Disappearing Beaches
Another Quick Hitter
Well, this seems like the time for another “Quick Hitter” post. These short random posts usually occur when my boredom or circumstances lead me to publish a post. In this case, my wife, Carol, has confined me to my office. She is meeting with her womens’ group having some kind of anti-husband conspiracy meeting…thinly veiled by calling it a Christmas cookie exchange. As I am not allowed out of my office…I battle the tedium by publishing my second Quick Hitter post on disappearing beaches.
Disappearing Beaches
Last summer, when I was wandering around Cape Cod, I heard about something known as tidal flats. Basically, tidal flats are exactly that…the slope of the sea floor at the shore is extremely flat. Therefore, when the tide recedes, the water goes back out into the sea much farther than most beaches. Well, it might be lame, but I had nothing better to do than investigate this phenomena. So, I went to the north shore of Cape Cape to a beach called Breakwater Beach. I went in the afternoon at high tide. The beach pretty much looked like any other beach.
Note the boats that I have crudely circled…those little boats were anchored just beyond the beach goers. Then, for the next step of my investigation, I came back to the beach on the next morning at low tide. I tried to stand in roughly the same spot and take a similar picture. The results at low tide looked like this…
The whole freakin’ ocean was gone. The shoreline did not recede 100, 200, or 1,000 feet…it was miles away and beyond my sight. The circled boats that were anchored in the water in the first picture were now unceremoniously dumped on the sea floor. I walked a ways out, but the shoreline was never in sight. Plus, it was getting muddy and creepy to be that far off shore. I have seen high/low tides at normal beaches, but that is not this. Maybe this is common stuff for regular beach dwelling folks. But, for this land bound Ohio kid, these disappearing beaches were fascinating…and a little creeping.
Enough said. I hope you enjoyed our first Quick Hitter. If you did not…at least it was short. Regards, PT
I hope you have enjoyed my second Quick Hitter, “Disappearing Beaches” on Traveling with PugsleyTonks.