good night’s sleep.
Home always looks and feels so good after a day of adventuring, doesn’t it?