Minus Tide: Bandon Beach, Oregon

Posted on Saturday, Jun 2, 2012

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Minus tides are extremely low tides, tides that expose areas which are normally submerged even during a normal low tide. Surfers and tide poolers watch for minus tides; photographers should too.

This minus tide found us on Bandon Beach in the early morning of what would be a beautiful day. (Regular readers may recall that that I’ve written about Bandon Beach several times before. The myriad of sea stacks offshore make this my favorite beach on the Oregon coast.) The light fog that moved onshore during the night had not yet burned off, imparting a soft ethereal look to the landscape. And this minus tide occurred early enough in the morning that the beach was largely deserted and wiped free of tracks by the extreme high tide that always accompanies a minus tide.

Minus tides coincide with a full moon or a new moon so if you would like to plan a trip to your favorite beach during a minus tide consult a lunar calendar and then the appropriate tide table to determine when you need to arrive. I would suggest arriving early—as the tide is going out—to maximize the time available for exploration. Finally, remember that not all minus tides occur during daylight hours.

Additional images:
Sea Stacks in the Fog
Sculptures in Stone
Covered in Kelp
Incoming Tide

[Click on the featured image or any of the links above to view the five-image gallery.]

©2012 Timothy Linn. All Rights Reserved.

Red Sand Beach: Hana, Maui

Posted on Saturday, Sep 17, 2011

Friday, July 8, 2011

Hana’s Red Sand Beach is well known not only for the unique color of its sand but also for the fact that many visitors treat it as clothing-optional, as Darla and I discovered back in 1999. Since then the locals have reportedly cracked down on this behavior—no pun intended—however we arrived early enough that it didn’t really matter. We had the beach to ourselves.

One would never stumble across this place by accident although I doubt there’s a guidebook available that doesn’t provide directions. It is reached via a largely unmarked, unmaintained trail that branches off in multiple directions, some of which lead to precipitous drop offs. Because of the amount of rain here the trail is often washed out, as was the case on this day. I thought we could still make it; Darla did not, refusing to go any farther. “I refuse to watch you two fall off into the ocean!” She was right; we ended up finding a better, safer route.

These images were all captured with a +1 tide, about midway between the day’s low and high tide. Had the tide been higher, much of the rock formation that protects this little cove from the open ocean would have disappeared beneath the water.

[Click on a thumbnail to view the entire image.]

©2011 Timothy Linn. All Rights Reserved.