Wave cave adventure

Have you ever sat down with a book of short stories and found one that you really enjoy? One that makes you want to read it really slowly and savor the mood or the story line or writing style or whatever it is that you connect with? I have. The one that I'm thinking of now and that leads in to my post today is Franz Kafka's The Burrow. I think it's a real treasure. In it, we listen to the thoughts of some unknown sort of burrowing animal as it considers it's home and all that it means to it. I've read it many times. 

 My favourite burrow. This was taken in a little meadow not far from my hunting blind, back in 2010. 

For this shot, I lay down next to the burrow shown in the header, turned on the flash on my camera, stuck my arm into the burrow to the shoulder and snapped. It took me several tries before I pointed the lens in the best direction, the one that showed the horizontal tunnel at the base of the entrance hole. I wish I had a camera on the end of a cable that I could feed into the hole and explore lots further...

Many times, when I walk into a cave, I think I might feel a little of the comfort the animal from The Burrow described in walking through it's home's passages. Caves generally seem to me to be welcoming. Sounds change within a cave. Smells surround me. I seem protected from the outside world. It makes me want to go further in and discover what it has to show me.  I never feel claustrophobic. I guess I figure that this cave has lasted all this time without collapsing. Odds are that it won't do so in the next few minutes as I pass through it. 

After all the hoopla I've thrown at you just now, maybe you'll be disappointed that today's post describes our exploration of a mini-wave cave at Bethell, that only runs through about 60 or 70 feet of rock. It has many of the attributes of longer caves though. 

This was the first time we have been able to get inside it. Actually, it's the first time it occurred to us that we could get inside it.  In the past, the tides have been high enough that waves continually crashed through this opening. This time, during Dianne's visit, Jeanne discovered it was in fact accessible and that it has a sand floor, once you climb down into it. It offers a peak into the water that lies beyond it. 

Here, Dianne is taking a look. 

You can just see the opening at the far end. 

A little better view of the water beyond.

The water outside is making little splashing noises. Hollow sounding inside here. Every now and then a very minor little wave might come in and wet a couple of feet of the floor.
It's so cozy now that it's hard to believe that being here at hight tide would be deadly.
Note the color change on the walls about half way up. I wonder if that marks the high tide level?

The next time we go, I'll try to get right up to the edge and video the outside. 

This is taken while making my way back out of the cave. 

Almost out 

I also wanted to show you some of the rocks that decorate the beaches here. Some of these look like rocks within rocks. Others are worn almost smooth and look like a tile floor. 

Looks like the western part of the U. P. doesn't it?

This section is on O'Neill Beach. This picture doesn't do it justice. It is more colorful that the picture shows. 

When I see rocks like this I wish I had a geologist in my back pocket. 

This large central one looks like a diagram of a brain.  -djf