Beach hunters - what do you do while waiting for the tide to go out?

[Mara_Masina]

Hunting log, 12/11/21. It is 9:28am. I've been here since 7am. High tide blessed me with five teeth, one small and four medium. The beach is quiet. The tide is high. Low tide isn't until 3. Wishing I'd brought caffeine. Tempted to move some driftwood for a napping spot. 

 

What do you guys usually do until low tide? 

[bthemoose]

I usually time my visits around low tides.

[kgbudge]

Well, here in New Mexico we ain't got no beach.

 

We got the sand, but it's a long way to the sea.

 

(Apologies to ... whoever that guy was that sang at our Honors Program party at BYU in 1980.)

[Mara_Masina]

27 minutes ago, bthemoose said:

I usually time my visits around low tides.

Same, but I'm testing the waters (lol) to see when my best finds are. Also, low tide today is like an hour before sunset. Womp.

 

[Mara_Masina]

20 minutes ago, kgbudge said:

Well, here in New Mexico we ain't got no beach.

 

We got the sand, but it's a long way to the sea.

 

(Apologies to ... whoever that guy was that sang at our Honors Program party at BYU in 1980.)

For sure haha.

 

I lived there for a year and a half as a youngin'. In many ways I wish I'd never left. It really is the Land of Enchantment. 

[Ludwigia]

[hadrosauridae]

?? Throw rocks (non fossil variety) at the other beachgoers? LOL, I'm in the same camp as kgbudge, Oklahoma doesnt have tides.

[Tidgy's Dad]

I go for a paddle and have a look for living beasties. 

[Mara_Masina]

41 minutes ago, hadrosauridae said:

?? Throw rocks (non fossil variety) at the other beachgoers? LOL, I'm in the same camp as kgbudge, Oklahoma doesnt have tides.

Well heck, it has tides of a different kind! Just not ocean ones. 

[Mara_Masina]

23 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

I go for a paddle and have a look for living beasties. 

I need space so I can buy a kayak. One day, darn it! 

[Tidgy's Dad]

1 hour ago, Mara_Masina said:

I need space so I can buy a kayak. One day, darn it! 

I meant rolling up the suit trousers and getting sand between my toes.

Or squidgy things.  

[Pagurus]

I would love to do this but I mostly wander the shore looking for stones and shells and driftwood and seaweed and crabs or dig in whatever sand is available or look for rocks that look like eggs or ducks. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 11, 2021 by Pagurus

[Mark Kmiecik]

We just hunt fossils. Not much tide action in Illinois. 

[RJB]

Back in Northern california at a place named Moonstone Beach, I would climb up to the fossil bearing cliffs and hunt for hours.  One time as I was coming down the trail after a fossil hunt I noticed the tide had come in.  I usually went to this place knowing what the tides were but didnt this time.   I could have just gone back up and resumed fossil hunting, but that would have taken 8 more hours so I timed my run.   The parking lot wasnt too far away and all I had to do was make it around a certain rock cliff.  Only about 100 yards.  I timed the biggest waves best I could and made a run for it.  I got all the way to the rock cliff and an incoming wave got me.  Pushed up against the cliff and a bit over waist deep but made it.  A big wet and cold but the truck was only another hundred yards or so.   If the truck was miles away I probably would have gone back and fossil hunted for awhile.

 

RB

[LiamL]

Fly my drone if it's not windy or raining. Usually I get impatient and soaked by the waves. 

[jdp]

Been a while since I did any beachcombing, but surf fishing is always a winner.

[Sjfriend]

I just wait til the tide turns and walk a bit then turn and walk new tide line then walk a bit and do it again following the tide line as it recedes. Of course, during our normal to big tides I only have to walk about 50 feet before I turn as our bigger tide changes are over 27 feet! On our flatter beaches that can equate to over 100 feet of beach exposed in 30 minutes! Now if we only had  on them.

[DevilDog]

We generally plan to be at the beach an hour or more before low tide so we can walk our favorite area as the tide is going out and coming back in.  We have rented a beach house, timed for a day where we could get as close to both low tides as possible, so we would have a place to relax between low tides and not have a long drive home after a busy day fossil hunting.