Gale-force winds hit the Inlet last week.  Conditions were unusual because the light was good and the winds were dry (no driving rain), except for some salt drops ripped from the Inlet waters.  So photography was possible (apart from the difficulty of opening a car door safely while holding a camera), and the light was revealing.  It revealed the intense agitation of the water, even on the smallest scale.  It wasn't unexpected that a gale would create a huge swell that would hurl water against the rocks.    And it wasn't unexpected to see the wind ripping the crests off waves and raising a water-level layer of white vapor of spray and droplets backlit by the mid-day sun.  What was unexpected was the micro-effect on the lee sides of waves.  The gusts - strong enough to buffet the car at rest - flayed the water between crests, even in the lee "flats." The flats, and even the waves and wavelets themselves, were marked with tiny standing waves and sharp promontories, spikes, tines, spines, and ridges. 

As expected, the wind threw waves at the rocks (above) and ripped a sea-level mist of salty droplets and spray from the water's surface (below).

And of course the wind whipped the water into constant motion.

But what was most striking - when seen in these telephoto images - was the micro-agitation on the water's surface, even in the lee of the waves and crests.