Tidepooling at the Fitzgerald Marine Preserve

Usually minus tides occur too early in the morning or when it is dark. Today, however, there was a -1.2 tide at 3:50 pm. The sky was sunny and the temperature was mild, so I headed over the hill to the James Fitzgerald Marine Reserve at Moss Beach, north of Half Moon Bay. I took along the polaroid underwater housing for my Canon camera that I bought for snorkeling in the Caribbean last month. That way I was able to take pictures underwater in the tide pools.

A large rocky reef exposed at low tide makes this 3-mile long beach one of the best places in California to enjoy an amazing diversity of intertidal marine life.  Check a tide table on the internet and head for this reserve when the tide is low, preferably in the minus range. Tide pool walks are conducted at low tide by rangers and docents. Remember that it is illegal to remove or disturb marine life or to disturb the harbor seals that hang out on the offshore rocks.

TO GET THERE... take Highway 1 to the town of Moss Beach and turn west on California Avenue. It's about 10 miles south of Pacifica and 6.3 miles north of Highway 92.

Ano Nuevo State Park After Hours Ramble

My former student and Ano Nuevo docent, Sarah Mendel, lead a select group on an after hours walk to see the elephant seals at Ano Nuevo State Park on the southern San Mateo County coast.

Though some elephant  seals can be seen at the park all years, it is most popular from December through March when a large number of the pinnipeds show up for for mating and bearing young. To protect the enormous mammals, and the people who come to see them, the wildlife protection area of the park is open only through naturalist guided walks at that time of year.

In addition to seals, we also saw some sea otters bobbing in the ocean on the south side of the peninsula.

Male elephant seals arrive in early December to establish a breeding hierarchy and are followed in late Decmber by the females, who join the harems of the dominant males.  Bull elephant seals are enormous, reaching lengths of 16 feet  and weighing close to 2.5 tons. Females are much smaller, at 1,200 - 2,000 pounds.  These animals,  the largest members of the seal family, seem awkward on land, but they are excellent swimmer,  able to stay at sea for 8 months out of the year and dive as deep as 5,000 feet.

TO GET THERE... The park entrance is west of Highway 1 about 19 miles north of Santa Cruz and about 23 miles south of Half Moon Bay.