December 12, 2008 Friday

Bolinas	Ramp
9:00 am to 10:30 am	4'
Extreme high tide - 7.2 ft	Slight offshore breeze
Sunshine with high haze	Didn't go out

Today was the highest tide of the year: 7.2 ft at 10:00 am. I scanned my Tidelog and confirmed today was the highest tide of the year. Only the full moon last January had a tide of 7 ft. The lowest tide of the year, -1.9 ft, occurred this afternoon at 5:00 pm.

Doug, Robert the Larkspur carpenter, Robert the Oakland fireman and I stood at the overlook above the Groin and Channel with discouraged looks. The tide was too high and the water too deep. Four-foot swells came through the Channel; they peaked, looked promising and kept moving in. They didn’t break, they crested but they did not break. They continued coming in until inside the Groin wall and then they went flat, no foam, no white water, nothing. At the Patch, the swells mushed up against the cliff. Ten feet in front of the ramp, the waves broke and pushed white water half way up the ramp. The four of us chit chatted for a half an hour about past days of great surf and hope for better days. We broke up, got in our cars and drove off promising to reconvene here next week.

I was determined to photograph the extreme high tide. I got several shots of water surging up the ramp and of backwash bouncing off the seawall. The Bolinas Lagoon was full, with water up to the edge of Highway 1. I took shots of the north end and shots of the abandoned dredge at the south end. Usually the entire dredge is visible, but not this morning, only the top platform peeked above the water. I pulled into the parking lot of the Stinson Beach Water District office, walked to the south edge of the wetland to take more shots. Usually the south end is grasses and mud with no standing water. Today the water was up to the border of the wetland. Ducks, pelicans and seagulls were having a field day feeding on insects and worms they normally cannot get to. At Stinson Beach, the water surged over a berm in the sand forming a small estuary with lots of debris, logs, old pilings and blocks of wood.

Jim the Stinson contractor and another short boarder were out in the uneven and bumpy surf. They both sailed down some sizeable curls. I was tempted to go out but hesitated after Jim struggled to get back out. After a few more minutes he came in. Of course he claimed it was a fun session, like all surfers do.

Was I disappointed? No. It was another beautiful Marin morning and I witnessed and photographed a natural phenomenon of the highest tide of the year. Note that the next extreme tide of 7.2 ft will occur soon, January 10, 2009.

Check out my “Hide Tide 121208” photo album at:

http://gallery.me.com/lorenlmoore1