Explore with Mike and Michele - Cape Perpetua
After spending a couple of days in Brookings, Mike and I headed north to Cape Perpetua. Now mind you, this place has been on my radar for about three years. Well, specifically, Thor's Well has been on my radar! In addition to Thor's Well I wanted to visit Spouting Horn and Devil's Punchbowl.
Plenty of planning went into this trip. Tide charts were perused, sunset times were checked. My goal was to get a shot of Thor's Well at sunset with gorgeous skies. After the skies that we had in Brookings I was optimistic that I could achieve my goal.
Our first stop just south of Cape Perpetua was Heceta Head Lighthouse. We photographed it from one of the pullouts along the road. The parking lot was packed so we opted for a long distance view.
Next stop was the visitors center at Cape Perpetua. We retrieved all the necessary maps and information that we would need for the week. Our next stop was to scout out Thor's Well. We arrived at about 2 pm. High tide had already come and gone but Thor's Well was still doing its thing. I ventured out that way to check it out and see where I could photograph from. I found my perch and set up. The skies were still cloudy and dramatic from the storms the day before. I was going to get a couple of "practice shots" for the upcoming Saturday. Saturday, according to my research, was when all the suns and moons aligned for my sunset at high tide prediction.
There I am, perched and ready for the action of "the well". I fired off about ten shots "practicing" for Saturday. All went well. I went back to Spouting Horn, which is in the same vicinity of Thor's Well.
Now Mike had this fascination with Spouting Horn. He never took a shot of Thor's Well when we were there. He focused his attention on Spouting Horn. Spouting Horn is a blowhole that is amazing when the surf is turbulent or the tide is high. Mike got really good at the timing of the blowhole.
I couldn't catch a break with that thing. As was shown by our trip on Saturday morning. I decided to try my hand at catching the blowhole at high tide. I watched it from a distance for awhile to see how far up the waves would go. I didn't want to get caught by any sneaker waves! I finally decided to billy goat it up to a perch that seemed high enough to escape the dousing of the waves. Nope. Negative. Got "snuck" up on by a ginormous wave and soaked. My camera you ask? Oh, you mean the brand new one I had purchased just two months prior? Fried. Yep. Toast. We tried to revive it for the sunset shoot that evening. It was a no go. Flatline. No hope. So I ended up shooting my dream spot with my old camera. It was still fun. What is humorous about the whole thing is that my "practice shots" turned out to be my best shots. That's just how life goes sometimes!
Another spot that we visited was the Devil's Punchbowl. There was some logistics to this place as well. You could only enter it at low tide and had to be out of there when the tide started coming in or you were a goner! This place was super cool. It is a sea cave that erosion has collapsed. The colors on the insides of the walls is amazing. The only downfall to this day was that it was storming like crazy. It was hard keeping camera gear and lenses dry but we managed to get a couple of great photos.
The next stop was the Yaquina Head Lighthouse in Newport Oregon. The skies were angry that day and I swear the winds were blowing at about 100 mph! Truthfully, I have no idea how fast they were blowing that day. All I know is that it was trying to knock us over. I am very stout. It is hard to knock me over. I'm pretty sure those winds were 100 mph...... We drove around the corner and the winds weren't that bad and I managed to get one shot of the lighthouse. It begs another visit from us so that we can do the tour.
The best part of the day was when it was all said and done we could go back to this quaint little restaurant called Lunas for some fish and chips and clam chowder. If you ever make it to Yachats you need to stop by there. THE BEST!
I loved our trip to Cape Perpetua and the little town of Yachats. We stayed at the Fireside Motel. Very affordable and the staff was very friendly. I loved the fact that our hotel was right on the beach. Below is the view just a short walk from our door.
We usually don't mention where we stayed or places we ate at but the hospitality of the places we frequented in Yachats deserve this recognition. They were amazing!
For Fish and Chips and clam chowder our choice was Luna's. They are a family owned business that make you feel right at home. The only downfall is they are a bit small but if the weather is nice they have outdoor seating.
Every morning we went to the same place for breakfast. Excellent place. It's called the Drift Inn. They had some odd decorations. Our waiter every morning was always cheerful and the food was stupendous! We even had dinner there one night and that too was wonderful.
I wish that we had more time to spend on the Oregon Coast. With that being said, I am looking forward to going back and exploring the places that I didn't have time for!
DIRECTIONS
180 miles north of Brookings, Oregon on Highway 101.
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