Your dream camera has arrived.
You grab a lens
and venture out
to capture nature's beauty.
Ahead of you
lies the rugged Oregon coastline.
Setting up your tripod
close to the action,
you begin to film the
mesmerising, swirling vortex
of Thor's Well.
Suddenly, you lose your footing.
Thor's Well, sometimes referred to as
the "drainpipe of the Pacific,"
is a rocky, circular hole
in the Pacific Ocean
that was formed after the
collapse of a sea cave.
At high tide, the Well
seems to fill from the bottom up
with water bursting out of the top.
And falling into this hellish sinkhole
will be a struggle for your life.
Cause during low tide,
it also appears to
drain straight into the underworld,
before ultimately filling and emptying again.
It's unlikely anyone
will be able to save you,
unless they have the
ability to swim underwater indefinitely.
Here, the tide is strong enough
to pull a boat in.
So chances are
you, a mere human, will end up deep
in Thor's Well.
Here's what to do to stay alive.
Wearing some kind of protective gear,
especially to cover your head
as you're being thrown around
in the geyser-like spray,
will help you to stay conscious.
Slamming incessantly against the rocks
could cause a fatal blow.
With a second entrance at the
bottom of the Well,
if you're underwater, you might
want to hold your breath
and hope for a
favorable current to
spit you into the sea.
You would certainly need enough breath
to make it out of the Well itself,
which is 6 m (20 ft) deep
and 3 m (10 ft) across.
But in these extreme conditions,
odds are, the Well will feel much greater.
Ideally, when you decided to
film by the turbulent Pacific Ocean,
you grabbed a life preserver.
This life jacket will allow you to
float to the surface after you exit the Well.
And it could also protect your chest
from life-threatening injury.
If you were lucky enough to fall
into the Well during low tide,
you might be able to climb back out of it,
since there will be
fewer waves and very little water.
Unfortunately, this will not work as easily
at a powerful high tide
when the hole fills from the bottom
and shoots skyward.
Like the man who was
swept into the water at
Thor's Well in December of 2016
must've realized.
He was never found.
His friend was able to scramble to safety
but was 'pretty scraped up.'
Due to the frigid
temperatures in the Pacific Ocean,
you won't want to stay
in the water for long,
or else you'll be risking hypothermia.
If you prepared enough to have a whistle
or flashlight with you,
now would be the time to
use them to signal your potential rescuers.
While awaiting for assistance
you should remember,
officially, there aren't any
recorded deaths from
falling into Thor's Well.
As risky as it is,
any ocean location
has an element of danger.
And hopefully, trying to get
out of the Well will be your only concern.
Unless, of course,
a shark arrives
to investigate your situation.
So if you don't know how
to handle a close encounter
with a great white,
you should probably check out
How to Survive a Shark Attack.