It was kind of a miserable morning when we woke up this today so we didn’t rush to much to get going. The drizzle finally cleared up by around 10 so then we hit the road to go visit Sea Lion Caves which is about 12 miles north of Florence right off the 101. It wasn’t too busy when we got there so we parked, paid and headed inside.

Sea Lion Caves is the world’s largest sea cave (or so they claim), it’s formation began over 25 million years ago and today it is two acres in size. To reach the cave we had to take an elevator 208 feet through solid rock, and the reason to do this was not to see the cave itself but to view the inhabitants. The cave is home to the Stellar Sea Lion which is a warm blooded mammal; they come to the cave to hang out and sleep, at least that’s what they were doing when we were there. They are really cute, and to watch them on their natural habitat was really cool, especially the way they climbed up the rocks – they can contort those flippers into all kinds of positions to give themselves a boost. There were all shapes and sizes of mammals in the cave but I think the biggest by far was the guy laid out in the middle of the rock in the middle of the cave, he was massive. The bulls can grow up to a ton in weight and I think this guy was really close. At one point one of the other sea lions was trying to climb on the rock and must have disturbed him so he lifted his head, gave a bark and then promptly lay back down. I think he might be the boss! The smell in the cave wasn’t too bad, but there was a lot of noise, constant noise of the sea lions barking and the chirping of the dozen or so species of bird that also make their home in the caves.

Mike: As cute as a 2000 lb bag of blubber can be!

From inside the cave there is also a viewpoint for checking out the Heceta Head Lighthouse. It sits 205 feet above the ocean, and the light, which was lit in 1894, can be seen 21 miles from land and is the strongest light on the Oregon coast. I know it doesn’t look much like a lighthouse but it is I promise; it happens to be undergoing historical renovations for the next year or so.

After taking the elevator back into the light we headed to another viewpoint to see what we could see. There are a lot of whale sightings here, both gray whales and orcas, but those are most often during their migratory journeys. Today we saw loads more seal lions basking on a ledge and playing in the ocean.

Hold on, it's windy.

Big Papi keeping the kids in line.

Playing in the ocean

We took a further drive along the coast as far as Yachats, stopping along the way at Cape Perpetua to check out the amazing views and finding a lovely little spot to stop and eat lunch. We didn’t go any further north as we are going to be heading this way on Monday.

View from Cape Perpetua

View from our lunch room

Seriously wind swept trees

Mike having lunch