Tidepooling

I've been eager to try my hand at tidepooling, so I drove to Malibu to follow up on a tip that there are some easily accessible tide pools near the Malibu Pier. Tide pools exist in areas along the beach that have rocky outcrops where the waves continuously flow over and then recede from the rocks. The pockets between the rocks remain filled with water even when the tide is out, and these tide pools are often teeming with life. During periods of low tide, curious landlubbers like me can walk along the beach and search for marine life in the pools between the rocks. I'd heard that it's possible to see starfish, sea urchins, sea anemone, and even an occasional octopus!

Due to a profound lack of planning, I went during a period of high tide and most of the rocks were underwater and inaccessible, but even so I managed to find a few creatures! I discovered several sea urchins, including this sea urchin sitting in a clam shell, and I think I found a sea anemone (the larger creature on the left side of the photo - on the right side is another sea urchin). And I saw 2 crabs scuttle by (too quickly for me to snap a photo) - one was a medium-sized red crab and the other was a small hermit crab (I think). Along the path to the tide pools, I saw a stunningly beautiful hummingbird, who was kind enough to stay still for a photo session. Unfortunately, though, his beauty didn't come across on camera. His feathers were gray and black, but in direct sunlight his neck shimmered a sparkly red and his belly shimmered an iridescent green. There were also a ton of white birds, which I think are egrets, along the Malibu beach. And, of course, surfers.

More tidepooling is definitely in my future!