The secret life of waves*

This has been a third day of strong wind. I was determined to get out in it especially as the morning was dry. Although the light wasn't good I took a number of photos from the cliffs as I looked down into bays filled with white water and watched the waves surging and gushing over the rocks, spray leaping up, surf spilling over the shingle and pulling back, over and over in that hypnotic rhythm.

Then I climbed down into a small bay that is hard to access but which I like because no one else goes there (not that I saw a single soul while I was out) to try taking some closer shots, of which this was the best one. The wave is in the process of breaking: part of it still solid, smooth and green, the rest dissolving into formless white froth.

* According to the BBC4 documentary on waves that was shown last night, it is the shallowing of the water as the wave approaches land that causes it to break: the crest of the wave is still rushing forward at speed but lower down the seabed acts as a brake, dragging back the water. So the wave curls over and collapses upon itself in a heap of bubbles. And it's the bubbles that make the ocean roar.