![]() ![]() No matter where we go to explore tidepools, the cardinal rule is the same: Look but don’t touch. To the south, Pigeon Point Light Station State Historic Park outside Half Moon Bay and Natural Bridges State Beach near Santa Cruz have also yielded memorable days. To the north, MacKerricher State Park near Mendocino and Salt Point State Park near Jenner have delivered some stellar sea star sightings. They also have inspired our older daughter to go out and buy a field guide that she studies at home (seriously we like to call her our “Little Linnaeus”).įitzgerald Marine Reserve isn’t the only place to go tidepooling in Northern California over the years, we’ve had great tidepooling trips at other beaches around the San Francisco Bay Area, too. ![]() Over the years, these (mostly volunteer) educators have been invaluable in teaching us about tide pool life. On the lowest of low tides, the California State Parks Department and local nonprofits send rangers and docents out along the coastline to serve as naturalists and help visitors find and identify certain animals. Viewfinder Tip: You’re looking down for most of the time while tidepooling, so be sure to put sunscreen on your neck. Other specimens – sculpins (which are tiny fish), shrimp, and chitons (which are tiny helmet-shaped mollusks) – are rarer, and therefore much more exciting to see. If you’re especially lucky, you’ll even spot California Sea Lions, which usually sun themselves on the very edge of the rocks (unless humans get too close). The most common critters are mussels, urchins, anemones, and sea stars - you can see these guys just about everywhere. We spend the majority of each excursion looking down, peering into pools for signs of life. On most visits, my wife and I put the girls in rain boots (some of the pools can be deep) and proceed along the rocks from north to south. Here, a rocky outcropping stretches out from the bluffs into the ocean, revealing a treasure-trove of critters in the nooks and crannies uncovered when the waters recede. Fitzgerald Marine Reserve in Moss Beach, about a 30-minute drive south of San Francisco. Tidepools ahead! Photos courtesy of San Mateo County Visitors Bureau ![]()
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