Tides

Tamarindo, Costa Rica is located in a bay.  It is protected on all sides by a rising shoreline.  The waves come into the bay and create some excellent surfing.  The entire town is based on the tourists coming to enjoy the beach and the surfing.  When there is low tide the beach is several hundred feet wide.  When it is high tide the beach is very narrow and many of the restaurants have sea walls for protection at certain times of the year when the tides are at their highest.  The tides do not happen at the same time each day but are approximately tewlve hours apart.  Here is the chart for the tides today:

Sunday, February 12, 2012 5:45 AM CST
High tide 9.25 Feet
5:59 AM CST Sunrise
9:32 AM CST Moonset
11:48 AM CST Low tide -0.69 Feet
5:47 PM CST Sunset
6:10 PM CST High tide 9.83 Feet
10:22 PM CST Moonrise

As you can see the tides change over nine feet from low to high.  (By the way, since this is so close to the equator, the sun rises and sets at approximately the same time each day.)

Yesterday morning we took a walk on the west end of the beach at low tide.    The tracks that are left in the sand as the water recedes are amazing.

It even leaves small waterfalls and pools in the rocks that are beautiful and provide great places for the children to play and build sand castles.

We have walked several mornings and every day it looks different and is totally amazing.