CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SAN FRANCISCO : Record Low Tides Provide Rare Sights

The lowest tides in two decades are giving sea plants and animals a rare--and for some a once in a lifetime--peek at the sun with declining waves also revealing long-forgotten shipyard remnants and trash. Residents have been turning out by the hundreds on wind-swept San Francisco Bay beaches to view the early-morning low tides during the last few days, including a record, 20-year low of minus-2 feet Friday morning. “It’s an opportunity to see creatures that you normally wouldn’t see unless you went diving,” Jim Taggart, vice president of the Marine Science Institute in Redwood City said. “This is as good as it gets without scuba gear.”