Beach Report 9/29/23

A cool, overcast day. Skye is feeling pretty good apparently, so I invited her along, since I was pretty sure the tide was too high and the waves too wet to get past the rocks  up to Matoaka. Georgia stayed home to collect a package. 

We've have tides consistently above astronomical ever since TD Ophelia. That, combined with a lot of temporary beach erosion, has the beach significantly narrower. Today was lousy day for shark's teeth, only 2, and one was a shamer, just the root from from a mid sized lower Snaggletooth.

This juvenile seagull appears to have significantly overestimated the width of its throat, or underestimated the size of the Menhaden. I'm a little surprised; I've seen gulls cram down some enormous fish or pieces of fish carcasses. 

Ophelia

Tropical Storm Ophelia came ashore in North Carolina yesterday, and it's been dictating our weather since then. Yesterday the wind picked up, and rain started in the evening. We have a power failure last night for a couple of hours, and another shorter one this morning. So far, the storm appears to be following the predicted path, which sends the remains of the storm right over us tomorrow morning:

During this morning's power outage, I went out to check the boat. As I expected it was fine. But somebody forgot to secure their sail, and it looks like an expensive mistake:

I also stopped in at the beach to take a look, fortunately in a break in the rain showers. The bay is well roiled up by the 30 kt NE wind.

The highest high tide of the event is predicted for tonight, at about 1.5 ft over the highest astronomical tide. I expect a lot of temporary beach erosion, which will fill in slow in the weeks after, and possibly some major rearrangements around the cliffs with big logs shifted around, or even washed away, and possibly some cliff falls. 

Stay tuned.