Weekend Photo Dump, pt. II: Carlsbad State Beach at Low Tide

Carlsbad State Beach on a sunny, warm winter afternoon

taking pix of the seagulls

some crustacean remains

smoothed-over rocks at low tide

small starfish (about the size of a quarter)

sea grasses

more and more and more grass

larger starfish

lobster dinner

Carlsbad beach rocks

naturally painted

Beach Bums

After sleeping like a teenager with mono Friday and Saturday (12 hours each night), as well as grabbing about three hours of naps on Saturday - all due to a cold, I made a conscious effort to get out on Sunday and get some fresh air no matter how sleepy I felt.

Naturally my fresh air delivery vehicle was my road bike, and friend Graham and I pedaled north into Camp Pendleton and back for an easy 36 mile ride this morning. No big deal, it's not uncommon to get those rides in on the all-too frequent mild weekend days here in C'bad. What is a big deal is the exceptionally high tide and big surf. Pedaling through Oceanside we were both amazed by the impact the ocean was having on the local beaches. In fact, part of Carlsbad Blvd. (aka Coast Highway) had some localized flooding, closing a lane with sand, rocks and - of all things - some kelp.
Naturally Celeste and Allie wanted to check out the aftermath, so we waited until the late afternoon low tide to explore. And what did we find? A favorite local beach completely changed, covered in smooth, black, mostly fist-size rocks.
Now these rocks are pretty common in patches on our beaches, but not in this volume. Drifts of these rocks left very little exposed sand. And hey, what's that little dot above the horizon in the photo above?
Why it's a Zeppelin NT - the world's largest airship, 246' long (15' longer than a 747) and made in Friedrichshafen Germany - where the Eurobike trade show takes place. This particular Zeppelin NT (with a fully rigid structure, it's NOT a blimp) was in the area for a golf tournament at San Diego's Torrey Pines over the weekend.

Anyway, it's always very cool to explore our beaches at very low tides, and today wasn't any exception.
The low tides at lifeguard tower 28 always give way to some unique rock formations that are generally a couple of feet underwater.

They're quite beautiful, like mini fjords. Except they're not in Norway.
Of course it's impossible to keep Celeste from exploring the water...

...not that we ever try to stifle her curiosity - especially in regards to the natural world. She brought back some cool rocks, shells and showed off this very tiny crab, pictured hiding in its shell.
Up at the high water mark we discovered a couple of old lobster traps...
and an octopus arm!
And by "octopus arm", I mean more kelp. Another good afternoon, spent all of five minutes from our house.
Come out and visit, mmmkay?

Gifts from the sea

Since the year's second largest tide was today (both high and low), Celeste and Allie headed on down to the beach this afternoon near low tide this afternoon.

Supposedly it was quite an experience, there's a rock bed just off the beach that is normally underwater. Unfortunately Allie forgot to bring the camera. However, she and Celeste did bring back some interesting things.


Some shells, sand dollars, lobster tails, sponges and seaweed. Celeste and I plan on hitting the beach on Saturday afternoon for another low tide (still close to record). I'll bring the camera.