Poolside

I have always been fascinated by marine life.

When I was a kid, I loved dolphins and whales, kept and aquarium, and wanted to be a marine biologist. Of course, growing up in West Virginia, there was an obvious lack of an ocean, so I eventually decided to go a different direction with my career and decided to observe the ocean from land instead.

Cape Kiwanda on the Oregon Coast was full of observational opportunities for me.

During sunset the previous evening, there were two whales lazily hanging out near the sea stack in this photo. We couldn't see them closely, but could see the water spouting in the distance. It made for an awesome atmosphere and really cool experience

The next morning, when I took this photo, we showed up well before sunrise to explore the beach. I settled on the tide pools, which I love the textures and colors of so much. While the whales weren't around, the fishermen were. I lost count of how many boats full of fishermen set out from this spot. It wasn't the quietest morning, but it was pretty neat to observe, rounding out my entire first experience at Cape Kiwanda.