Minus Tide!

We got up early this morning, filled our travel coffee cups, and headed down to Fitzgerald Marine Reserve to check out the 1.9 minus tide! It was quite amazing, as the ocean was WAY out, and lots of interesting rock formations were exposed.

Also exposed were all of the little tide pool creatures. We were surprised at how many people were down on the beach before 8:00 am on a Wednesday morning. As you can see from the pictures, our sunshine is gone, and the fog is back :(

The harbor seals that have taken up residence on the beach here were gone, and for the first time in a long time, we were able to walk the length of the beach - an amazing thing in itself! It was pretty cold, with a south wind, so we didn't spend too much time on the beach, but headed up to the bluffs for pictures. I did find two pieces of sea glass, though.

These two shots were taken from the beach. You can see how far out the tide is. I looked through the tide book for 2009, and the 1.9 minus tide is the lowest for the year for this area.

These shots were taken from the bluffs, and you can see the really interesting geology of this cove. It almost looks caldera-like, I think. When the tide is high, these rock formations create waves in two different directions. If you make these pictures bigger, you'll see the fellow out there, eeling.

While Lee was taking pictures, I noticed a movement by his feet - and here was this little guy, working away, pushing dirt out of his tunnel. Note those big teeth! He didn't seem to be too concerned about us - we thought that perhaps someone had been leaving peanuts for him (or someone) based on the shells there. I suspect that the army of gophers on the bluff are contributing to the continual erosion.