Our second nature walk took us to the tidal pools of Pt. Holmes during one of the lowest tides of the year. We had never been there before so we weren't exactly sure of what to expect. At first glance it appeared to be very rocky and not to inviting but there was some amazing exploring awaiting us further out at the point!
We didn't make it far before the exploring began in the shallow water along the beach.
There were hermit crabs, rock crabs, kelp crabs like the above one and multitudes of sea stars.
It was great! There were about 50 parents and children all over the beach and you could hear excitement everywhere as someone found a new creature to study :)
When we finally reached the rocky point where the best tide pools were it was absolutely stunning. You had to climb up onto the rocks as it was raised up higher than the shore and in amongst the rocky piles were huge seaweed covered tidal pools just full of discoveries! It was a totally different experience than the regular low tide excursions we usually take part in.
I can't remember the last time I saw this many sea stars in one place at the same time. When I was younger (at least a good 20 years ago) I used to spend my summers in Powell River and my cousins and I would collect sea stars by the hundreds literally. By the end of the day all of the skin on our fingertips would be completely shredded from picking up Ochre Stars ~ Pisaster ochraceus as a result of grabbing them along the white spines that cover them *grin*. They are one of the most common sea stars found in tidal pools. It was fantastic that the kids got to experience that to! Not the shredded fingertips but the sight of so many of them. LOL
We went from the ordinary to the extremely strange when we came across the above creatures. I'm guessing that they are some sort of sea slug but so far haven't been able to identify them. Anyone know what they are?
Then there were the not so ordinary Leather Stars ~ Dermasterias imbricata which have a very strange smooth and leathery back. Apparently you don't come across these sea stars very often so they were a great find :)
And this was tiniest sea star found for the day :)
I think that these were my favorite find for the day though, a colony of Green Anemone ~ Anthopleura elegantissima. They were closed up of course since they weren't in the water and were actually burrowing into the mucky ground to try and retain moisture as they don't tolerate dry conditions very well. We would have loved to have seen them open but maybe another time :)
Having conquered the tidal pools and with the rising tide threatening our safety we started to retreat back to the only teeny tiny patch of sand that there was for snack time.
A bunch of us had brought large beach umbrellas to act as shade for the kids since there was not one sliver of shade to be found anywhere otherwise....
and there we sat to snack on apples and grapes, sip water from our canteens and of course check off the items we had found in our nature notebooks so that they could get them punched for another successful nature outing :)
You have some beautiful photos here! The view is magnificent! You are very blessed to live in an area with so much exploration on your doorstep. We have a state park nearby for exploration, but nothing of this magnitude!
Oh how what an awesome nature walk! Three years ago we went to Gulf Shores on the coast of Alabama. We read the book Pagoo (about the life of a hermit crab) beforehand thinking we would see many tidepools. There was lots of sand but not a single tidepool! Seeing your adventure here gives me a better idea of the author's descriptions in the book.
Thanks and blessings, Julie
Wow! What an awesome nature walk! The sea stars were fascinating to look at.
By the way, the flag pins are made with small pins on larger pins. Here's a site I found with the Canadian flag: http://parentingteens.about.com/library/sp/gs/blswapstd3.htm
Jennifer
