Yellow Sea

Crane Beach, MA (June 12, 2005)

And I mean it literally. Yellow. The color of a lemon. And this is not the body of water off the coast of China, yellow because of the particles of sand blown by the wind from the Gobi desert.

Pollen in the water

More pollen

This is another photo of Crane beach, my favorite spot in the North Shore in Massachusetts. This phenomenon happens every year in late spring, and is due to the pollen released from the pine forest in the nearby Castle Neck. And when it happens, it is quite massive, albeit the concentration reached in the water shown in the 2005 photos of this post is something that I never saw repeated with such intensity in the decade I lived in the area. Pollen is a strong allergen, so I rather not imagine what would mean to walk in the pine forest when this humongous amount of pollen is released in the air, even though some concentration caused by the coastal currents could have played a factor in this case.  Good thing that fishes and the famous North Shore lobsters are not allergic to pollen...

Crane Beach, MA (June 12, 2005)