The Full Moon rises over the Pacific Ocean, exerting its pull on the ocean tides.

This was the scene last night, Monday, March 17, 2014 from the headlands at Woolgoolga, New South Wales, Australia. The views overlook the Pacific Ocean with the Full Moon rising. If the Moon looks a little odd, it’s because I took these images from “down under,” where the Moon appears  upside down compared to what we northerners are familiar with.

However, no matter your hemisphere, the Moon exerts a tidal pull on the globe, which manifests itself most obviously as the twice-daily rise and fall of the ocean tides at shorelines like this. When I took these shots at moonrise, the tide was just past its minimum and was beginning to come in again, for a peak later that night with the Moon high in the north.

This image was from a few minutes earlier, with the Moon having just risen and looking a little more pale against the darkening twilight of the eastern horizon.

I’m in Australia for the next few weeks, to shoot lots of images of the southern autumn sky, skies permitting.

– Alan, March 18, 2014 / © 2014 Alan Dyer