Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Summer Beach Days

When the home office heats up, when the portable fan becomes useless, when the ocean breeze isn't quite cool enough to clear my thoughts, I head west where sand and surf and wind are just the cure for the summertime blues.
D Street Beach
This is D Street Beach in Encinitas taken in late afternoon from the beach access stairs. It's low tide in March. I purchase a Tide Calendar every year and use its blue line sine wave to check the daily tide. In short, is there enough beach to run?

The beach changes constantly. Not just the twice daily high tide-low tide, but the daily changes of storm surf, rocks, sea weed, sand movement, currents, red tide, wind direction and strength, and the erosion of the cliffs. The rollers, source of great (and cheap!) fun, are affected by the bottom, the tides, and the wind. This summer has produced uncommonly high water temperatures (mid-70's for all of July).
Swamis at Low Tide
Low tide unveils otherwise hidden treasures. This is Swami's Beach here at low tide exposing algae-covered rocks.
Erosion Cave Art
Cliff erosion is a constant threat to cliff-based homes and naive cliff climbers who tempt fate. Cliff collapses are not infrequent and have closed beach access stairways more than once. This particular stretch of cliff has beautiful erosion-produced caves carved by water in the fragile sandstone. And my favorite beach, Stone Steps, has warning signs advising people to keep back from the bluffs.
Stone Steps
Next Entry: An Inconvenient Truth

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Watching the ocean is one of the best treatments for a busy mind. Everything slows and calm and perspective are restored.

My favorite in N County SD is Torrey Pines State Park; perhaps because I once saw dolphins surfing there.
Other beaches further afield:
Get a pint of chowder at Pt Loma Seafoods and watch the sun set at Sunset Cliffs in OB.
The longest, emptiest beach in the county is at Border Field State Park.

Gail said...

I love taking out-of-town visitors to Cabrillo Monument for views of North Island & downtown, the tide pools on the Pacific side of Pt Loma, and then sliding down to Pt Loma Seafoods for a picnic meal--good call! It's also a good pre-concert stop for
href="http://www.humphreysconcerts.com/"> Humphrey's
(Shhh! don't tell anyone.)