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A shadow world is revealed when the water retreats

THE OLYMPIAN | • Published May 29, 2009

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There’s a weird, mysterious world just a few feet away from all of us, but it remains hidden most of the year.

It’s a world of giant, clam-eating snails, weird, bottom-scuttling fish, tiny delicate crabs – and who knows what other wild creatures.

This world is the part of Puget Sound beaches that remain underwater most of the year. But huge minus tides in late spring and early summer uncover these mysterious stretches of gooey mud, waving antennae and squirting siphons.

Some of the biggest minus tides of the year roll out of South Sound on June 22-24. The June 22 low tide in Oakland Bay is at 1:06 p.m., and the water will flow out 3.6 feet below the mean low tide level.

The June 23 low tide at 1:54 p.m. is minus 3.8 feet, and the June 24 2:43 p.m. low tide is minus 3.6 feet.

In short, bring on the undulating, colorful nudibranch – a colorful critter that looks like a swimming bit of Jell-O salad – the squirting geoduck and the giant, tempting oysters.

Visiting a Puget Sound beach at an extreme low tide is lots of fun, but stay well clear of the deep, gooey mud that can stop a strong person like a fly on flypaper.

Stay on the rocky, shelly parts of the beach and enjoy the spectacle. To find the low tide on almost any part of Puget Sound, visit www.saltwatertides.com.

Shellfish season is open on some Puget Sound beaches – and water pollution has permanently closed many others – but it may be a good idea to stay away from shellfish during the summer.

The state Department of Health is warning seafood lovers about eating raw oysters during the warmer waters and days of summer.

Warmer water might spur the growth of nasty bacteria, such as Vibrio parahaemolyticus. This bacteria can make people sick with vibriosis when warm oysters are eaten raw.

Symptoms included diarrhea, nausea, stomach cramps, vomiting, fever, chills and headache – lots of summer fun. The illness can last for two to seven days, and it can be deadly for people with immunity problems or liver disease.

If you’ve gotta have your oysters, you can eat them if you follow these Department of Health tips:

 • Put oysters on ice right after harvest.

 •  Don’t harvest oysters that have been out of water for a long time - or if the temperature is high.

 •  Cook the oysters to 145 degrees for at least 15 seconds to destroy the bacteria. Don’t rinse cooked oysters with seawater, as it can put bacteria right back on the shellfish.

For more safety information on shellfishing, visit www.doh.wa.gov/ehp/sf.

TICK TOOL

Finally, a lot of readers wrote, called and sent in e-mails after reading last week’s column on ticks. I still feel a little itchy and creepy myself.

Anyway, lots of those calls, e-mails and notes mentioned a tiny, ultra-cheap tool called the Coghlan’s Tick Remover.

I looked it up on the Internet, and it is packaged in the typical Coghlan’s bright-green theme. Readers said the little plastic tool gets a terrific hold on even the tiniest ticks and pulls them out without breaking off nasty mouth parts in your skin.

Michelle Blanchard, who just returned from a birding trip to a tick-saturated spot, had this to say about her Coghlan’s Tick Remover:

“It is very cheap, price wise, but solidly made. It gets even the eeny-teeny seed ticks that conventional tweezers squish.

“You use the tick remover by gently applying the tweezers on the tick and then turning – not pulling! – counter-clockwise. The tick comes out, waving its legs angrily and still very much alive and unharmed. The tool worked every single time.

“After our trip, we were both tested for Lyme disease and both came out negative.

“Ticks are nothing to dismiss – they are dangerous little monsters. The tool I bought as an afterthought and so casually tossed into my birding backpack suddenly became worth its weight in gold. Once I returned to the Pacific Northwest, I bought two more. I will never go bushwhacking again without one.”

Ticks are far creepier than any of the weird-looking – but mostly harmless – creatures that will suddenly be exposed to the world durin those ultra-low tides in June.

So, I think I’m going to buy of couple of those Tick Remover gadgets.

Chester Allen can be reached at 360-754-4226 or callen@theolympian.com.