I'm Going to be Your Friend

Our "backyard" is always changing and moving, and this happens twice a day. Ah, good ole tidal movements. As we all know this happens due to the magnetic pull of the moon, but enough science for one day!

Yesterday there was a huge fluctuation in the tides due to the fact it was a New Moon. The low tide was at .6 feet, and the high tide was over 6.0 feet. You can actually watch the water going into our canal during the flood, and leave during the ebb. Now all of the sailing questions about what the current is doing makes a lot of sense to me. All I needed was to move onto a houseboat to have it all click!

As we have all learned together, at high tide our home begins to float. This was apparent yesterday, but only in slight movements, nothing drastic. (During the next storm I will create some movement video.) During really high tide we worry about our cars in the parking lot, since there is a possibility that it may flood, but I think we need raing added into the mix to see that happen.

While low tide is another story. The bottom appears. You can see two old stumps which look like they used to be an old dock on the other side. The rocks off the point where the egret (Yes, I am learning about birds), stands appears along with all of the other rocks which are typically covered by water. It is fascinating to see what you are usually unable to see because it is covered by water. It does not smell per se where we are, but let's just say if you are down wind on a hot very low tide day there is a specific stench. The aroma is nothing like old dead fish smell or anything like that. Instead it is sort of a dark damp mud and gunk smell. Nothing that you'd want to go out and bottle to make a hand soap and lotion set. The smell isn't always there at low tide, because depending on the phase of the moon the tide is not as drastic as it was yesterday.

Everyday is unlike the last when it comes to the tides. As I look ahead to the coming months the movement and flow of the tides are not really repeated. Therefore it will always look different when we have visitors. I thought you should all know what we are dealing with here, as well as what it looks like during there times. Above are photos of the high tide and low tide from yesterday.