In summer there are low-tide mornings when the San Francisco Bay water is only knee-deep and the soft, slippery mud sucks hungrily at my feet. Wading into my usual swimming spot on the edge of the Bay, I wallow along until I give up and flop on my belly to float in the shallow water, digging my hands into the bottom, crawling along like an amphibian through the slimy eelgrass until I get way, way out to where it’s deep enough to kick.

Low tides are heaven for tidepooling, hell for swimming. If you think summer is the prime time for swimming in San Francisco Bay, think again. The season can be a slog: It brings cold wind, fog, and those persistent morning low tides. And what has always puzzled me is that the extreme low tides tend to happen in the morning in summer. That’s the time of day when I like to swim—it’s less windy, plus it starts my day right.

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Susan Kuramoto Moffat has written for the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Associated Press, and Estuary News from places including Tokyo, Seoul, Southern California, and San Francisco Bay Area. She is working on a book about urban wilds.