You east coast guys have it easy with the tides. They are much more even and regular out there.
Here in Puget Sound we have 4 different heights a day, the high high, the low high, the low low, and the high low with a 10' - 14' difference between the highest and lowest. Then you couple this with the currents that can top 10 knots in places and you really get to have fun. We go nowhere without our Capt Jacks tide and current atlas. It's the most well worn book on the boat.
Speaking of tides and currents, on our trip to Canada we stopped on our way out of Jervis Inlet from Princess Louisa at Egmont. A short 2-1/2 mile hike from there is Skookumchuck rapids (in the native indian tounge 'Skookumchuck' means 'fast water'). Boy was it ever fast. We were there on the highest flood tidal current of the year. The incoming tide was running 14.2 knots through the channel into Sechelt Inlet. It looks like a wild river, but it's a salt water flood tide. The kids had fun pokeing around in the tide pools along the shore, right next to the edge of course.
Northwest Tides
What a sight. The standing waves were 8' high and the crazy people were out there in their river stunt kayaks having a blast. They would stay on a wave as long as possible then hit the next and the next. Once washed a mile into the inlet they would pull over to the shore and ride the back eddy all the way back to the entrance point without even paddling.
