Last week during low tide I spotted some unfamiliar red clumps sitting on the exposed mud. So I sent a photo to our resident marine biologist, Michael Konrad on South Forty Dock, who identified them as red algae. He wrote back: There are 3 major groups of algae, red, green,...
We’ve all heard the term Greenhouse Effect, but have you ever wondered what it truly means? Michael Konrad of South Forty Pier sends along the following explanation of this climate phenomenon — and much more. Climate change caused by global warming is frequently in the news. The floating home community...
We recently reported on a team of students from Centerville Middle School in Fremont who toured the floating homes as research for a project to design a fully functioning floating metropolis. The team’s entry took first place over 30 teams from across Northern California. Then they headed off to Washington,...
“…I’m sitting on the dock of the Bay watching the tide roll away…” Otis Redding Life in a floating home makes you aware of tides since our homes rise and fall relative to our docks twice a day. The water comes from the Pacific Ocean as currents flow into the...
In last week’s report on sacrificial anodes, Lynn Lohr mentioned a study that had been commissioned by then-FHA President Stan Barbarich which verified zinc anodes’ ability to fight hull corrosion. Now Stan sends along an addendum about an alternative: aluminum anodes. He points to one of the findings in the...
Last October the FHA was contacted by the father of a teenager at Centerville Middle School in Fremont who was on a team of kids entering an international contest to design a city of the future. Each year the competition involves a specific element of urban planning and this year’s...
We love our floating home lifestyle, but we often find ourselves concerned with subjects the landlocked know nothing about, like freeboard, macerator pumps, and the health of the hulls on which we float. West Pier neighbor Court Mast and I talked at length about hulls as we recently spent time...
Last week we quoted a projection from the Marin Independent Journal that sea levels would rise “more than 6 feet by 2100,” according to the California Ocean Protection Council. Soon after our post appeared, the IJ issued a correction, changing the projection to one foot of sea level rise over...
The Marin IJ has reported that King tides are expected to bring flooding risks in Marin shoreline communities between November and January. According to the paper, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts that tide levels could reach more than 6.4 feet and rise further during rainy weather. High tide...
The first large ethnic group to move to Marin in the 19th century were Portuguese from the Azores Islands. One sign of this heritage is the Portuguese Cultural Center at the Northwest end of Caledonia Street. The entrance is labeled “IDESST Center”, or “Imandade do Divino Espirito Santo e Santissima...