egret pictures | Russel Ray Photos

I know of two fellow WordPress bloggers here in San Diego County:
2 Rivers Photos and Enchanted Seashells. I let both of them know that there was a negative low tide at 5:25 p.m. yesterday. I have found in my 19 years here in San Diego that negative low tides for some reason often bring great sunsets. Yesterday did not disappoint in either respect, although only Bashar (2 Rivers Photos) was able to join Jim and me at the La Jolla Cove.

A negative low tide is when the water level is below the average low tide. That can sometimes make it difficult to determine whether or not the negative low tide will be one worth going to see, so I usually choose the lowest of the negative low tides for the year; check your local tide table for your area. Yesterday’s negative low tide was well worth seeing.

Jim and I left San Diego State University at 4:40, hoping that rush hour traffic north to La Jolla would not be bad. Not only was traffic great, but we got a parking spot in La Jolla right at La Jolla Cove. That has never happened before. Omen of a great time.

I set about taking pictures of underwater things that were no longer under water:

The beach I was standing on is normally under about ten feet of water and that big rock in the first picture usually has just its top exposed — the section with all the pelican poop on it. Speaking of pelicans, they were being photogenic:

In the following panorama of the La Jolla Cove (done using five separate pictures and the Photomerge function in Photoshop CS6), you can see Bashar on the seawall with his tripod (click on the picture for a bigger image):

Bashar had arrived before us and refused to wait, going off on his own to take pictures. I was so sad and depressed (not really; just had to dig Bashar a little ☺☺☺☺☺). Jim and I eventually caught up with Bashar and I snuck a picture while he wasn’t looking: