Beach hopping

We chose to stop at Cannon Beach because of Lazy Susan. We read rave reviews about the breakfasts at Lazy Susan, and now we’re big fans, too. Only after breakfast could we think of heading for the beach.

What an amazing beach and look at those rocks! Haystack Rock is 235’ tall. Birds nest there, but, unfortunately for us, the last tufted puffins flew south the week before.

An ochre sea star

We checked in at Otter Crest, and, of course, headed straight for the beach.

We walked on the wide and almost empty sandy beach. Harbor seals were on the rocks in the distance; gray whales swam offshore. Thanks to Bernice, we had a place to stay overlooking the ocean for an entire week!

The tidal pools fascinated us, but we wish we knew what we were looking at.

We continued our walk down the beach until we came to a high rock wall that jutted into the ocean. The rock wall appeared to end the beach until we saw a cave-like entrance. The tide was going out so we scrambled over the rocks and entered.

Inside the Devil’s Punchbowl.

With high walls and ocean water rushing in – we’d recommend a visit only when the tide is going out.

Back on the beach, we discovered a path cutting up through the high rock wall to the top. We came to a road that led to a lookout with a great view.

The Devil’s Punchbowl, view from above.

Beaches are open to public use in Oregon, so we might have guessed they’d be crowded, littered, and not well maintained. We visited about half dozen beaches, and all were outstanding – none of those anticipated problems. Only one problem we could see. The water is really, really cold.

 

September 2015