Kayakers love low tide – boosts wildlife sightings and keeps powerboaters far away. But when the moon is close to full, it’s wintertime and the wind is blowing just right ...

... you can practically walk across Estero Bay.

Even if it’s not winter: Southwest Florida is unusual in that it has both diurnal and semidiurnal tides, more commonly known as two-tide days and four-tide days, respectively.

Here’s how my former colleague, Byron Stout of The (Fort Myers, FL) News-Press, explains it:

“Most coasts on Earth experience four tides — two highs and two lows — every day. The two-tide variation occurs in the Gulf of Mexico, where some areas, like Pensacola, experience only two-tide days. Southwest Florida ports included in the St. Petersburg station, from St. Pete south through Estero Bay, experience two-tide days for periods of about five days, about twice per month. Two-tide days are characterized by slower currents as the tides cycle through the 24-hour, 50-minute ‘daily’ tidal cycle.”