The new moon of Saturday, May 16 provides a week of extra-low daylight morning tides at around sunrise. This month also brings a second full moon, known as a blue moon.
Beachcombing still delivers piles of blue Velella velellas, or by-the-wind sailors, and the tideline at Drakes Beach is festooned with greyish blobs of seal fur as northern elephant seals molt on the southern side of the beach.
Luxuriant growths of grass are overtaking many trails. Mowing has begun for the year, but it is also nesting bird season, so areas are surveyed for nests and mowing is delayed until any young have fledged. Quaking grass, or rattlesnake grass, whose seed pods resemble the tail of a rattlesnake, adds a golden-brown tinge to the last greenery of the season. Wild cucumber vines are developing their seeds—round green balls covered with spikes.
Summer whale watching is beginning as humpbacks return. In contrast to gray whales, who migrate toward food supplies in the Artic or to birthing lagoons in the south, humpbacks linger in place, feeding and breaching with huge splashes.
National seashore visitor centers, roads and trails are open on Memorial Day on May 25.