Gallery: exploring beaches, near and far
In every outthrust headland, in every curving beach, in every grain of sand there is the story of the earth.
Rachel Carson
I can’t remember the last time I just sat, or lay, on a beach! For me a beautiful beach is a place to explore, to walk, to photograph. I love to hear the sound of the waves breaking on the shore and to watch their hypnotic rhythm. I like to peer at rock pools to see the mysteries within. And I enjoy the challenges of photographing ancient rocks; or driftwood shaped by water and the weather into sculptural forms.
Or if there are people on the beach I prefer it if they are doing something! I like to watch fishermen hauling up their nets; admire the skills of surfers riding the waves; perhaps buy a cold drink at a beach bar or from a passing vendor.
If the weather is really hot I may sit for a while (in the shade) and go for a swim; but really, I’d much rather visit the beach in the off-season when it’s quiet and I can enjoy my walk, even in poor weather!
My life is like a stroll upon the beach, as near to the ocean’s edge as I can go
Henry David Thoreau
For Terri’s Beautiful Beaches Sunday Stills challenge I’m sharing some shots of beaches close to home in the UK and others I’ve explored on my travels.
Near
A beach lined with dunes
Norfolk
A beach with seals
Norfolk again
A beach with boats
Aldeburgh in Suffolk
A beach with groynes
Whitstable, Kent
A beach with a stream
St Ives, Cornwall
A beach in winter
Druridge Bay, Northumberland
A beach for rock pooling
Druridge Bay again
A beach with a lighthouse
St Mary’s Lighthouse, Whitley Bay
A seaweed-strewn beach
Beadnell Bay, Northumberland
Away
A beach in bad weather
Puñihuil Beach on Chiloe Island, Chile
A beach in the mist
Ruby Beach, Olympic Peninsula, Washington State
A beach for solitude
Kalaloch Beach, Olympic Peninsula, Washington State
A beach with driftwood
Long Beach near Tofino on Vancouver Island
A beach with palm trees
At Ngala Lodge, Gambia
A beach for wildlife
Española in the Galápagos Islands
A beach to enjoy
Kovalam, Kerala
A working beach
Kovalam again
A fishermen’s beach
Salalah, Oman
A beach for a quick sale?
Varadero, Cuba
61 Comments
Marie
I love the seals and ‘groyne’ is my new word for the day!
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks for discovering this slightly older post Marie 🙂 Glad you liked the seals and discovered a new word!
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Annie Berger
Loved your photos especially of seals in both Near and Far. Had to look up what a ‘groyne’ was having never heard that word! Fun seeing your photo of Cuba’s Varadero Beach which was very popular for Canadians in the 70s wanting to escape the chilly Great White North!
After a 9,700 mile drive (with a detour to Newfoundland, etc!) from Denver, Steven and I arrived this afternoon for a two-week stay at our favorite state park beach on the Florida Panhandle. This is for about the 15th year in a row we’ve made the long drive to the part of Florida known as the Emerald Coast. Unlike you and many of your regular readers, we love to plonk ourselves down on the almost deserted beach in our chairs and read for hours on end. For us, it’s the ultimate in relaxation.
Sarah Wilkie
As you know, I’m enjoying following your drive 🙂 And after a journey like that I think even I would appreciate a few days just sitting and reading!
Marsha
I’ve never been much of a sun bather either. It’s too boring and not comfortable enough to read. Besides that too many people get skin cancer – not that I didn’t have my share of sunburns when I was a kid. You’re pictures are always so unusual. You’ve met beaches I’ll never meet – liked or not liked. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks so much for this Marsha and my apologies for the delay in acknowledging and replying. Either I didn’t get the usual email notification or I deleted it unread in error! Glad you enjoyed seeing these photo 🙂
Oh, the Places We See
We cherish our one week a year at Pawleys Island, South Carolina, but love seeing other beaches. Mostly we’re near the Atlantic Ocean when we’re visiting beaches, but we’ve seen other great beaches in numerous places around the world. Never met a beach I didn’t like! Thanks for your beautiful photos and this virtual tour.
Sarah Wilkie
‘Never met a beach I didn’t like’ – I love that and I agree, although maybe it’s harder to like the ones so covered in sunbathing bodies that you can’t see the sand! Thank you for joining the virtual tour 🙂
SoyBend
The winter beach photo was my favorite, Sarah. A beautiful combination of sand, clouds, and sunlight with two visitors making their own trails.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Siobhan 🙂 That’s our favourite beach for a New Year’s Day walk. It’s an easy drive from Newcastle, where we usually celebrate New Year’s Eve, and long enough for a decent walk to blow the cobwebs away!
Kirstin
These were all so beautiful!
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Kirstin, glad you liked them 🙂
wetanddustyroads
Yes, I like that as well … walking along the beach and just watch the waves coming out and going back in. And no beach looks the same – the proof is in your photo’s! No surprise here … I like them all!
Sarah Wilkie
I know you love your own beaches and coastline so I’m sure you’d enjoy exploring these places too 😀
restlessjo
I like that you take so much trouble to showcase your shots, and many of these are wonderful. I’m married to a beach bum so my life has always included time on a beach. Much less now than it was when we were young, but I do love being beside the sea. Mornings are especially beautiful with that gorgeous light on the water. We were there yesterday for a couple of hours. He dozed and I wandered.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Jo – I guess I’m a bit obsessive about making my posts look as good as I can! I would love to have the sea on my doorstep as you do 😀 Although I suspect that at this time of year I would find it too hot.
restlessjo
It’s definitely too hot inland right now! I expect that applies to much of Europe.
Sarah Wilkie
Here in London we’re forecast to reach 33 next week – too much for me!
restlessjo
And me! 🤣💟
philosophy through photography
Love the beach series.
