Occasionally the ocean simply offers peace.
These photos were taken before breakfast this morning at Tuxion beach at the end of my street in Apollo Bay, Australia. A consistent surfable swell rolled into the bay from dawn to dusk.
Just after the sun rose between Cape Patton on the left and the Apollo Bay harbour mouth on the right. 
A light offshore breeze and a clean building swell produced these conditions. 
Looking along the wall just before the wave broke. 
This shot taken a split second after the preceding photo. These were spilling rather than dumping waves. Good waves for body surfing. 
The wave in cross-section. 
There is a permanent small rip flowing out from the shore in this area, which usually creates a different texture on the surface as shown. 
Water that looks flat and smooth from the shore rarely looks the same close up. 
The view to the south along the break. 
The waves were marginally steeper where they broke over a shallower sand bank. 
Underwater shot looking towards shore after the wave has broken. The white water is turbulent and has picked up some sand which can be seen in the mix. When swimming out through shore break, the trip will be quicker if you duck dive below this turbulent water where possible. If a sizeable wave is breaking in quite shallow water such as over a sandbar, sometimes there is not enough depth to avoid such water. But even then, if you can get your hands on the sand and a foot on the sand behind you to push yourself forward and up, you can propel yourself reasonably effectively up and seaward behind a wave breaking in shallow water. But sometimes, the white water wins and you simply get rag-dolled in the turbulence. This is fine provided you avoid hard contact with the seabed. 
A band of cirrocumulus cloud high over the bay. 
The gentle gradient of the water behind the wave. The texture on the water close to the wave is from a small amount of spray being blown back over the wave by the light offshore wind. The water beyond the reach of the falling spray is glassy. 
The water in the shore break reflects the uneven contours of the seabed with ripples and swirls as shown. 
Marriner’s lookout on the horizon. 
This is a screenshot from the video at the start of this post. It shows a short-lived little disturbance on the water behind the breaking wave, caused by the remnants of the circulating white water just below the surface. 
Sunlight finding its way through this early morning wave. 
A peaceful sea. 
Fish use these to see what’s happening above the water. (Disclaimer: I am not a formally qualified ichthyologist). 
Tuxion beach (aka Cawood St beach). 
I walked home for breakfast after this wave. Quality waves kept rolling through like clockwork all day. Definitely a two swim day.
Some scenes there well worth getting up early for John. You are back ensconced at Apollo Bay and as you say and I can see why, enjoying the simple peace. The juxtaposition of the above and below water shots are revealing in their contrast – are you using the GoPro?
I was taken by that shot of cirrocumulus cloud. Sets the mind to wonder – are those fragmented clouds being blown out of the “cloud factory” or being sucked into a vortex?
Hunto
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I used the iPhone for these photos Hunto.
As for the cirrocumulus cloud shots, being high level clouds, my guess is they are being transported east in a strong upper-level wind. Being so high, you get to see so much more of their area, which allows the perspective effects to kick in, such as the ‘disappearing into the vortex’ appearance, as well as the ‘radiating out from a single point’ effect on show in some of the other photos. Cirrocumulus clouds consist almost exclusively of ice crystals.
I included the ninth from last photo because it superimposes the apparent origin of the lines of radiating clouds over the white water on a breaking wave.
There’s been a bit of swell around, which keeps a bit of sand and other suspended stuff circulating in the shore break resulting in low visibility underwater. Looking forward to taking some over/under shots of waves in crystal clear water.
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Nice shot jl
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