Sunday afternoon after church we went about 10 miles north of Florence to the famous Sea Lion Caves (the name implies more than one, but actually, there is only one big opening). It is advertised as the largest sea cave in the world. The entrance from the ocean comes into a giant room that is over 125 feet tall from the water level to the ceiling and covers about 2 acres. You have to take an elevator down to see it and once inside the cave, there is an upper section that overlooks the main big room that the Sea Lions come into. It is dark, damp (well, duh, it’s a cave) and from all the sea lions, very noisy and stinks to high heaven.
In addition to the observation section for the sea lions, there is another opening (up 62 steps) which gives a great view of the Heceta Head and Lighthouse to the north
This whole area of the Oregon Coast is covered in sand dunes. This picture is overlooking the coast from a pullout just south of the Sea Lion Caves.
Today, Monday, we did some more exploring. As mentioned above - this is sand dune country. We climbed to the top of a dune and had a great view of the coast - however, the climb through the heavy, deep sand is very exhausting.
Riding ATVs and dune buggies is a huge recreation activity in this area. There are businesses that offer “exciting” dune buggy rides, but we didn’t take one.
After exploring the sand dunes, we went to the Historic Old Town Florence by the Suislaw River and Old Town Harbor. There are several blocks along Bay Street with all kinds of stores, gift shops, galleries, restaurants, etc. The beautiful flowers are still amazing. There is also a great view of the Historic Bridge over the Suislaw River.
Tomorrow we’re moving on down the coast.
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