SONOMA COAST – Standing side by side, Mark and Angie Eakin stare at the waves crashing into shore. One after another, they chase each other, rhythmically climbing higher onto Goat Rock Beach, where the Russian River meets the Pacific Ocean.

"We have a contest to see when the water hits that pile of seaweed," says Mark Eakin, 56, of Vacaville. "Then we can go home."

While the stretch of coast from Bodega Bay to Jenner might not be bikini friendly, winter months mean whales, seals, big waves, fewer crowds and some of the best weather of the year.

The Eakins visit the Sonoma Coast – where surf pounds wind-swept cliffs and the ocean often seems like one with the sky – year-around, in the summer to escape the heat and in the winter for a giant dose of revival.

"It's kind of cold, but if you're dressed right, it's not bad," says Mark Eakin. "The air is clean and fresh, and it's got that salty sea smell that's invigorating."

At North Salmon Creek, just up from Bodega Bay – where Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" was filmed – two surfers brave whitecapped waves. Winter means the waves can get up to 20 feet high, instead of the 6-footers of summer. And the swell and offshore winds make conditions ideal for surfers, especially if they like their waves big and they wear full-body wet suits.

"Getting the better waves is getting better rides," says Todd Cramer, 46, of Guerneville. "There's more push, more power."

Just ashore is Cammi Allen, 40. Allen, her husband and their five kids find a cold day in Bodega better than the 3 feet of snow at their home in northern Utah. Plus, they have pulled into an almost-empty parking lot and have the entire beach to themselves – to eat a picnic lunch, build sand castles, chase gulls, find seashells and play a game of tag with the waves.

"It's like the edge of the world," Allen says. "It really connects you to the earth. It's part of the world that is so completely natural, and we have no control over it."

The Sonoma Coast is almost synonymous with fog, and the otherworldly feel that comes when the dense fog obscures reality and blends lines. But winter brings more clear days than summer, says Jackie Sones of the Bodega Marine Reserve, which is affiliated with the University of California, Davis. In fact, fewer than 10 percent of winter days are foggy, whereas 80 percent of summer days witness fog, she says.

A clear day is perfect for watching the gray whales heading south for the winter and passing by craggy Bodega Head in mid-January. Then there are the birds – surf scoters, loons, Western grebes, Brant geese, Buffleheads, common Goldeneyes, and greater scaups.

"Most of them breed up north in the Arctic tundra, and that area is frozen and not much is available in the way of food – so they move south to find open water and food," says Sones, who works as a research coordinator. "As the season progresses, they move north again to their breeding grounds."

Winter also brings the most dramatic changes to the beaches. The big waves move sand, depositing it onto offshore sandbars and leaving ashore seaweed, driftwood and subtidal species such as chitons, sea stars and urchins.

"I'm a beachcomber and have been all my life," Sones says. "I think there's probably a greater chance of finding something unusual in the winter because of the larger waves and higher energy – you never know what you're going to find and there's always something new."

Back at Goat Rock, 57-year-old Kevin West of Lagunitas is on his annual trip to the Sonoma Coast searching for driftwood. His first find of the day is a piece of wood shaped like a human hand.

"There's a lot more stuff in the winter because the crud comes down the Russian River and gets washed out to sea," he says. "It gets all beaten up and turns into driftwood."

West turns his finds into driftwood mobiles. January is the perfect time of year to hunt for treasures because there are fewer people, only the colony of harbor seals that calls Goat Rock home.

"I'm not much into crowds," West says. "We kind of like the lack of people."

Visiting the Sonoma Coast in winter is also an annual tradition for Jim Grinstead, 57, of Danville. His and another family get together for card playing, annual jigsaw puzzles, cooking and relaxing. He even enjoys the drives through the sloping green hills with the occasional barn.

"We call it Ireland," he says. "The whole place greens out."

Rachel Simpson, 37, of England's Wimbledon, stopped by the coast after a skiing vacation at Lake Tahoe. She prefers the beach in the winter, as well – "That whole lathering-up in the summer, I don't get it," she says.

And, the sound and sight of the waves is simply enough.

"It's looking out into nothing, really," she says. "It just makes you think. It puts you in your place."

Call The Bee's Gina Kim, (916) 321-1228.