How Low Can You Go?

I had a plane to catch on Sunday. My flight was at 5 p.m., and although the airport is less than 30 miles away, it can still take about an hour to get there with I-5 traffic. And I like to be at the airport two hours

before departure, which meant I would be leaving at 2 p.m.

We were wanting to do something in nature, but my early afternoon deadline prohibited the popular destinations that are all about two hours away. Then I remembered that I had been wanting to walk about the shoreline of Point Defiance. I checked the tide app on my phone to see if it would work, and was delighted to see not only was low tide going to be at the ideal center point of our walk, it was also going to be a super-low tide, like the lowest since we’ve been here, more (or less rather) than negative four feet.

We drove to the beach that would have been a walk from our previous residence, but it was still less than seven miles. We had been to this beach a few times on group runs and had driven by, but this was our first time looking around. It impressed us much more than we expected.

Walking toward the point, we saw some Geo Ducks spouting off, but not nearly as many as we had seen on Salmon Beach. I remembered from the Seafarer’s Readiness Course that one of my instructors showed us seals with little pups in this area, and said they had pups then (February) and June. We saw several seals swimming in the water, very active. And even though I was looking for them, I still nearly

walked into a large group of them sunning. They look just like rocks.

There were parts of the shoreline were you can look almost straight down into deep water. In these areas we saw a lot of jellyfish drifting by. They looked just as magical and alien as they do in the aquarium at the zoo. You can see them so much better in the sound than you would ever be able to see on the coast, because there is no wave action to disturb the water, and it’s crystal clear.

 But all of that would have been possible without the incredible low tide. What we saw on the walk back, though, was a ultra low-tide only situation, though. An octopus. Make that not one, but three octopi (Merriam-Webster says octopuses, but this is my blog). I’m pretty sure Ann saved the life of one

of them by gently scooping it up with a clam shell and assisting it to the water. The sun was intense, and he’d already been out there too long, so I wouldn’t guarantee he’ll live long and prosper, but he was better off than he was. I’m saying he because he looked manly. I’m no marine biologist, and don’t actually know his gender. If you want that kind of specificity, you’re reading the wrong blog.

The entire outing exceeded expectations in every way. The fact that we have lived here nine months and hadn’t walked this stretch of beach yet just goes to show how much there is to see and do here.