High Surf Advisory

Massive surf at Carmel River State Beach today! My old colleagues had issued a high surf advisory, and it was certainly verifying here. This is a common winter occurrence. I believe there is a steep dropoff just offshore from the beach here, so the swells come in and build up rapidly just before hitting the shore. The result is these towering, spectacular breakers. They tend to break simultaneously along a broad front, so you NEVER see surfies here. These two pix are of the same wave, I believe; anyone trying to surf it would obviously get racked up to da max.