The circulation in the vicinity of an idealized tidal inlet connecting
a continental shelf and a coastal sound is examined.  The circulation is
forced by an M2 tide and a weakly buoyant discharge.  The buoyant discharge
forms a plume in the coastal ocean and induces a distinct anticyclonic
circulation at the plume edge that is maintained throughout the tidal cycle. 
We focus on the plume's onset and its evolution over 5-10 cycles.  Over the
timescales considered, the plume was roughly circular, slightly skewed in
the along-coast direction.  The model solution yielded high vertical Ekman
numbers, E sub v ~ O (5) in the vicinity of the inlet mouth, decreasing
seaward from the inlet to an order of magnitude smaller (E ~ 0.25) at the
seaward edge of the plume.  Passive particles released in the region seaward
of the inlet mouth, were used to describe the exchange between the coastal
region and the inlet.  A marked asymmetry between ebb and flood flows is
observed in the vicinity of the inlet, with jet-like ebbing currents and
weaker potential-flow-like folding currents.  Over a tidal cycle, net
exchanges between the coastal ocean and the inlet are found to be spatially
and temporally dependent; tha is, particle trajectories depend on the
release point and the time of the release in the tidal cycle.  The near-
inlet residual circulation shows significant differences in the absence of
stratification.