An unexpected bonus during our recent visit to Afognak was the glorious low tides. The tides were unusually low and occurred every day in the late morning to early afternoon. Perfect timing for exploratory walks.
So every day rather than hiking through the woods we explored the beaches. We hiked for miles along the low tide line and saw stuff that is usually deep under water. Last year we were kayaking above what was head height this year! I imagined seeing the kayaks ghosting in some weird of time machine over our heads.
We also noticed that there are no sea stars anymore. It seems they all died last fall when there was an unusual die off due to a wasting virus. We only saw the small orange starfish and none of the big ones. I also noticed that there are a great many small chitons. Is this related to the lack of sea stars?
I hope our next visit coincides with mid day low tides!
Pretty easy to organise Spring Tides Patrick, just go at Full moon or New moon. Thats every two weeks!
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