Atlantic waves line up to break in a sandy cove on the rugged Cabo Carvoeiro shores at Peniche in Leiria District, central Portugal. The dramatic coastline is wildly beautiful, but its scattered stack rocks or sea pillars and underwater obstacles have led to many ships being wrecked and seafarers’ lives being lost.
Cabo Carvoeiro, Peniche, Leiria District, Portugal: turquoise, dark green and darkest blue … seawater hues changing from this westernmost point of the Peniche Peninsula over the 10km ( miles) stretch of Atlantic Ocean separating this sandy cove from Berlenga Grande, the largest island in the Berlengas archipelago. Cabo Carvoeiro (Cape Coal Carrier in Portuguese) is renowned for its wild beauty, with rock formations such as stack rocks or sea pillars sculpted by storms and Atlantic breakers into curious shapes such as the Nau dos Corvos (Carrack of Crows), a large boulder resembling a giant shipwrecked vessel. Stratified rock shelves and slabs constantly washed by the sea were laid down as sediment in the Early Jurassic epoch up to 200 million years ago. The jagged coastline with its many underwater rocks has always presented dangers to shipping, with many lives lost and ships wrecked over the centuries. In 1758, an impressive lighthouse, the Farol do Cabo Carvoeiro, was built at the tip of the promontory in the hope of saving seafarers’ lives. It was rebuilt in 1886 and now has a quadrangular tower standing 57m (187 ft) above sea level and soaring 27m (88 ft) above the ground. Cabo Carvoeiro and the Berlenga Islands are havens for diverse sea and bird life, protected as terrestrial and maritime nature reserves.
Size: 7360px × 4912px
Location: Cabo Carvoeiro, Peniche, Leiria District, Centro Region, Portugal.
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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