beach — Blog — Kate Pineo

I kept a close eye on the tide charts, and wrangled everyone I knew to come with me to enjoy LOW LOW TIDE.

The pier has been removed since this photo was taken, but it gives you a sense of where the dog park ends and the humans-only park begins. Also, I usually made a point of being out at the end of the sand spit when tide was lowest, so it's just start… — The pier has been removed since this photo was taken, but it gives you a sense of where the dog park ends and the humans-only park begins. Also, I usually made a point of being out at the end of the sand spit when tide was lowest, so it's just starting to appear when I took the photo.

Important to know before you go:

Most critical: Know where the railroad tracks are. Know how close you can trust your dog to stay to you. There will be shallow-ish water separating the spit from the shore, so that helps create a natural barrier.
Know what time the low low tide peaks. (2b: Bring something to tell time with.)
Wear stuff - including shoes - that can get wet. There will be a swath of shore that is both prickly and slimy (barnacles and seaweed) at the same time. Sandals with good grip are the best.
Get there early... parking will be a nightmare if you don't. I always tried to get there 90 mins before the lowest tide point.
Bring lots of fresh water and a dog bowl. Thirsty dogs + saltwater drinking = diarrhea.
If you're luck enough to get there on a sunny day, bring sunscreen.

Here you can see the muck you need to traverse before you get to the spit. Tide is just starting to go out, and there are already people (and Sadie) out on the sand spit. The water is probably knee-deep, and Maddox needs some convincing to cross it.

Okay, so... how do you know the best times to go? Well... SCIENCE.

Pick a tide chart... the interweb has about a million. The NOAA site offers a monthly graphic chart that makes it easy to pick out the best days. Find the lowest low tides... anything negative will do, but -2' (read: minus-two-feet) and lower is best. If the only low-tide day with a nice weather forecast is a workday, manage to take it off. IT'S WORTH IT. Plan your day around it. Hell, plan your month around it.

In the example below (June 2018), there's a super low tide (-3.308') that hits its peak at around 1:30 in the afternoon on a Saturday. Start walking out in your water sandals and capri pants so you're already way out on the spit by the time the low tide is at its lowest. You'll want to keep an eye on the time, and notice when the sand spit starts to shrink on you... that's when to start making your way back to shore. The out-and-back usually takes us about 2 hours, since we sniff and play and swim and chase.