Central Oregon Coast Surprises Yesterday - and Night

Published 07/31/2012

(Depoe Bay, Oregon) – There have been some remarkable minus tides recently, reports of extraordinary whale sightings, and the weather has been nothing but thoroughly cooperative on the Oregon coast, and there's more to come. Yet not all the fun is in the most obvious places – or times. You may find some of the surprises at night, including some strange critters that create the almost paranormal sight of glowing sand.

High sand levels – typical of this time of year – are creating a nice variety of interesting designs in the hard, wet sands near the tide line, such as here at Lincoln City close to dusk on Monday night.

On Monday, the temps on the central coast were indeed quite summer-like. Little wind and lots of sun made for an almost tropical feel, by Oregon coast standards, anyway. Upper 60's seemed much warmer sometimes near the highly reflective beach and all that sun meant a very blue ocean.

Also glittering in the sky: a nearly full moon hovering over the eastern horizon, seen here in the Road's End area of Lincoln City.

Dusk cast some beautiful colors on some of the local lodgings, such as Lincoln City's Liberty Inn.

After the sun went down on Monday, this was Depoe Bay under starlight, seen from inside the bay.

By the wee hours of the morning, that full moon was making this spectacle on the waters of Depoe Bay.

With still a couple of minus tides left – both happening around 6 – 7 a.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday - Gleneden Beach shows a remarkable tide line. That steep slope usually causing the waves to come in hard but dissipate quickly was at a much more gentle incline for Gleneden Beach. Aided by unusually calm waters as well, the ocean seemed more like a slightly edgier lake in the wee hours of Tuesday.

It may look like the morning, but it's the middle of the night, thanks to this crazed nearly full moon.

Also startling here was the strong presence of the form of phytoplankton that causes “glowing sand.” Normally you need an extremely dark beach to see it, but these microorganisms were out in extremely heavy force, and the presence of the bright moonlight didn't inhibit you from seeing the tiny, greenish flashes in the sand.

The glowing sand phenomenon doesn't happen very often on the this coast, but enough that you can't say it's rare. Perhaps once or twice a month, if that. However, finding it this bright is very rare.

Still, it's not bright enough to be photographed – and staff at Oregon Coast Beach Connection tried.

Above was the scene at Gleneden Beach looking towards the lights of Lincoln City in the distance, with the stars dancing around those fancifully colorized clouds above it all.

In short, this is going to be a very interesting summer to bounce around the Oregon coast. There is much more of all this to come.

More About Lincoln City Lodging.....

More About Depoe Bay Restaurants, Dining.....

LATEST OREGON COAST NEWS STORIES

Back to Oregon Coast

Contact Advertise on BeachConnection.net
All Content, unless otherwise attributed, copyright BeachConnection.net Unauthorized use or publication is not permitted