Disclaimer: This post is one of those that ended up being (mostly) written years after the experience was had. While there was a paragraph or two posted way back then with a single photo, there were no other notes taken, so most of what is shared here must be extracted from the images and what memories they may have lent us.

Before crossing the Yaquina Bay Bridge from Newport over to South Beach, I just had to grab this photo but couldn’t avoid the lens flare; this image was the best of the lot.

Today’s breakfast was a yummy, albeit less than totally nutritious, combination of fresh fried fish and french fries from the South Beach Fish Market. The sampler plate featuring halibut, tuna, and salmon made for a great hot breakfast that won’t likely be duplicated in our desert environs of Phoenix any time soon.

A short walk at the Ona Beach at Brian Booth State Park for bird watching was next up.

The way our travel plans often work up here is that we look for places we’d overlooked on previous visits, but then something catches our attention, and we act on impulse, finding somewhere to park and venturing out. At other times, we had places that were especially attractive on previous visits and couldn’t resist their allure to return as we were about to drive by while skipping new spots, often with some small amount of regret.

While we might know logically that there are only so many configurations of grass, water, mushrooms, moss, trees, birds, and other elements that decorate a place, they are always new and exciting to us. Just look at that log, and its reflection in the water, spectacular isn’t it?

The first thing you see is the grey heron, but look just below it.

Uh oh, it’s the addiction danger place where it’s all too easy to get lost watching waves crash here at the Devils Churn. Located in the Cape Perpetua Scenic Area, this wedge of basalt rock carved into the mountainy coast works to create a phenomenon when incoming waves swell in the narrowing wedge and turn into a frothy frosting-like foam before plowing into the ever-tightening rocks and shooting upwards of forty, fifty, at times what looks like one-hundred feet into the air like a geyser.

With each swell, the water level piles up until a break in the waves allows the seawater to start exiting the slot, but just as quickly, another wave comes in, plowing over what is trying to escape.

It is at the point where forces meet that these momentary sculptures rise and fall in a blink of an eye, never to be duplicated again.

During high tide, we watched more than one person stand a wee bit too close to the roiling waters and get sprayed for their foolhardiness. One man was knocked off his feet – scary, to say the least, as no one would ever dare jump into those waters to save someone. On the bottom left of this image, in the dark rocks, are two people risking it all.

As the waters shoot aloft and churn, this wicked thick foam rides atop the waves, adding a deceptive quiet calm to the seething waters below and mimicking the appearance of those waves made famous by the Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai in the woodblock print titled The Great Wave.

After hours of watching the Devils Churn, we had some remaining daylight for further sightseeing.

The road south was the way we traveled, though we’d be staying north of here.

Somewhere over there is Agate Creek, lost in the fog. The view next to Highway 101 is taken from the location of the next photo.

No, this is not the “Braying Ass Point,” just Brays Point.

Heceta Head Lighthouse near Florence, Oregon, is the furthest south we’ll travel tonight.

Okay, just one more photo of the beautiful dark emerald sea, and we’ll be on our way.

We had some laundry to deal with before grabbing dinner back up in Yachats, where we’d be staying. Later, we enjoyed a fantastic dinner at the historic pub and cafe, The Drift Inn with some truly great musical accompaniment offered by the band Coin of the Realm. Zach Konowalchuk on violin (passed away at 24 years old, just four years after we met him), David Konowalchuk on guitar, and Evans Longshore on bass made up the trio who played us traditional foot-tapping Ukrainian folk melodies. Prior to this evening, we had not listened to Ukrainian music but were so impressed we bought all three of Zach’s CDs. Thanks, guys, for making our night so memorable and fun.