Surf's Up!

This winter has already been stormier than most in this decade.  We had a good high surf event on Friday Dec 11 that coincided with a high tide.  Not a king tide per se,but the surf made it a de facto king, I reckon.  This is at Del Monte Beach by the Best Western...major wave breach of the beach!

Bird cruising, breaker crashing.

Tons of water thunder down.  a bit of wind blows mist off the top.

Probably about a 15 foot breaker.  Seas reached 29 feet the night before at buoy 42, at the mouth of Monterey Bay.

Now I'm at Carmel Point, where mountains of foam prevailed as a squall approached.  There were three surfers working the monster waves.

Surfer doesn't want to get caught under this!  Splash is at least 25 feet above the water.

The surf breaks by The Cypress Tree at Carmel.

Carmel River Beach is always a good spot to check out high surf...the ocean bottom drops off abruptly just a few yards from the shore and the waves really pile up.  This one is close to 20 feet high, breaking no more than 50 feet offshore.  Water made it into the parking lot for the first time in years.

A sunbreak graces the turbulent sea.