Tides, Pools, and Tidepools

Y'all KNOW I wouldn't have gone someplace like the Point Loma tidepools (surpassed only by - perhaps - British Columbia's and Monterey's) without my camera. I took plenty of pictures but honestly tried to rein myself in a bit ... Mom, stop laughing. Just ask Nick how bad it can be when I'm in FULL photog mode. I really just wanted to enjoy the experience. The tidepools are only really accessible during a negative low tide (inlander translation: VERY low), which is achieved only around certain phases of the moon. Additionally, they only coincide with the daylight hours in the early winter months here in San Diego. A near-negative tide was predicted for one day during Mom and Dad's visit, so we checked it out. It was a beautiful day, the light was great, and I snapped and snapped away. Begin the photo journey!

One of the first things we saw was a (relatively) rare Bat Star, and a ranger was nearby to answer questions and stop curious children from being a little TOO curious.


The two most common species we saw in almost every pool were anemones and hermit crabs. The hermit crabs were very small and if you didn't look closely, you wouldn't have thought anything in those pools was even alive ... but upon closer quiet examination, we realized EVERYTHING was alive and moving!



In addition to the pools with standing water, the rocks all around us were covered with tiny living organisms. We tried to be careful where we walked so we didn't disturb the wee guys. Still, you have to wonder, if those creatures can withstand 2-3 hours a day above water, they are probably pretty hardy, right?

(You might want to click on that one and get the largest size to see all the detail - it's pretty cool.)

In one spot, there was this fantastically green sea grass clinging to the side of the cliff. It was pretty striking in contrast to the sandstone.

(that's mom and dad, by the way)


The Gooseneck Barnacles were pretty awesome and they were EVERYWHERE. They collected pieces of kelp and sea grass and, most impressively, they hosted individual and sporatic California Blue Mussels. They were hard to see until you really looked, and up close it was a cool juxtaposition.




As we hopped from rock to rock, we rounded a corner and saw this cave.


Past the cave and up the coast:


A tidepool and a snowy egret (look closely!):


The egret came closer and closer, hunting in the tidepools for the easy (trapped) prey.



There's a species of water worms that lives in and forms these tubes. We even found a few that still looked like they had wormies living in them.
(not this one)

(this one!)


At some point, I became less interested in the tidepools and more interested in the amazing rock formations. The rock here is stunning and is so distinct because the California coastline is a product of collision tectonics, producing a "staircase" effect in the rock (I am not an encyclopedia; I Googled that.)






And then there's some stuff that was just plain cool, like this rock. Water + sand + time = beachglass. Or perfect circles.


One of the unexpected finds at extreme low tide is that pieces of kelp brought IN with the tide get dragged OUT with the tide and leave the most beautiful and mystifying trails in the sand.


Climbing up on the staircase cliffs, the tops of the rock were very different looking than the sides.



There was something very bark-like about the appearance, which was highlighted when viewed from directly above:


I called this one the Giant's Foot:


The tide started pulling back in, getting some rocks wet (and giving us an excuse to get our feet wet!)


Oh, and this was one of my favorite shots of the day. Very abstract.


We ended the day by popping up the hill to the Cabrillo National Monument, which is situated to give sweeping views of San Diego and North Island (where Nick flew out of).



And here are some fun shots of my 'rents:





(Dad, who are you looking at in this shot? I was the only one with the camera!!)

There's another good low tide on Thanksgiving, so Nick and I might head out and spend some time together being thankful for our last T-day in San Diego!