JD-0266
Minus Tide at Miwok Beach, Sonoma Coast, California
© 2004 Jerry Dodrill

Beneath the ocean's surface is another world. There lies an intricate, delicate web of life, powerful yet vulnerable. Our understanding of marine life is in its infancy. I enjoy visiting tidepools when the tide is out and am always impressed by the sheer quantity of life just beyond our visibility. Over the years, I've spent a lot of time photographing tide pool life, but was still amazed to find this shallow bull whip kelp bed completely revealed by a -2.0 tide at summer solstice. Most of the seaweed we see is brown, dead and knotted up on the beach. The live plants are vibrant in color: maroon, yellow, and green.
I found this scene one morning just after sunrise and photographed until the rising tide chased me out. A blue heron explored with me, hunting for his breakfast. A year later I returned to the same place, a -1.9 tide, and was again amazed. The kelp and sea weed were replaced by sand. Bare rocks protruded from the beach. There was no life to be seen.