Bethell Beach was the first beach I visited when I arrived in Aotearoa. I thought it impressive and enjoyed what I saw immensely. I have been learning since then, that with that first look, I saw just the tip of the Bethell iceberg. Bethell is large enough that it takes many trips to explore it properly....and to see some things, it must be explored at the right time of day.
About a month ago, Jeanne and I borrowed Allie's car and drove down. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and only a mild off-shore breeze. And, I learned that low tide would occur at 11:40 a.m., just the perfect schedule for our exploration of the south end of the beach.
With so many other things to look at on other parts of Bethell, Jeanne and I had only once before walked down to the south end of it, and that time was during a high tide. It was in May of 2015. These next four photos were taken then. We saw two caves that day, but could not get into them because of the the water.
The first, smaller one was accessible had I jumped down about eight feet from the rocks that I was standing on to the bare sand in front of the cave, but waves came rushing up the beach as they do and went crashing into the cave. To be caught inside it when the wave hit would probably be deadly. Btw, the term 'smaller' is relative. This is a pretty good-sized cave. It's just that the other one is BIG.
Here's the first, small cave. Doesn't look so dangerous, does it?
Well, here comes the wavefront. It was moving fast. There was enough of it that I'm sure it filled to the back of the cave.
And here is a picture of the larger cave at high tide...
Impossible to approach
Here is a wider-angle shot of large cave at high tide during a receding wave.
Now, let's jump forward in time to our most recent exploration. What you'll see today is a much different place...and since I took the pictures that I'm using between about 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., you'll notice that shadows may or may not be present.
This picture was taken today, and it is of course, the same large cave at low tide.
I have enough pictures for three posts, so let me back up a little and do a proper job of showing you what Jeanne and I saw on our day at Bethell Beach.
We have walked about 1/2 mile to this point from the car park. This is the lifeguard's station. Currently unmanned due to the season.
Look at how many lines of waves are visible.
These surfers are all in wetsuits and as far as I could tell, were just playing in the water.
We're already part way down to the south end of the beach. The caves are a little more than 1/2 mile from the lifeguard's station.
Getting closer...
And closer. Look at the scale of the rocks vs. the humans.
The Waitakere Range is of volcanic origin and this looks like a wave of rocks embedded in a matrix.
I take it that the lighter coloured lava was carrying along all these other rocks.
The lighter portion seems to be weathering away faster than the dark rocks.
We have arrived at the smaller cave. When I took the pictures (2015) at the beginning of this post, we were up on the ledge to the left of the cave.
We're inside the cave now. Notice that at the top center of this picture, you see a triangle of something bluish. That is actually light coming from a hole in the ground above the cave. This cave has a fairly level 'floor' and it goes in a long ways. I'm sure the waves at high tide go all the way to the back.
Looking straight up the hole to the surface far above. This is on zoom.
I am pleased that Jeanne shares my love of spelunking. Look at her go...
She has come to about the end of where she can walk without bending over. It is very dark in here. Jeanne couldn't see the ceiling of the cave well enough to avoid bumping her head. This picture was taken with the flash obviously. We had tried to use the light from our phones to produce enough light for a photo, but it wasn't enough. The roof of the tunnel gets much lower here and it splits into two passages at the very end.
I have crawled as far as I can go. This shot shows the left hand portion of the tunnel. That opening is now only about 18 inches high. It looks as though it might curve about to the right at the very back but I can't be sure.
I've turned about here and have already walked part way out. (I should have taken a picture from the very back of the cave to give an idea of how far back this one goes. You can see that it's very dark.
Now we're getting closer to the entrance.
Here is another look straight up at that hole I showed you earlier. I haven't zoomed in on it at all this time.
Look at the lower portion of this picture. You'll see what looks like a string stretched at an angle from the lowest right part of the photo, rising up to the left. From about the middle of this string is a thin filament hanging down. I think that is the thread of the glow-worm. Arachnocampa luminosa.
And look what I found almost at the entrance. This web must have been spun in the last several hours and it won't survive the next high tide.
Jeanne's outside again and I am just about to leave.
The other object of our exploration today is visible in the distance. My next post will continue to show you the wonders of Bethell Beach. -djf
