One More From The Shore!

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.