Bugger! That's exactly the sort of strong, beach-cleaning surge and tow that cleans sand into wide, useable backgrounds for bodies. You never - so far, and in my experience - find that in the Mediterranean, even though you do get some rare but huge storms. I'd have enjoyed using those waves as OOF backdrops to long-lens figure stuff. But you really do require tides, and all we get here are water level height variations due to atmospheric pressure.
Rob C