Since the Sunday spring tide debacle that drenched books and cell phones and led to a mass search for everyone's other flip flop on the Ventnor beach, I've been trying to get the whole moon-tide thing straight. We're on the verge of a new moon, which, it turns out, exerts as much of a tidal influence as its more-heralded big brother, the full moon. The unusually strong tides that occur during both the full moon and the new moon are called spring tides, as the moon and sun are aligned and both exerting gravitational pulls. If you can picture the earth's gravity pulling downward on the land, but not able to hold onto the moving water, and the lunar pull luring away the ocean itself, it's those opposite forces that result in the twice a day highs and lows that remind beach goers they are not at the town pool. Ok, so all of you knew all that already, but I needed a refresher course. Another factor: if the moon happens to be closer than usual, which it is this time of year, you can get really strong spring tides. (Spring having nothing to do with the season). Plus, the high tide this week has been in the late afternoon_ should we call that a happy hour high tide? _ which means that a typical beach goer is dealing with a rising tide their entire day. In any case, eroded beaches with fun little up and over ridges seem to give the tides the additional oomph that overwhelmed clueless beach goers over the weekend. As to the question of whether overall climate change and shifts in ocean levels will lead to stronger and stronger tides that claim more and more of the island, well, time will certainly tell, won't it. You may return to your previously scheduled work week, and happy July.

For more on the moon and tides...

Previously on downashore...