Minus tide Tuesday @ Roads End 5/19

[pdxgene]

One of the lowest tides of the season and close to the lowest that happens at Lincoln City (today was a -1.3, the lowest is -1.6) lured me to the foggy coast this morning. The low tide was scheduled at 830 but it's a mile and a half walk to the headland so I left here at 6a and got there about 730 or so. Opening shot about 8a when I turned the corner easily around the usually inaccessible headland and saw this..


The 'secret cove' mentioned in Sullivan's Oregon Coast book..


Home of hidden caves and the colors within..


Looking out from the cave into the mist..


Looking straight up and hoping real hard that the rock doesn't fall.


More scenes from the north side of the headland..




It's almost like a different world back there..


Ducking into a different cave..


Masses of mussels..


Anenomes..


Most all the sea stars out here are the ochre sea star variety. This one was a different color than any of the others. More of a bronze than the usual orange.


The different caves all seem to have different colors on their walls..




The barnacles in this cave, and only here that I saw, looked to be dripping blood...


This would not have been a good time for a sneaker wave...


I think this one is a black katy chiton.. it looks almost prehistoric..


Anenomes over the sand..


A look back before checking out the tide pools.. You do not want to get caught back there as the tide comes in (and it comes in pretty fast). That would make for a very below average day for you..


Beach grass patterns..


Bioluminescent plant life and giant green anenomes..




Did I mention there are mussels.. ( I know people eat mussels, do they eat these?)


Periwinkle types..


And one extrovert, has to be one in every crowd I guess..


Purple sea urchins.. Always hiding in hard to photograph places..


These must be a different kind of anemone... they looked pretty cool..


With my rarely used flash for a bit more light ..


Looking ahead to the parking lot 3/4 of a mile in the distant mist/fog..


And a look back to where all the other pictures were taken now off in the distance again.. (note the crowds.. )


Finishing with a couple back near the lot where the remains of the velella velella washup a few weeks ago still lingers..


And surprisingly doesn't smell very nice for closeups..


Slide show here... http://picasaweb.google.com/pdxgene/RoadsEndBeach14
Get ready for road construction season, they're everywhere. By leaving at 6a I missed them heading out that way but not back. And God help people if they're working on the one at the Dundee city limit (beginning of the finally to be built bypass?) on a weekend...
The octopus that I had seen the last two times were not there today and I'm pretty sure the pools they had been in were gone too. I suppose tidepools change just like the rest of nature. The nice thing about shooting tidepool critters... They can hide but they can't run..
Two more pretty good minus tides the next two mornings, both -0.9 at Lincoln City at 9:18 and 10:03 if anyone is interested. Minus tides will be at their peak the next couple months.

[adamschneider]

I think the anemones with pink on them are "aggregating anemones" (Anthopleura elegantissima), as opposed to the "giant green anemones" (Anthopleura xanthogrammica).


(Once when I was at the beach with a friend, she asked "what are these giant green anemones called?" I said "yes.")

[pdxgene]

I think the anemones with pink on them are "aggregating anemones" (Anthopleura elegantissima), as opposed to the "giant green anemones" (Anthopleura xanthogrammica).

They look like the young rebel teen punk anenomes with the dye jobs...

(Once when I was at the beach with a friend, she asked "what are these giant green anemones called?" I said "yes.")

[ErinL]

Awesome pics. Thanks for sharing!

[Don Nelsen]

Thanks for the TR and excellent photos! Reminds me of a trip I made with my kids about 30 years ago when there was a major minus tide and we explored the Boiler Bay area. I videoed that trip but don't know how to transfer VHS tape to the computer.

dn

[pdxgene]

Thanx Erin, Don..

It's got to be hard to even find anything that plays a VHS tape anymore?

[greenjello85]

This is a really unique and interesting report. I loved the pics! Those blue/clear plastic like deals were everywhere July 5th in seaside last year. I thought maybe they were some sort of plastic wrapper Yes they are finally building the dundee bypass. I did some Geotechnical work for that project a few years ago.
~Dan

[Sean Thomas]

Epic report Gene, next low tide that I can get out im going to roads end!!

Thanx Erin, Don..

It's got to be hard to even find anything that plays a VHS tape anymore?

my vcr still does

[pdxgene]

Epic report Gene, next low tide that I can get out im going to roads end!!

Thanx Erin, Don..

It's got to be hard to even find anything that plays a VHS tape anymore?

my vcr still does

Right on the counter next to the 8Track tape player...?

Hey, make sure you get a minus tide day, or real close to it. There's lots of them the next couple months. A regular low tide won't open the areas you want to see. You might still time the waves and make the corner but the good stuff will be underwater. And those caves aren't a great place to be if a wave is heading your way..

[Katherine]

beautiful!