Nikki's Photography

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Clusters of baby Dungeness Crab molted exoskeletons washed up for miles along the shores of Oceanside and Netarts Bay, Oregon.

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Beach beauty, Oceanside, Oregon, tide coming in

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Netarts Bay and Oceanside beach, Oregon…receding tides and excessive winds create the most unusual, other-worldly sand formations looking like ice cream cones, space ships, pyramids, witches hats, etc. This series of photos were taken in Sept. and Oct. 2013 when shapes were particularly astonishing. Post note in Nov. 2015 – I have returned many times since, at different times of the year, and have never seen them quite so spectacular. I now know them to be extremely rare. The phenomenon seems to be restricted to within a 1/4 mile area near the town of Netarts.

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Low tide, Cannon Beach, OR

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Haystack Rock, on the beach by the town of Cannon Beach, Oregon, was formed by lava flows occurring about 15-16 million years ago. The rock was granted Marine Garden status by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife in 1990 because it is a nesting site for many seabirds, in particular the Puffin. During early Summer, wildlife officers and volunteers are there to answer questions about the birds and many forms of marine life living in its tidal pools, plus they stand guard to ensure that no one climbs the rocks to disturb nests.
Haystack Rock is featured as scenery in U.S. advertising, and movies such as ‘The Goonies’, ‘1941’, and ‘Kindergarten Cop’.
Oregon beaches are rugged, and due to the inconsistent, unpredictable weather, are not so much tourist destinations for tanning, but are perfect for recreation like walking, hiking, kayaking and wind-surfing. Campfires are permitted on many of the Oregon beaches – not Cannon Beach though – and are great for family gatherings and picnics. Cannon Beach is generally warmer and less windy than many of the coastal locations not far from Portland.

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Just off the ferry at sunset, Washington, North Carolina

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Alain and I flew to North Carolina for three days – a little business trip and I tagged along—he threatened to take my camera with him and I was sure I could not manage without it! We drove around the eastern countryside between Raleigh and Washington, NC through old, old towns. It takes a looong time for wooden doors to shred, and a looong time for conditions to be just right for vines to sprout then twirl round and round, entwined and squished between panes of glass …old, old farms: tobacco, cotton, peanuts.. and an interesting gas station.

There is a lot of history in North Carolina – fossils, settlers and Civil War history. We stayed at Kitty Hawk (first flight – Wright bros.) and walked the shores at various places along the narrow coast of the Outer Banks. We watched the sun rise and dolphins feed – too far away for good photos, even with the telephoto. As soon as the sun rose they swam away.
Along Cape Hatteras, groups of Grackles ate ripe grass seeds, bouncing up and down on the stems, their bodies too heavy for the tall grasses. Just off the 2 1/2 hr. long ferry at Swan Quarter, and sunset with a short, wide rainbow after a storm that we managed to escape and watch from the better side.

NO OLF – we were curious about this sign in many people’s yards. The following website shows a video describing how the U.S. Navy has purchased over 30,000 acres of land near the eastern North Carolina coast, planning to move their pilot training program from Virginia. Part of the huge controversy is that over 75 families would be forced to leave their homes, many of them farming that land for generations. The human issues are enough, but the cause and effect on the wildlife and ecology would be drastic and irreparable. Thousands of ducks and large flocks of snow geese that feed in the area annually would no longer have sanctuary. The large birds would also be a danger to the jets.

On Pony Island a large sand crab tried to buff up and look tough, but it was quite vulnerable there out in the open; all the other crabs scurried into holes but this one stayed, trying to hide in footprints, which offered no protection if we had been birds looking for a hearty meal. Great fun to watch the behavior for a while. It’s clearly outlined crab-shaped shadow following it everywhere, creating a few graphic photos that are perfect resource material for drawings and paintings but do not stand alone as good photography because it was moving so fast.