Especially mom with two kids and the one with seals
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you – that mother and kids shot is a favourite of mine. That whole beach was fabulous for candid photography and watching all the activity, yet most tourists at our cliff-top hotel I suspect never ventured down to visit it!
philosophy through photography
Strange the co tourists never utilised the opportunity!
Sarah Wilkie
I think because it’s not really a good beach for traditional holiday activities like swimming. But we enjoyed our morning and/or evening walks here very much 🙂
philosophy through photography
Nice to know this Sarah W
janet
OK, let me try this again. You have an enormous gallery of beautiful beaches. I’m with you about when I like to visit places, when others aren’t around. I’m happy that many people enjoy these places but always appreciate when they enjoy them when I’m not there. 🙂
janet
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you for persisting in commenting Janet 🙂 I have no idea why both your attempts ended up in my spam folder (one as ‘anonymous’, one correctly identified as you!) I only just logged on and saw them there, so I’ve approved this one and deleted the first attempt as it was so similar. I hope this won’t happen again but if one of your comments fails to appear in the future please be patient – I will always approve them as soon as I see them, as I really appreciate your feedback 🙂
salsaworldtraveler
These photos show that beaches are varied in their appearance but are all beautiful. Thanks for sharing, Sarah.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you, I’m glad you enjoyed the selection 🙂
Rose
I love quiet beaches when the weather isn’t too hot or too cold. It’s so peaceful to just close my eyes and listen to the sounds – the water, the birds, the wind… There’s something special about being near a large body of water.
Sarah Wilkie
You’re so right Rose, the sounds at the beach are very special. I especially love the sound of waves breaking!
rkrontheroad
The misty and winter photos are compelling. The seals in the first photo made me smile. Beaches are a favorite place for walking for me. I don’t get there very often, living in the middle of the country!
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Ruth, I’m glad you liked those shots as they’re favourites of mine 🙂 And the seals in Norfolk are great, you can get pretty close on boat trips.
Heyjude
Always love a beach, though like you I rarely sit on one.
Sarah Wilkie
You’re living in the right place, able to visit the beaches when it’s very definitely off season!
Heyjude
True. Surprisingly I have hardly been this year. I seem to spend a lot of time when the weather is good pottering in the garden.
Sarah Wilkie
I would go to the beach when the weather is bad then!
Heyjude
True. I should do more of that, but tbh I hate walking in the rain.
Mike and Kellye Hefner
So many beautiful beaches, Sarah! I am enthralled with St. Mary’s Lighthouse at Whitley Bay. Beautiful doesn’t even describe it. Thank you for sharing.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you 🙂 The location of that lighthouse is interesting – at high tide it’s on a little rocky island but at low tide you can walk across!
Sue
I’ve never been a beach lounger…like you “I love to hear the sound of the waves breaking on the shore and to watch their hypnotic rhythm. I like to peer at rock pools to see the mysteries within.”
Sarah Wilkie
Maybe that’s something that many keen photographers have in common?
Sue
Those with curiosity, at any rate
margaret21
Funnily enough the beaches i recognised without looking at the ‘signage’ were Whitstable, Norfolk and Tofino. Well, I wasn’t certain about its actually being Tofino, but that neck of the woods anyway. Strange how very distinctive beaches can be.
Sarah Wilkie
Interesting! I’m not very surprised about Whitstable or Tofino but I wouldn’t have thought Norfolk was that distinctive?
Heyjude
Like Margaret I recognised Norfolk and Tofino and St Ives.
Sarah Wilkie
I would have expected you to recognise St Ives Jude 😆
margaret21
Well, I think those windswept dunes are pretty iconic. There probably are other sites similar .. but I don’t know them,
Sarah Wilkie
There are plenty along the north east coast Margaret – Druridge, Alnmouth, Seaton Sluice, Bamburgh … No doubt more I’ve forgotten! We visit that area much more often than Norfolk so I guess that’s why I don’t necessarily associate them with the latter!
margaret21
Do you know, I don’t find they look the same at all! Less – I dunno – desolate somehow.
Aletta - nowathome
What a beautiful post Sarah! As you know, I love the ocean and beaches! I especially love the first photo!
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Aletta 🙂 That first shot is of a beach hut in Whitstable, one of our favourite coastal towns.
Alison
A beach holiday is my favourite especially if I can swim in a sea that’s warm
Wonderful selection of beaches
Sarah Wilkie
I like swimming in the sea, especially if there are a few waves to make it interesting! Apart from that though I get bored after a couple of hours on a beach. But I do like a sightseeing holiday that has a short spell of beach time at the end to unwind 😀
Alison
Yes me too but I do like to read and pop in and out of the sea
Sarah Wilkie
That does sound rather pleasant – but only for a day! Then I’d want to be off exploring again 😆 We enjoy days that are half and half – an outing in the morning then some beach or pool time in the afternoon when it gets hotter!
Alison
🙂
Terri Webster Schrandt
Your beach images are gorgeous, Sarah. I think I’m with you on visiting beaches in the winter as a preference. Sand is not my favorite thing, but I do love the water. I also really like how your theme shows the images with the captions…may I ask which one you use? Or is that using block editor? Looks classy. Great to see your post for Sunday Stills, as always. Have a great rest of your week!
Sarah Wilkie
My theme is Ashe (the pro version) but the photo gallery display is done using block editor. I use the background plug-in to create a black background, add the images one at a time (centred), and write the captions in the next block as a paragraph rather than including them with the image, which I find rather small – these are font size 20. I centre them too and use the separator and spacer blocks to create distance between each image. The narrow white frames around each photo are done in Photoshop Elements before uploading.
Terri Webster Schrandt
Thank you, Sarah, appreciate those details!
Alison
Hi Terri, wrong person! Oops 😬