The majority of the water flows down the west side of the island, down Admiralty Inlet but a significant chunk is steered through the hard rock cliffs of Deception Pass. The northern part of “The Rock”, one of Whidbey’s nicknames, truly is rock. Humans take advantage of the situation to set crab pots at the dropoff, and dig clams in the flats.Īll of that cubic mile of water sweeps past Whidbey Island. In those depths and at their edge, live animals that commute with the tides, cruising in to dine, then retreating quickly, hopefully more quickly than the receding tide. The southern half of Whidbey is dominated by sand and gravel dropped by the glaciers, which naturally cascades into the bays, filling the shoreline with shallows that then drop off to waters hundreds of feet deep. Cultus Bay, Useless Bay, Mutiny Bay, and others expose tide flats broad and long enough to change a map’s coastline. Up and down may be a dozen feet, but in and out the water can travel a mile. Rising 12 feet is impressive, but Whidbey Island has several bays and beaches that drastically change. Cultus Bay at a low tide from the high tide line across about a mile Instead, if flows in and by and out with barely a notice, unless you live by the water. If it came by as a cube, it would be an awesome event attracting world-wide attention. A typical tide carries over a cubic mile of water (1.26 cubic miles). Look at the length of Puget Sound and realize that the top of the nearly hundred mile long body of water will rise and sink, fill and drain, within a few hours.
#Deception pass slack tide chart professional#
Stand at the low tide line, imagine someone standing on your shoulders, and realize that you’d both be underwater unless the top one plays professional basketball. Whidbey Island experiences something different.Įvery day is different, but in general, Whidbey’s tides rise and fall for a range of about 10-12 feet. Be careful where you put your beach chair, if you don’t want it to get wet or wash away. Shrinking or expanding beaches are the most visible effect. Depending on the place, the tides can be as dramatic as the Bay of Fundy’s 40 foot shifts, or the Mediterranean’s barely noticeable few inches.
Tides are one of the seemingly magical phenomena for people living by the sea.
With just a nudge in the schedule, this post gets published on a day of very low tides and fairly high tides, a good day to witness some of Nature’s quieter extremes. “Time and tides wait for no one.” That’s the excuse for the slight delay in this week’s post.
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