Weekend Trip photo post #2

[summer_jackel]

I love tidepools. Some people birdwatch, I tidepool-watch...well, I birdwatch too, but you get the idea. I LOVE poking my nose into the interchange zone between land and sea and the fascinating glimpse of the aquatic world you can find there.

So, while Chris suffered on a bike for five hours, Pryde, Rogue and I made haste to the beach between Ferndale and Petrolia (both of which are the most lovely little towns full of awesome Victorian archetecture, which is another thing that makes me a happy puppy). I wasn't expecting tidepools, just a beach to run around on...but I was thrilled to find them. It wasn't even low tide, midtide on the high side I'd say, but it was low enough to see some amazing things. Which I photographed at length and am now sharing with you. Oh, and pictures of my pretty furry ones, too.

This post is deeply not dialup friendly.





Here's where I was.


Colonial anemonies. These little guys prefer to reproduce by cloning themselves. They then create big mats and wage chemical warfare on unrelated colonies that they encounter.





I love Pacific giant green anemonies. They are really common and really fun. I found some neat individuals; here are anemonie portraits:

This one had unusually voluminous tentacles:


This one had an interesting olive tint:


The brilliant green against the sandstone and red algae makes a lovely contrast here:


two views of the same animals, an anemonie next to an urchin. (look at the urchin's little tubefeet sticking out!):




This one was vivid neon green!



I loved this tidepool! The green on these anemonies was amazing.


These tiny little pools full of life enchanted me:




This is where I found these little pools. I was pretty close to the water here. The geology was a neat mix of sandstone and rockstone...that may be why there were so many urchins, which like to burrow in stone. My local seashore rock is much harder stuff. In this picture you can see (empty) urchin burrows in the middle rock.:






Urchins! I saw several, which excited me, because I always look for them and they are scarce where I live. I was VERY excited when I came to one particular area, a couple of pools that had to contain at least 200 of them...no kidding! I wonder why those pools were so urchin-friendly?

When you put your finger on an urchin, it moves its spines toward you. Very fun. :)





A little striped crab who was pretty torpid in the cold, enough that I could catch him. He scuttled away pretty quickly when I released him, though.



The other sessile organism I always try and spot are chitons...sort of like a little slug with klingon armor. I found several small ones. I found several gumboot chitons (a much larger species) washed up dead on the shore, but they are only found at low intertidal zones as their softer bodies can't tolerate much air. Ah, if only the tide had been lower...

This little guy had cool stripes. It was about the size of my thumb.



This one wasn't as pretty.


I was excited to find this, a dead skate or ray of some kind...I'm thinking perhaps a big skate?




My Faithful Tidepooling Hounds weren't about to scramble deep into the rock within wave-reach after me. Because they are smarter than I am bright dogs. But they did perch where they could keep a close eye on me.



Rogue: "Aren't you done down there YET? I'm bored. I want to bark at something."



OK, so Pryde probably wouldn't throw himself into the waves to rescue me if I was dumb enough to turn my back on them and get washed out to sea (although he does tend to go into the water if I do). But nice to think it, huh?



And these are a bunch of gratuitous shots of my handsome dog.










Who may be part grizzly bear:







Ok, so I posed this one. It's still cute. Rogue: "Cover of Sheltie Pacesetter, here I come!"



Don't hate me because I'm beautiful.


And lastly, a photo where you can see Pryderi and I reflected in the pool we are both peering into.

Comments

[nesting.livejournal.com]

I love that section of coast. My family and our neighbors used to camp out in a remote area of the coast a couple of times a summer when I was little. My neighbor had ranch access so we could all caravan down there on private ranch roads. It was amazing. It's farther down the road than where you were - I recognize where you are from the two photos of the ocean :)

Let me tell you--the tidepools are amazing down there, too! if you're up for an hour's walk there's a place where you can park right next a bridge before the road goes up into the mountain and away from the coast. it's past where the road parallels the coast for a few miles (past where you were).... there's beach access there and at low tide, there's an enormous section of amazing tidepools that you can walk really far out into. tons of urchins.

it's *here*






and you do know that ferndale is like 40 minutes from my house, right? ;)

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

yikes, looks like I only barely began to explore these pools! Thank you so much for the info! I love having a native guide. ;)

And yes, I know you are close by there. I thought about you, but we didn't have time to visit.

I am planning on going back next month, around Solstice. Can I visit you then???

[genmaicha.livejournal.com]

Those are some beautiful photos :>

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

Thank you! hopefully they can play some small part in making you feel better. *hands you cookies. Hands you more when your conure steals them*

[a-rowan-dryad.livejournal.com]

*dies* Oh i am in heaven. I really must move north at some point!

[sabledrake.livejournal.com]

Wow! Even more marvelous pics! And your doggies are gorgeous, btw. Kudos to you for getting so close to that ucky dead thing. FOr a horror writer, I can be such a squeamish wussy. Eeew eew eew.

-- C.

[joreth]

*Sigh* and people out here wonder why I am so unimpressed with Florida beaches. Miles of white sand, flat water, obnoxious tourists, no wildlife, no rocky texture, and the most excitement we ever get is when Red Tide comes and kills off everything in sight.

As someone said to me yesterday, I am SO on the wrong coast!