High Tides

Because I live so close to the coast and because I am so interested in shorebirds I have become more knowledgeable about the changes in the tides.  Of course, tide heights and times are different every day and change every month.  However, the most spectacular tides are the king tides that happen around Christmas and New Year.  This is the time when the tides are the highest.  (Possibly I should say when we notice the highest tides, because there are similar high tides in June/July but they are in the middle of the night so most people don't notice them.)  Last Friday and Saturday were the highest tides for December.  The high tides in January will be a few inches higher still.  (I don't know how the tide cycles work in the northern hemisphere.  Are they opposite from what they are here and are your highest tides in June/July?  If some reader knows I will add their comments in here later!  I have heard from a couple of people on the west coast of north America that they are having similar high tides in their part of the world - thank you for commenting!  I must do some more study about these very high tides!  Another comment has just been made that says that the extremes of tides at the same time in the southern and northern hemisphere has to do with the tilt of the earth.  And according to wikipedia the king tides occur when the earth, moon, and sun are aligned. Thanks to everyone who commented and guided my further reading. ) 
Last Friday I went out to Inskip Point to see what the high tide was like.  Inskip Point is a long narrow piece of land that runs almost east-west just across from Fraser Island.  It is part of the National Park and is a favorite spot for camping.  It is also the place where barges take 4 wheel drive vehicles over to Fraser Island.  The last part of the point is a sand spit - usually high and dry and at least 100 meters wide.  This is an image saved from Google Earth. (All pictures enlarge when clicked on.)   

However, when I got out there on Friday there wasn't much sand left out of the water.  The barge was still sitting out at the end of the point but no vehicles were going to be getting on it for some time!

I had arrived a little before high tide and as I waited the waves and water gradually got higher over what was left of the sand.

We had had very high winds for several days before this.  The winds had chopped up a lot of foam on the water and this was mainly to the south of the Point.  Gradually the water covered the Point from both sides.

Some tourists drove down the track in 4 wheel drive vehicles but they stopped at the edge of the trees when they saw that there was water covering the sand.  A couple of the drivers walked out along the sand spit  but then came back and waited for the tide to start going down.

There wasn't much left of the sand island either.  Only the biggest birds were still trying to roost out there.  The Pelicans had taken the highest parts.

Just past where the barge was waiting there was an even more narrow strip of sand and there were hundreds of shorebirds and terns packed in there.  As the tide got higher some of these had to fly off and try to find somewhere else to roost.

I didn't see where these little shorebirds flew in from.  They tried to settle on a small piece of dry sand but even this soon went underwater.

This notice is on the south side of the Point and on dry sand when the tide is out. The notice is about waist or chest high.

Even the campers in the camp sites had to move.  There are lots and lots of sites to camp in but these ones close to the water are usually very popular.  The Rangers would have moved everyone out before the water started to cover the area.

I am looking forward to those high tides in January and I hope that the winds will be calm so that I can kayak out to some of my favorite roost sites and photograph what they look like when they are full of water.

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