Whites Point To Inspiration Point
Friday 9/14 Vickie and I found something new (to us). We did the round trip
from whites point to Inspiration point and back. That's not the new part.
Both inspiration point and Portuguese point have 2 caves each. We passed up
the eastern cave of inspiration point because it didn't look very
interesting that day and we've been in it before.
We went on to the cave on the west of Inspiration point. It has a partially
submerged rock in the entrance and every other time we've been there it
didn't seem safe, but this time it looked ok. On entering the cave we were
surprised that it turned to the left and was about 70'+ deep. At the back of
the cave there is a small tube that was "belching" every time a swell rolled
in. From the time lag of the "belch" and the other sounds coming from the
tube I would estimate it was another 40' or so long at least. It looked big
enough to get a kayak into, but maybe not out of. I didn't get too close for
fear of being swept in and stuck, but still I could feel the blast every
time it went off. I told Vickie I suspected it may form a blowhole under the right conditions.
After lunch at a small beach in the lee of the point, we stopped back in the
cave for some pictures. It had gotten rougher because of the wind and sure
enough every few swells/waves that thing would make a pretty decent blowhole
inside the cave. I took some pictures inside the cave. It was a little hard
because of conditions. No problem with both hands on the paddle, but
challenging with only one. I think I got a picture of the blowhole going
off. I'm not sure because I flipped while taking the first shot and rolled
up, but because of that lost my nerve for the other pictures which I
essentially shot from the hip without aiming.
For future reference, tide height was about 2.3' when we were in the cave.
On the way back we kept close to shore along Portuguese Bend and notice that
there seems to be a large area adjacent the private club with a relatively
flat and shallow bottom. Maybe a good place for some surfing under the right conditions.
Steve Brown
Submitted on September 16, 2001