Memorable Waves

On Saturday, January 21, truly HUMONGOUS waves rolled ashore in the Monterey area!   The weather was not particularly bad, but the waves were larger than I have ever seen in my 22 1/2 years here.  The Monterey Bay buoy recorded wave heights up to 34 feet!  The highest I can previously remember is 30.  The waves at Carmel Point were spectacular, to say the least.  Dick, Wilma, and I went there close to low tide...the waves had been up on Scenic Drive earlier but were confining their thundering to the shoreline.

When simply large waves break at Carmel Point, a few daring and expert surfers sometimes test the breakers.  Not on this day.

The surf was absolutely thundering.  The night before I could hear it clearly from my place, a mile and a half inland.

A huge breaker thunders down at Carmel River beach.

The Carmel River meets the sea.  There had been a lot of rain the previous day and night, and the river was near flood stage, crashing into the massive surf.  Earlier in the day, at high tide, the waves had roared through the state beach car park for the first time in several years.

An amazing scene greeted us at Garrapata State Park, about ten miles south of Carmel.  Blow this pic up for full effect.  The rock this wave is breaking over is normally 25-30 feet above sea level!  This was the third time in 22 years that I had seen waves break over the outer rock.  Even more amazingly, though I didn't get a good picture, the waves broke over the inner (right) rock.  I had NEVER seen this happen!  Normally the outer rock shelters the inner one to a degree.  Both rocks are normally major bird habitats.  Not on this day.

A couple checks out the surf.  They were in no danger...they were well above the water, but the zoom sure makes a dramatic picture!