122 



THE OPAL SEA 



The choppy 

 tea. 



Favorite 

 spots for 

 choppy 

 seas. 



the drive forward of the wave itself. The 

 water wedges, under such conditions, soon rise 

 and fall in regular series and move with a 

 well-defined drift in one direction. They are 

 not yet of great height, nor thick through from 

 base to base, nor rolling like the smooth un- 

 dulations of the tropics. They are thin sharp 

 waves that have a way of pitching upward 

 — " dancing " it is sometimes called — and a 

 spiteful fashion of striking the gunwales of a 

 small boat and dashing water over its occu- 

 pants. 



The " choppy " sea (by which is meant a 

 cut-up or an up-and-down sea) is usually met 

 with where the wind is blowing against an 

 ocean current or a tide coming down a bay. 

 The English Channel is its favorite haunt, es- 

 pecially when the wind is blowing up from the 

 sea; though it is seen everywhere when winds 

 are variable and tides contrary. The region of 

 the Trade Winds seems sacred to the long roller, 

 but even here a tropical squall will beat up the 

 short wave ; and around the Cape of Good Hope 

 they ride the backs of enormous swells, main- 

 taining an identity of their own even though 

 joined to a greater movement. 



The " white cap *' adorns almost all the 

 shorter forms of waves. It is merely the thin 



