Copyright © 2010 Deborah M. Zajac.  All Rights Reserved.

T, DD, A, and myself thought we’d make a run for Bowling Ball Beach a 3+ hour drive during a rare Negative Tide to photograph the boulders and rocky shelf that is exposed during this time. A Negative Tide is a lower than normal low tide.
It rained the whole way up then stopped just as we arrived to the beach. It was quite an adventure getting down here. The trail was muddy, and the end of the trail the cliff fell off so the state built a log and cable ladder that went straight down the cliff face. It wouldn’t have been that bad, but the rain run off was pouring down the mountain side and draining 100ft in front of the bridge and flooded the entire  area which was littered with huge logs the sea tossed up with the tide, kelp, rocks, boulders, and other sea debris.

Because it was flooded at the bottom we climbed down  the ladder halfway then hung onto the muddy wall as best we could and tried not to slide off this muddy boulder that we had to cross. After crossing that boulder we balanced on a log that was floating in the flood waters ,and then we traversed debris and finally made it to the beach. From there we crossed two more rivers of fresh water flowing to the sea. Phew! We were photographing for about 20 minutes when it started to rain again.

Theresa, Dali, and 1/2 brothers we met here. Copyright © 2010 Deborah M. Zajac.  All Rights Reserved.

Donning our hats, and cameras in rain gear we photographed the boulders and beach for about an hour.
We wanted to climb out of there before dark, and get out before the tide returned. The climb back up was a lot easier than coming down. We were pretty soaked when we got back to the car.
We headed to Bodega Bay for a hot dinner.

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 17-35mm @ 17mm| f11| 1/4sec| ISO 200| Manual Mode| On a Tripod| No Filters