Just a Beautiful Sunset, and Maybe a BIt of a Green Flash...

The gloom and the rain cleared out for our last night in Oregon, and we were treated to a gorgeous sunset. We had a clear horizon to the west, so as usual I tried to catch (maybe) a bit of the green flash.

The green flash is a somewhat rarely seen spectral phenomenon that occurs the moment the sun disappears below the horizon. Light from the sun is being refracted through the atmosphere, and at sunset the last of the spectral colors to appear is green (and sometimes blue). The effect only lasts for a second or two, so I'm never quite sure what I've seen. I just trust the camera to catch the effect, to varying success. 

My previous try was more convincing, but I see a bit of green in the picture below. You're welcome to tell me what you think!

The Tormented Lost Souls in Hades? Or Maybe the Denizens of the Largest (?) Sea Cave in the World

You've seen the bumper stickers, no matter where you've been in the country: Trees of Mystery, Wall Drug, South Dakota, and Mystery House of just about anywhere, and of course, Sea Lion Caves. I've never fallen for the allure of said bumper stickers, but Sea Lion Caves just happened to be 11 miles north of where I'm at this week, and there is definitely something geological about the place, so I gave in and checked it out yesterday.

The draw of the place is of course the fact that a great many Stellar's Sea Lions congregate inside the vast opening which is said to be the largest sea cave in the world. I pulled up and looked around. Big signs? Check. Gift Shop? Check. High ticket cost? Check. Yup, all the attributes of these kinds of attractions.

Still, the setting was beautiful. The site is on a high sea cliff on Oregon's Highway 101 eleven miles north of Florence, and just a mile or two from Heceta Head Light House and Devils Elbow State Park, two places I can highly recommend (they are part of a single park now).

From the gift shop, you walk down some steps and head down a paved path to the 200 foot elevator that drops you into the viewing area within the sea cave. There is no view or sense of what lies below, given the steepness of the cliffs.

I looked to see if anyone has photographed the sea caves from the outside, and couldn't find any, so I went to GoogleEarth for help. Here is what you can see from there...the cave has three openings and extends for 1315 feet, making it the third longest sea cave in the world. They also have a claim about being the largest sea cave in the world by volume, though others make claims as well: check this link out, for instance. I can't really judge one way or the other, but noticed that the Riko-Riko cave included a submerged portion of the cave in its measurement.

In any case, the cave at Sea Lion Caves is impressive. The ceiling of the cave is 125 feet up. The little tan-colored dots on the rocks in the first picture are full grown sea lions. I don't have any idea how they climb up onto those rocks.

The noise is other-worldly, and if I were hearing it without the context, I would swear it was the tortured lost souls in Hades crying out for mercy. The vast opening echoes and amplifies the noise of around 200 sea lions.


So, is it worth it? That's a tricky question to answer. The cavern is huge, and is fascinating from a geological perspective. The Stellar's Sea Lions are certainly a charismatic animal species, and it is no doubt a spectacle to see so many of them gathered into one place. But responsible stewardship of the species makes it absolutely important to not bother or interfere with the animals, and that means that there is no exploration of the caves. One gets only the one view from the platform. There are some interesting exhibits to spice up the experience, including a fossilized skeleton of one of the sea lions that is at least hundreds of years old, and a full skeleton of another. There is a stairway that climbs to the third and higher entrance to the cave that provides a fine view north towards Heceta Head Lighthouse.

It's a capitalistic enterprise, so they presumably charge what the market would bear ($14 for adults and less for kids), and if I had a large family I would balk at the price. Still, I would say that it was worth the price to see such a huge cave, despite the limitations. It's the kind of place that I appreciate and am impressed by, but I pretty much need to see it only once.

So, don't be afraid to check it out if you are in the area. If you want to see the sea lions, but don't have the monetary resources to pay the admission fee, stop in the pullout just north of the parking lot and look to the base of the cliff. I've seen a big crew of sea lions down there on every occasion I've been by (below).

The Green Flash, the Green Rim, and Coastal Sunsets

I'm in a beautiful place, no doubt about it. I'm in central Oregon on the Siuslaw River visiting for the holidays, exploring new terrain that I've never really seen before. Luckily, we have the time to linger for a few days instead of rushing home, so it actually feels right to sit on the porch and just enjoy life and my relatives (whom I love spending time with).

And what a porch! I took advantage of clearing skies to watch the sun set tonight. I've got the new camera and I am still learning its capabilities, so I decided to catch the whole drama of the sun disappearing below the distant horizon. I also hoped to catch the legendary "green flash", which I have never seen (despite my hopes in previous posts).

I probably still haven't seen it, but I was reading about these things, and noted that a "green rim" can sometimes be seen as well. If my camera is delivering true colors, I think I captured the green rim at the very least, across the top of the disk of the sun.

 The green flash is a sudden flash of greenish light above the sun at the moment of sunset, and it is said to last only a second or so. As the sun dips into the horizon, the layers of the atmosphere will cause some of the sunlight to be refracted, with red and orange on the lower parts of the disk along with green (and rarely blue) across the top.

If I caught the flash at all, it was probably here, as this was the only green I could see while I was snapping the pictures. I leave it to the judgement of those out there who have seen the green flash before as to what I caught this evening. I welcome your thoughts and observations!