On Friday Spot and I headed down to Pemaquid Beach for our fourth walk.
We left around 9:15.
The weather was around 25 degrees F. but windless, with a slightly over-cast sky.
The temperature at the beach, when we got there, was 10 degrees warmer!
We arrived to find it at low tide, but it was an extremely low one…
the beach was totally exposed.
Dead low tide
at Pemaquid Beach
The light was very flat. The landscape, monochromatic.
Grey sand with hints of lavender, grey water with hints of green,
grey clouds with some blue, and dark rocks
contrasted with the dry white sand near the dunes.
We headed to the right.
The rocks at the end of the beach were exposed,
so we could go around the rocks at the end of the beach,
to get to the small cove beyond them.
Despite the light, or because of it,
the walk seemed all about the different patterns of water, sand, and sky.
The wind had made delicate patterns in the dry sand near the dunes.
Around the rocks at the end of the beach
were hollows filled with water.
The bottom of them was patterned in wave formations,
due to the pull of the tide,
and the swirl of the water near the rocks.
The exposed rocks were covered with
hairy bright green sea grass and bladder seaweed.
Bladder seaweed is very slippery.
It has long stems that slide under ones feet.
In the right shoes, if one knows how, it is easy to negotiate.
But in heavy winter rubber boots it is good to be careful!
Once around the rocks and sand
there was a clear view across the cove to the other end of the beach,
which ended in a rocky point.
This beach had more rock and broken shells than Pemaquid Beach.
Some were laid out in amazingly regular patterns on the sand.
The rocks at the end of the cove
were surrounded by sand that showed amazing patterns
created by the water as it ebbed.
The grey sand is not wet, just a different color than the white.
The patterns reflect the movement of the sands as they were pulled in and out with each wave.
We clambered up the rocks to the end of the point.
Here the rocks were patterned with different lichens.
Looking back,
one could see all the way across
to the far end of Pemaquid Beach.
Spot enjoyed exploring the tide pools
Heading back down to the beach
we passed a lone pine tree.
Going across the cove
Spot stopped to explore,
but soon caught up!
Once back around the point
that separates the small cove from Pemaquid Beach,
we found the tide had just turned.
We heard the now familiar glugging that accompanies the the waves near these rocks
as the tide starts inward.
Looking down the beach,
the low angle of the sun sent a glare across the wet sand.
It threw the patterns of the wet sand into high relief,
which the small stones seem to emphasize.
At the far end of the beach,
where it curves around,
there was a lot of washed up seaweed mixed with sticks and branches.
A small branch caused the stream to divide in two
as it flowed around it.
The stream made a tinkling sound as it ran,
something not heard before.
The rocks at the end of the point had not had much sun on them.
The tide pools were rimmed with ice.
The exposed rocks were completely covered in bladder seaweed.
The long strands look like hair from a sea beast!
Heading back we crossed the stream higher up.
The sandy bottom was patterned with oval hollows.
As we rounded the curve of the beach one could feel the wind off of the water.
Within a few minutes the water was full of chop.
The wind was blowing directly in with the tide.
And white caps developed as one watched.
Walking all the back down to the far right hand end of the beach
one could see the current build,
as the clouds thickened.
A bird rode the swells out beyond the waves.
While a seagull rode the wind.
At the far end of the beach
a lobsterman was pulling traps,
his boat hove to, while the engine chugged.
Completing the second trip up the right hand side of the beach,
the wind was blowing hard,
and long rollers tinged with green were moving in
as the tide crept up the beach.
Wind blown, slightly salty, we headed for the car.
Spot slept all the way home.