Learning about tide pools

I was at my seabird observation station for an hour and a half this morning, before I packed things up and headed off for a tide pool hike. 

I got to the South Beach Trail a little early so I could make my way down the steep decline to the beach without holding up the scheduled tour group.  The group had adult campers and young junior ranger program participants.  I went on the tour because I didn’t know a thing about tide pools and I was eager to learn.

I was hoping to see and learn about as many of the species on the information board as possible.  Here’s what I saw.

First up was a sea star and anemones.  Sea stars is their proper name.  I grew up calling them star fish, but they aren’t fish after all, of course.

Now these sea anemones sure didn’t look like what I expected, but that’s because the very low tide meant they were high and dry.  They kind of curl up when they’re above the water and exposed to the air.

This, and the next two pics show what they look like when they’re under water.  Now that’s more what I expected.

They do come in a variety of colors.  I can’t wait to show them to the grandgirls when they come to visit in July.

I learned something with this shot.  It’s better to take pictures of these anemones in the shade to show the true colors.  Aren’t they neat?

That’s Cheyenne, the park interpretive intern, showing the little ones a sea star.  Funny thing about a couple of these would be junior rangers.  Two of them were on the tour with their grandparents.  Well, grandpa was constantly hounding them not to get their feet wet.  What??  You take two youngsters to the beach where we had to cross an inlet through the water, and you don’t want them to get their shoes wet?  In my opinion, that’s like asking pigs not to wallow in mud.  Lighten up, Gramps!

          Of course, the sea star was returned to its original position in the sand to await the tide coming in.

Did you know these are gooseneck barnacles?  I didn’t.  I think they’re kind of neat when you take a close look at them.

The last big find of the hike was a gumboot chiton (I think).  They kind of curl of in defense.  The kids weren’t too crazy about this creature.

As we headed back to the trail up the hill, we once again had to cross this inlet.  Good old gramps carried his young grandson over the water and set him down on the other side.  I had to laugh out loud as the young whippersnapper ran right back to the inlet and jumped in saying, “I can cross it myself, grandpa!” 

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy