Low Tides

Fog and Wind have prevailed for most of the week, However we are having some fairly low tides, which gives the beach a whole new feel. I love exploring the parts of it you only see 8 or 9 times a year. It has attracted a large clamming group each morning. I don't know if they've been getting clams, but they're certainly getting their exercise.

The following is the tide chart for the rest of the month. Tides for Suislaw River Entrance starting with April 28, 2005.
Day High Tide Height Sunrise Moon Time % Moon /Low Time Feet Sunset Visible

Th 28 High 2:42 AM 7.8 6:12 AM Rise 12:53 AM 84 28 Low 10:01 AM -1.1 8:16 PM Set 9:00 AM 28 High 4:48 PM 5.7 28 Low 9:43 PM 3.4

F 29 High 3:33 AM 7.5 6:10 AM Rise 1:54 AM 75 29 Low 10:59 AM -0.8 8:18 PM Set 10:09 AM 29 High 5:55 PM 5.6 29 Low 10:49 PM 3.6

Sa 30 High 4:35 AM 7.0 6:09 AM Rise 2:41 AM 65 30 Low 12:03 PM -0.5 8:19 PM Set 11:26 AM 30 High 7:04 PM 5.7

Wind and Sealion

The other lovely thing, is that the Sealion that washed up almost a month ago, is now very ripe, and the wind is blowing him right by. It's overwhelmingly obvious when you step outside. Not good, nature is most certainly not always pleasant.

I just checked our archived wind gauge and the wind started picking up around 10am by 1pm it was blowing 20mph with gusts to 30mph, and the current average is 25.8. Yesterdays average was 22, and we are currently the windiest spot on the coast!



This yellow hilside was taken just up around Cape Perpetua this weekend, the flowers know its spring.
Leslie

Sand Blasted

Ughhh... The sun finally came back out; unfortunately the wind came with it. So far we had unseasonably warm and dry weather over the winter, we have now had cold wet weather since spring finally arrived. Then the sun comes out, and we're having summer wind in April! Its currently blowing 25.8 mph, the sand is whipping down the beach about a foot off the ground, can you say sand blasted? On Sunday, I was up on highway 101, and got a whole shot of the beach, that includes Baker and Heceta beach for those of you not familiar with our part of the coastline.
Leslie

Large Yellow Orb

The sun finally came out yesterday afternoon.. We had an amazing sunset, and today it was nice all day. A bit on the cool side, but who cares, the sun was shining. I just checked the 7 day forecast and it's looking promising, we may finally get a break. However it is supposed to rain all weekend. 

Dried Jelly Fish ?

The Jelly fish are starting to dry up... which is a good thing, when they're laying all over the beach wet, the smell gets to be ..... well quite beachy! 

Jelly Fish in Abundance

It's that time of year again, when we get spring storms and the Jelly fish start washing up in droves. Supposedly this is the time of year to look for Japanese glass floats.....and several years ago that worked for me. I found a small float, right in the tide line floating among the jelly fish. That particular year, they washed up about 4 inches thick, as we had some very windy storms and rough seas. According to at least one book I've read, the same wind that blows up this particular Jelly fish also breaks the floats loose from the current pattern they're trapped in. - By-the-wind-sailor Velella velella

These jellyfish live in the open sea but are commonly stranded on local beaches after storms.


They are under four inches long and are a distinctive deep blue. They possess a float with small blue tentacles on the underside, used to catch their prey.
To aid transportation they have a transparent sail, which can be either left or right handed. Winds tend to distribute them into groups comprised of the same handedness, so strandings tend to be made up of one group.

Cape Perpetua

Cape Perpetua Overlook 

All of these Cape Perpetua pictures were taken on March 12th, one of our last sunny weekends. Just a fantastic day... Almost 70 degrees, looks like we may already have had our summer......... :-(

Cape Perpetua 

Cape Creek Bridge 

1968 Ford Ltd. Wagon

1968 Ford Wagon Heceta Head Light House 

WellI prefer to travel the coast in vintage style, if it's not in my 1967 Imperial Sedan, then it's my 1968 Wagon. Instead of those same old shots of the lighthouse, you then have something visually interesting to shoot in the foreground :-)

Coast Guard

Whoops, I forgot to mention that the Coast Guard was out circling in front of the house for a couple of hours today. They do go out and practice sometimes, but this didn't look like the usual practice session. As they circled up and down the beach, in a very organized pattern. I didn't ever see them find anything, and I did see two Coast Guard Cutters as well going North and South in the Ocean... Another Beach Mystery, but as it wasn't pouring I did go snap a few pictures.....








I like that last shot, where the kite appears to be chasing the helicopter and about the same size. Well if I hear what happened I'll post it here.

Still Raining.......

I know it's Oregon, but I was enjoying the unseasonable dryness. Now it's been raining for two weeks straight.. Oh well it makes for interesting sunsets and good photo's .

A dead sea lion washed up last week, it's quite ripe now. However it's attracting lots of Bald Eagles, so there's always a plus side. I'm hoping I'll finally get a decent photo of a Bald Eagle.

My past photos of un-recognizeable birds have been less than pleasing.