A couple of years ago a series of freakishly late spring storms followed by a few weeks of really high surf sucked all of the sand out of Paradise Cove. Well, OK, not all of the sand, but enough so the beach would vanish beneath even a medium tide and the kayaks tethered to the bluffs would float. The foot of the steep trail that leads to the water washed out and, until some guys with a tractor repaired it, you had to use a ladder to get to the beach.

This spring and summer, a series of slow, low tides has gently pushed and packed and patted the sand back in place. Here's the beach being rebuilt by nature, one grain at a time. Quite likely it'll all vanish again when the storms return this winter (the storms will return this winter, right?) and then get rebuilt (again) the following spring.