I awoke this morning to the realization that my dreams (actually nightmares it seems) included numbers and budgets.
Arrrgh! When I checked the tide table in the paper and found I was right on the end of the low, 0.1 ft. tide, I decided that a trip to the water was exactly what I needed.
Putzin' around (my mom's word) the freshly washed rocks, at the base of the jetty, I found juicy little anemones
and the most beautiful shells -- pretty lemon-colored and green-striped beauties, huddled among the barnacles. Unfortunately, they were still occupied and I have my rules -- no killing something just
cuz it's house would look pretty in MY house.
I also came across this nice little shell and I picked it up to find that little crabby dude found it first. Oh well, finders keepers.
I headed out on the jetty to watch the surfers for awhile, a great vantage point to be next to or even behind the break. The waves weren't big. Catch one perfect and get a short ride. Hesitate or miss and get
nothin'. Lots of boards out though, including this guy on a stand-up
paddleboard.
Luckily, I was rewarded by the low tide. Three, perfect silver-dollar sized sand dollars and a good pretty orange whelk (I think that's what it is) -- an empty one that was fair game. A great start to my weekend and it feels like I beat another storm to the punch.
I could easily have been on a ship. The clang of the bell buoy rolling in the fat swell. The echoing of two fog horns, talking to each other from the spits at either side of the Channel. The surf hardly visible in the thick fog and only noticeable when it rumbled against the hull. In reality, it was just a walk on the north spit jetty and the water was thundering against the rocks underfoot. Slowly, the fog began melting away but not until after my walk.
I took the day off work and was pleased to see a zero-tide was due at a reasonable hour. I headed out to the Breakers and climbed down into the rocks that make up the jetty, checking out the lifeforms normally hidden under water. Squatting down to see under the bigger rocks, I could see the beautiful purple and orange sea stars gripping the rock along side the anemones, drooping down like gooey wet stalactites. 
I could hear the chattering of the barnacles, searching the salt air for food that wouldn't be theirs until the water, once again covered them and brought them dinner. See the tiny little crab scurrying around the barnacles? Little devil was no bigger than my thumbnail and obviously too shy to allow a good focus. 
The low tide and fat swell brought out a number of surfers, many of whom entered the water from the jetty to save their arms from the paddle out to the break. As always with the surf, you have to be in the right place at the right time or the ride just isn't yours. Luckily, a few were in the right place at exactly the right time. 
