Outer Coast Report, With Marine Layer

Grey day on the outer coast.

James Island, from the end of Rialto Jetty beach, July 10 (Click for larger image.)

The beach was absolutely teeming with people, it was like Coney Island out there. Sort of. At least close to the parking lot. :-) And grey marine layer notwithstanding, it was so warm and mild lots of people were walking in the water. People don't Swim, but many folks all ages were peeling off their shoes and joyfully, or gravely, being there in the edges of the ocean. I think we had not only the National Park tourists but also a large selection of locals fleeing the constant heat and sunshine further east, and gratefully cooling all the way down...

Near the parking lot, Rialto Beach, July 10. (Click for larger image.)Heat of course being a relative notion. We think 80 degrees is intolerable.

I performed the monthly hunt for beach-cast bird carcasses, and will fill out the forms reporting to COASST: no birds on the Rialto Jetty beach segment or the Ellen Creek beach segment. It's hard to pay attention when you KNOW you're not going to find anything, but I did my best, staying high on the berm, peering into the drift, thinking about beach processes.

Cooling all the way down. (Click for larger image.)

The seaweed in the wrack line was dry, baked by previous days of sun sun sun. There were a couple of excellent eagle manifestations, and one or a few cormorants merrily diving just outside the surf line. As the tide modestly receded it left a little fresh seaweed.

On the way home, there was sunshine only a few miles behind the beach, Lake Crescent glorious, blue sky over Port Angeles. But at dusk the marine layer fog had crept in along the Strait, and the foghorns were going as it got dark.

Walking in the Water, Looking North. Rialto Beach, July 10 (Click for larger image.)