Last week during spring break, one the most fun things we did was tide pooling at Duxbury Reef in Bolinas.
It took about an hour to get there from our hometown of Novato, but it was worth the drive!
I always feel better when I see the ocean. There’s something about the sound of the waves lapping the shore, the scent of salty water in the air and sand underneath my feet that feels so right. And the colors in this place, WOW! So many shades of tan, green, purple, dusty pink and deep rich brown.
Basically what you do is walk down to the beach during low tide and check out whatever happens to be hanging out on the shore. It sounds like it would be boring, but it’s totally fun and exciting to find different plants and animals amongst the rocks.
One of the coolest things we stumbled upon was this abalone shell, which was the size of a large dinner plate. I haven’t seen one at a beach since I was a kid!
Don’t you love the mix of green, blue, pink and purple? Totally reminds me of fancy jewelery.
We also saw hermit crabs, mussels, seaweed, sea urchin, sea anemones and chiton.
A few tide pool tips
- Check the low tide time online beforeheand, then try to arrive at least one hour before the tide is fully out.
- Try to go on a day when the tide is a negative low tide if you can!
- Bring layers. It was really sunny but cold and windy when we were there.
- You may want to wear waterproof shoes with good traction, too.
Oh, and if you ever get the chance to visit, be sure to stop by the tiny town of Bolinas afterwards to grab the avocado toast or the acai bowl at the BoVida!
It was exactly what we needed after a trip to the beach. 🙂
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
I loved visiting tide pools when I was in California! So many interesting creatures!
It was so fun and I can’t wait to do it again!
How’s your week going, Rachel?
It’s going well – and I only have about 3 1/2 weeks left until I’m on summer break for 10 weeks! Can’t wait! How about you? Was it hard to get back in the swing of things after being off last week?
Um, that’s incredible! Do you have any exciting plans for the break?
Not a whole lot of plans, just spending time with the girls. Plan to go on long walks in the mornings and storytime at the library is 3 days a week. My boyfriends’ family has a lake cabin so we will spend some long weekends there!
That sounds wonderful! I miss the library story time days. Please enjoy them for me!
Wow this is so cool! We have n-o-t-h-i-n-g like this in Texas. I’m uber jealous! I hope you both learned lots. And yes, that abalone shell is beautiful!
If and when you come out this way, you’ll have to visit the reef! I want to come back when there’s a negative tide. 🙂
I’m in Texas, on the Gulf, and we don’t have pools, just wonderful beach, but the sea grass washes up some pretty neat creatures, most often jellyfish. I’ve found and identified 4 of the 5 species native to South Padre Island and they are mostly blue and only a few inches. Even the Portuguese Man o’ War could fit in my palm! The most beautiful Moon Jelly was the largest at around 8 inches and is clear with pink markings. I wish I could include a photo . . .
When I lived for a time in Los Gatos, we’d visit the Scripps pools and they posted information on plaques. Fascinating mini oceans, they are . . .
How cool! I was stung by a Portuguese Man o’ War once. It wasn’t pretty!
My Mustang Island visit (near Corpus Christi, Texas) some years back wasn’t anywhere near as cool as the tidepool visit of yours. Water was brown (I’m pretty sure it always is), and the beach was covered with dead jellyfish and tiny dead fish. This did not encourage me to go barefoot, at all. Also, going into the water would mean coming out of it really dirty.
Your pictures are pretty cool. It’s hard to find any beautiful places to photograph here.
Maybe you’ll visit Northern California someday. 🙂 You never know!
Your pictures are absolutely amazing–especially that one of the rock! Sometimes I just marvel at the simple beauty of nature. I was out in The Berkshires with my family this week and all the rolling hills, waterfalls (Bash Bish) and flowers were just what I (we) needed to recharge and relax. Someday I’ll get the kids to the Pacific…