Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Last Great Low Tide Days Starting July 20th

JULY 20-24 will see that last of the minus 2 ft or lower tides of the Summer.  So if you live in Washington State it's a great time to do some beach exploration.  Tides in Seattle are as follows:

July  20  - minus 2.3 feet at 9:25 am
July 21  -  minus 2.9 feet at 10:15 am
July 22  -  minus 3.1 feet at 11:03 am
July 23  -  minus 2.8 feet at 11:51 am
July 24  -  minus 2.1 feet at 12:37 pm
I make sure I'm on the beach one hour before low tide to follow it out and have at least 1 hour after the low tide to explore.
For reference; the 0 ft. tide level is the average of the lower low tides for the period, so anything in the minus area is a good low tide.

August 17-21 has a series of minus tides but none will reach minus 2 ft.

Good beaches in Seattle for viewing include:
Constellation Marine Reserve in West Seattle
Golden Gardens in North Seattle (far north end)
Lincoln Park in West Seattle (south end)
Emma Schmitz in West Seattle
Carkeek Park (far north end)

For information on Beach Naturalist locations and dates visit The Seattle Aquarium website: http://www.seattleaquarium.org/beach-naturalist
All these sites are Marine Reserves; taking of anything from the beach is not allowed.

Alki Lighthouse