3. Back to normal

The tsunami that “hit” San Francisco was a tsunami with a little “t” — interesting, but not terribly exciting.  My friend “B” and I grabbed a coffee at Starbucks in the Presidio (the coolest Starbucks in the World!) and headed to the beach with the dogs to see if we could catch the tsunami.  NOTE:  If my kids are reading this,  we  were advised that the waves would only reach one to three feet, we didn’t go into the closed-off areas, and, we stood by the bottom of the stairs that go straight up the hill to the Golden Gate Bridge for an escape route — we did not grab our wetsuits and surfboards and jump into the Bay!!!

As you can see  the beach is unusually empty and the water has started to recede ( picture # 1) as we walk along Chrissy Field Beach around 8:30 am.  When we got to the furtherest place that was safe to go (the last quarter mile to the bridge was blocked off) we were surprised to see the tide so far out and the bay looking anemic (picture #2). Around 9:00 am, as we watched the water under the bridge, we noticed a swell forming, and the very quiet bay developed some waves.  By 9:05 am the Bay had returned to a “normal” look (picture #3).

I have certainly seen much bigger waves with winter storms, but it was amazing at how quickly the surge brought the water level up.  A mere five minutes difference between picture number 2 and picture number 3!

We were lucky here in San Francisco — it was an incredible phenomenon that we witnessed, but without the damage that Santa Cruz saw, or the tragedy in Cresent City where a man taking pictures was swept away.  Kids, if you are still reading…