In many places this has been a very hot summer. I for one don't like hot weather. I know many other people don't like hot weather either.
People have many ways of keeping cool. Air conditioning! Fans! Shade! Cool drinks! Swimming! Ice cream! I think this list could get very long.
I quite often think back to my summers in the Arctic. Yes, we had some pleasant weather. I even water skied above the Arctic circle! Believe me that water was cold . You didn't want to fall. The lake water was very, very cold.
What I think about most often is when I lived on the coast for two years. I lived on a beautiful bay that was 24 miles long and the widest point was about 7 miles. There were very high tides...45 feet. That was a lot of water going in and out of the bay twice a day. At the mouth of the bay there were fast currents. When bay water met strait water there were some interesting waves.
Now the bay didn't freeze until November because of the tides. Once it froze the ice got very thick. There were huge house sized rocks on the beach. When the tide went out in the winter the ice lodged up on the rocks. At times we would find a hole in the ice, stick a ladder down and walk under the ice picking mussels. Google this one and you should find some articles and photos.
However, (are you ready for this?) one summer the ice went out on July 22. Now does that cool you off? I'll bet it did.
The bay was completely covered in ice. We knew that the ice would be taken out with the tides but didn't know what day. All of a sudden you look out and you could tell the the ice was moving. In a few hours the ice would be gone. Everything stopped and we met on the beach to watch such an exciting spectacle.
One year a hunter was on the ice and of course the ice leaves the shore. There was quite the excitement to get him off. At a place where the ice was near the shore another hunter took his kayak and got the guy off the ice.
So if this doesn't cool you off, I don't know what will!
How interesting! This tidal phenomenon must be awesome to experience.
ReplyDeleteThe tides were awesome. Now remember that I'm a prairie boy and this was all new.
DeleteThe north certainly gave you a lot of experiences. I would have liked to have seen picking mussels under the ice. Very interesting.
ReplyDeleteThe north changed my life forever.
DeleteBy the way, I managed to watch 2 short videos on the mussel picking. One with a non chalant Inuit and another with a very nervous National Geographic reporter. Both interesting.
DeleteOh thank you very much, only the word ice makes me feel much better already. Thatb under ice walking sounds very spectacular and the breaking ice too. Nice stories.
ReplyDeleteUnder the ice was kind of creepy. You knew when the tide was coming in and the distance was limited...100 meters.
DeleteMother Nature is magical and powerful and awesome. Lucky you to see the dramatic parts.
ReplyDeleteI was fortunate to have these experiences. It changed my life forever.
DeleteVery interesting. We've had a cool down and I'm much happier with the cooler weather. Ice leaving at the end of July makes for a very short summer season. :-)
ReplyDeleteThe bay didn't freeze over until mid November but that's winter. We did have nice summers.
DeleteI've been out at the Bay of Fundy a couple of times, and there is where you really see the power of tidal flows.
ReplyDeleteThese tides were similar to Bay of Fundy
DeleteHello, I can not imagine living at the Artic. I enjoyed your ice story, it has not been too hot here. We've been having way too much rain lately. Happy weekend to you!
ReplyDeleteI was in the Arctic in the 60's it's much different today with technology and transportation. We didn't get airplanes for 5 or 6 weeks in spring and fall.
DeleteWhat a great, interesting story! Don't know of very many places with that great tide.
ReplyDeleteThere are many places with very high tides. I was a prairie boy so all this was very new to me.
DeleteWow! That sounds like another world. It's hard to imagine that much ice, especially that late in the summer!
ReplyDeleteIt was another world and changed my life forever.
DeleteThank you for the cool thoughts!! The flowing ice sounds like it would be really interesting to see, and potentially dangerous. Been very hot here in S CA so your post is appreciated!
ReplyDeleteThe ice leaving was amazing as in 6 hours it was completely gone.
DeleteA very refreshing post with all the ice and icy water! How can you NOT fall off water skies or at least start off in the water before you get underway? You had great experiences in the Arctic!
ReplyDeleteTo start , you sit on the dock. Well, we did fall but made sure we stayed in the top foot of water which was bearable.
DeleteWell this certainly helped provide some cool relief this Sunday morning! We have been dealing with heat wave after heat wave for weeks now. I am not a fan of hot weather, so I look forward to us being done with this.
ReplyDeleteThanks Red for a bit of a cool down although walking under ice does sound very unusual even more so because it can be done. Thanks, for your recent comments on my posts during our cross country road trip. I have fallen behind in blog reading, but hope to catch up in the near future.
ReplyDeleteThis is my first visit to your blog. What an interesting post. I love to read about places I've never been and likely will never go. I am going to visit you again.
ReplyDeleteI would have loved watching that ice! I wish there were photos of such a thing. We lived inland here in California for four years where it gets very very hot in the summer. It's why we moved back to the foggy chilly coast. We don't see the sun as much, but it doesn't get hot.
ReplyDeleteOH, yes, I'm much cooler now, thank you!
ReplyDeleteskating on such cold water in arctic must be very strong and pleasurable memory of your heart
ReplyDeleteIt's been over 100F here for days, and this post did make me feel a bit cooler. I'm trying to imagine a tide that big. It must have been something to see (and stay out of the way of).
ReplyDeleteHow interesting! :)
ReplyDelete