Bandon Beach, Oregon

I had a wonderful time taking pictures at Bandon Beach.

I was raised on a beach (southeastern New Mexico, several hundred miles of sand and oil wells from the Gulf of Mexico) so I know all about beaches, except the water part, the cold wind part, the fog part, and the high and low tide part.

The Oregon coast has rock formations specifically called "sea stacks".  These rock formations began as part of the shore rock but over time the ocean wave action eroded out the softer portions, leaving these erosion resistant rocks as isolated sea stacks.  Coquille Point on Bandon Beach has excellent examples of these formations.  This is an extremely popular area for photographers.

We first viewed Bandon Beach from an overlook in the afternoon.  The sky was dark with clouds and the ocean was at high tide.  This overlook was about 1/4 mile from the main beach which we visited the following morning when the water was at low tide.  Although the pictures were taken at different angles, the same rock structures are showing and indicate the difference in the tides.

We next visited the beach in the morning about 8 am, the time of the low tide with overcast skies.

By 9 am the skies started to clear and the true beauty of the beach began to emerge.

Face Rock 

I enjoyed the beach so much that I came back that evening for Sunset pictures at low tide.  Here come the clouds and fog again.   I didn't see a peak of the sun or even the glow of a sunset but I had fun anyway. 

Face Rock

The areas around the sea stacks provide habitat for various plants and animals, including those in the tide pools. This will be a subject for a future post.

I was greatly impacted by the enormity of the rocks, the changes in temperatures, and the changes in light over the time period of the short visits to the beach.  

Hope you enjoyed the beach adventures of a desert rat.