In the first three photos, October waves dramatically bash Phare du Four off the coast of Brittany, France, and a pair of U.S. lighthouses, the Milwaukee Breakwater Lighthouse and St. Joseph North Pier Lights. The French lighthouse is already famous for routinely receiving enormous lashings from the Celtic Sea. For the latter two residing in Lake Michigan, superstorm Sandy added extra churn to the waters for an exceptionally thrilling experience for photographers.

Occasionally matching the tops of lighthouse towers, wave crashes can reach up to 90 feet in height. Near the port of Sardinero, Spain, waves from last December appear to completely consume the Lighthouse of Mouro Island and the entire islet it barely holds on to.

Explore and share photos in a lighthouse group.

Photos from Brestitude, wrightTTL, The New No. 2, zeedy2, THEGHOST1, Tunsilk, and MANUELup.