Coves

Of all the things I love about the ocean, coves are my favorites. I have been in them on the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans and all of them have things in common and parts that are unique. Nothing wrong with long, sandy beaches, but a cove, with a limited inlet, with limited access has something that feels magical and mystical.

My first experience with coves was as a small child in a place named Short Sands. It lies south of Cannon Beach on the northern Oregon Coast. To camp there, which I have done many times, you borrow a wheelbarrow supplied by the park, put your tent, sleeping bags, food and whatever you can get into it, push it down a forested trail to get the tent site where another family member ideally is sitting to assure it will still be there, and sometimes repeat the process until you have all your supplies and camp set up. Through the trees, you can see the cove, ocean, cliffs on both sides, rocks, and a short, sandy beach. The beach itself is delightful, generally protected from the winds, with lots of tidal pools and trails to explore.

Another beautiful Oregon cove is just north of Lincoln City at a place called Road's End. The special cove is at the north end of that sandy beach, beyond road's end, and to get to it, you scramble over rocks during the lowest of tides. You do not have long to get there and back before the tide changes.

The beach you will see is wild and when you stand on those rocks, looking at the sand, hearing the sound of waves crashing and seabirds, high cliffs surrounding the cove, no other way into it, no human tracks, you don't want to put any of yours there either. The time I saw it I felt it was a primal beach, the way it all would have been when the first humans entered this country.

Up on Vancouver Island, I have seen coves various places that are so beautiful I just wanted to stay there as long as possible. Always there are the cliffs, the waves crashing in, the seabirds, the rocks, and sometimes a short sandy beach.

I have photos from all of these places and more but the ones you see here are all from the most recent cove, an attempt to show a bit of the feeling. My photos of the tidal pools didn't come out as well as I'd like. I guess I have to go back someday as tidal pools are one of the coolest things about coves. Visit Parapluie's site to see some of her paintings from this cove-- Umbrella Painting Journal dates April 23-25th.

My digital painting came from a photo that ended up just a bit out of focus. In trying to sharpen it, it lost angles still not sharp and only minimally looked like me.

Since I loved the setting, the colors, I thought I'd go back the next morning-- except that was when a bigger storm blew in, the lighting changed totally, and the place the photo had been taken would have still been under water when we had to leave.

Since I love photos of people and rocks, I used that one as a base for creating a digital painting-- hopefully with the feeling of exploring a cove anywhere around the world. I plan to also do an oil using the same photo as the base.

In this particular place, I had thought I could wade through that pool right in front of me, climb over the rocks just beyond and then be out of the cove and onto a long sandy beach to the south. With the tide farther out, it would have been easy as Parapluie had done it earlier. The tide however was coming in; and when I got to where I could see, I discovered the next tidal pool was at least thigh high. I didn't mind soaking my socks and tennis shoes in that cold ocean water but drew the line at my jeans.