Tidepooling

Some tide pools are easily accessible, some are not. These days, we go for easy.

 We love to go tidepooling. It has been a family habit since we moved back to the coast. People often ask me what tidepooling is and so here's a brief description. Where we live, the tide comes in twice and retreats twice in an approximate 25 hour period. On a rocky coastline, when the tide is out, the life that attaches to or lives among the rocks is either exposed to the air or left stranded in little "tidal pools." At extremely low tide, the tide pools become easily accessible and it provides an opportunity to see how and where these animals live.

A typical tide pool area.

 First, a few rules and recommendations:
1. Go at least an hour before low tide so that the tide is going out during much of your visit.
2. Keep your eyes on the ocean. There can be sneaker waves, or the tide can start coming in. Use caution. If you have not gone tidepooling before, it is good to go with someone who has done it before or to a place like Haystack Rock where there are a lot of people. Don't go way out on the rocks and get stranded. This does happen.
3. Set some guidelines with any kids beforehand. Ours with Toe are:
    a. In the ocean, only go up to your ankles unless a grown up is right with you. You can go up to  your knees in tide pools.
     b. You come when we call you and do what we ask the first time or tidepooling is over.
     c. Stay in our sight.
4. Respect that tide pools are home for wildlife. If you climb on rocks, climb in areas where there are few animals - walk on tough barnacles instead of soft anemones - just generally tread lightly.
5. Wear old clothes and tennis shoes and take towels and a change of clothes. You will get wet. If you are a cautious adult, you might get by with rain boots or hiking boots, but you definitely do NOT want to wear sandals. The rocks and barnacles can easily cut your feet.
6. Take a camera and binoculars. You never know what you might find or see. 

J and Toe are looking at the different zones in the intertidal area

 Tide pools are amazing for a number of reasons. First, that life can handle the extremes of being under water, being pelted by the surf, and then out in the open air is astonishing. Many animals in the intertidal zone actually need to go through that wet/dry cycle. Second, the more you look, the more you will see. There is life of every size, shape, and color in every nook and cranny. Creatures live crammed together, on top of each other, piled, stacked, and mashed. Third, it is an amazing opportunity to see predator/prey relationships up close. See the cute starfish? It is likely prying apart the mussel underneath it at this very moment (for lunch).  Also, many of the creatures in the intertidal zone look drastically different when they are under water than when they are exposed to air. Anemones are the prime example of this. When underwater, these beautiful creatures look like flowers. But when exposed to air, they close up. They look like lumpy, sandy, shell-covered doughnuts. You might not even recognize them as live creatures.

Over time, your eyes adapt to notice a variety of life. J can spot nudibranchs I would never see.

A sea star attached firmly to the rock, and likely having a lovely  mussel lunch.

If you climb on rocks, tread lightly, and hold on to your kid. It can be slippery!

Not sure if you can see these three anemones. The one on the left is open, the way it is under water. The two on the right are closed, the way you would see them exposed to the air.

Put kids in old tennis shoes, not boots. We were emptying the boots every 2 minutes.

 My favorite part of tidepooling is the fact that it is a multi-sensory experience. There are so many textures, smells, sights, and sounds while you are out there. The barnacles and mussels drying on the rocks make a skk skk skk noise... it is hard to describe. Like photos that can only caption one portion of a vast horizon, these photos can not do the experience justice. And now that Toe is old enough to really walk on his own, we plan to do it much more often.

Ooops! This one came out sideways. They are listening to the barnacles and mussels.

Oh yeah... Take snacks and water for afterwards. You will be hungry!