One More From The Shore! November 28, 2010
Posted by littlebangtheory in Art and Nature.Tags: Bray's Beach, Gloucester, moonrise, private property, Rafe's Chasm, snorkling
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This is the last of the North Shore photos, I promise. I think. Until next time.
I mean, until I either
a) get back there or
b) find more shots worth sharing.
Here’s a random stray one taken near Portland Head Light:
I kinda liked the geometry of that one and didn’t want to lose track of it before I shared it with someone.
An earlier visit to Bray’s Beach, south of Gloucester in the Magnolia area, found high surfs pounding an otherwise placid beach:
The locals were taking it in stride, whether reading on beach chairs while swaddled in blankets, or practicing yoga between snorkeling adventures:
Lizz and I got to Rafe’s Chasm this past weekend. It’s a (relatively) spectacular little slot in the Massachusetts shoreline, a 60-foot cleft in the trademark golden granite characteristic of this part of the coast:
The right side in this photo is accessible, the left is posted as Private Property. I didn’t go there, but I resented the convention that The Filthy Rich (hereafter referred to as The FFR, you can fill in the blanks) get to “own” such magical pieces of OUR coastline.
Just sayin’.
Oh, and across the head of this great crevice, a couple of feet to my left as I took that shot, there was a very nice steel fence, not some eyesore, but a piece of art built exactly for its circumstances. It pained me to give credence to the claim of ownership, but as I wasn’t alone and didn’t want my impetuosity to adversely affect others, I was a good boy and went no farther.
From below Rafe’s is like a piece of the Southwest dropped on the New England coast:
The fence blocking passage is just below that fancy stone gazebo at the top, which comes complete with a video surveillance camera, in case one forgets whose Earth this is.
Down by the water there was barely a sign of civilization, thanks to the convoluted shoreline – the expensive homes weren’t far off, they just weren’t visible.
And again it looked like the desert Southwest to me, set incongruously against a deep blue sea:
Not exactly my stereotypical vision of southern New England, but there it was.
I was hoping to have found a place to photograph a full moonrise with a lighthouse in the shot, but wasn’t sure I was far enough south on the coast to do that. Turns out I wasn’t, and a band of clouds obscured the actual moonrise anyway so that it wasn’t visible at all until it had long since cleared the horizon:
I was disappointed not to have gotten to use Gizmo on the lighthouse shot, but glad to have spent the wait-time a Rafe’s Chasm rather than somewhere else.
On the way out I took this shot at Lizz’s suggestion:
Good eye, that woman!
I’ll end this sea-tryst with a sunset shot from my first Eastward foray to this spot, looking south toward Boston:
That was a great evening of power and magic, and I’m happy to be able to share it with you.
Peace from The Coast,
Out.
I love these shots. The rocks appeal in some primal way. Thank you so much.
Absolutely breathtaking pictures. Naturally, you saved the very best for last but I liked all of them.
My yoga is much less active.
Thanks back at both of you.
Yeah, Paul, water and rocky shores make for a powerful synergy; I’m glad you liked them.
Susan, my temporally distant forays into yoga yielded nothing quite that elegant (without even mentioning her thick black braid down to her buttocks, which added to the effect.)
I’m gratified to hear that you liked the photos. 😉
Final image in the posted series is Magical. All good, but that one is a stand out. Always a pleasure to visit and see what you’re up to.
Great pictures! I love your commentary about how the filthy rich can own such a beautiful iconic place like Rafe’s chasm. back in the 60’s the previous owner would actually welcome people to look into the chasm during nor’easter so but that all changed around the mid 70’s when the current owner put up a chain link fence and video cameras and one was certain to chased out by Gloucester cops. It is an absolute travesty that in this state that old colonial coastal laws are still used to keep out us riffraff.