American Beaches

Till Light Breaks

Big Sur: Portal of the Sun

"This photo is a winner in the 2009 Nature's Best Ocean Views competition!", says the author of this wonderful photograph. He adds further as follows:

"The dim last light of a fading sun sets through a portal on California's Central Coast… This sea arch opening in a cliff face at Pfeiffer Beach in Big Sur allows large waves to come through at high tide before a big storm. The waves often fill the entire portal to the top, and the portal becomes a giant water shotgun! The Tufoni formations in the rock are incredible and should be seen in person. The sun was only like this for about 30 seconds so I had to work fast. Fortunately, the sunlight was dimmed by high clouds and low fog but there was still enough light to reflect onto the rock face from the cliff behind the camera. Usually, it is not possible to get this shot because the sun is WAY too bright." Click on the photo to go to the original photo and to see the rest of the great collection of his photos.

Tumon Beach, Guam, Micronesia

Tumon is an area located on the west coast of the American Island of Guam, an island in the Western Pacific Ocean and the largest and southernmost of the Mariana Islands.

Lake Tahoe, California

Emerald Bay, one of a few bays in Lake Tahoe: Lake Tahoe is the third deepest lake in North America and the tenth deepest in the world - Lake Baikal in Russia is the deepest at over 4,600 feet. Tahoe's deepest point is 1,645 feet near Crystal Bay. The average depth of Lake Tahoe is 989 feet. It is 22 miles long, 12 miles wide, and covers a surface area of 191.6 square miles, and has 72 miles of shoreline. It is a freshwater lake.