It's been three years since I visited Brown's Bay.
That day, the water was calm, the surface still. On the plastic floats underneath the docks, I found a collection of plumose anemones and other tentacled critters.
This time, I saw them again, but the tide was coming in, the water racing, the docks rocking, and the wind ruffled the surface; the white anemones were visible only as whitish blurs, the rest of the underwater communities almost invisible. But there were a few sheltered spots, between boats and the dock, under the edges of the restaurant's outdoor seating. And I found something (I think) that's in all the books, but that I have never seen before.
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| Under a much-faded bumper ball, a group of what I think must be goose-neck barnacles. With magenta lips. |
The assorted kelps attached to the underside of the restaurant float made a pleasant contrast to the deep greens of the water.
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| Seersucker kelp (top right) and (maybe) broad-winged kelp, with a fringe of another seaweed. |
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| Deeper underwater, bull kelp and much-frayed blades of another one or two kelps. |
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| Moon jelly. |
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| In deeper shade, on the back side of a float, a few white plumose anemones, a large barnacle, other anemones (the ones I saw in 2016 had red stripes on a beige column. It's too dark to see them here. |
The gravel road in is much improved since the last visit; there are a few potholes, but nothing big enough to swallow a tire. I'll plan a drive down again soon.
