Tag Archives: low tide

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Tide pooling is a Coast tradition. One of the places to tide pool is at Anchor Bay Beach, which is accessed through Anchor Bay Campground. Anchor Bay Beach is a beautiful stretch of sand. And at low tide, there are treasures to be found and photographed, as Michelle Schubert discovered.

Below is an Ochre Sea Star. You can see the star in the middle.

 And here is a Sunflower Sea Star. It looks like it lost one of its arms.

 And a translucent green Jellyfish.

 I love how the Sea Stars, also fondly called Starfish, are draped on the rocks.

Thanks to Michelle for allowing me to share her photos with you here.

To see another photo of a Sunflower Sea Star, this one seen at the Stornetta Public Lands, and learn a little more about them, here's the link: http://www.mendonomasightings.com/2012/03/27/sunflower-seastar-found-at-the-stornetta-public-lands/

And to see a beautiful wave at AB Beach, here's that link: http://www.mendonomasightings.com/2012/01/16/the-pacific-ocean-is-dancing-at-anchor-bay-beach/

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It's pretty wonderful to share the Mendonoma Coast with Bobcats. Mother Nature's rodent hunters, they can be seen hunting gophers and other rodents in meadows. One has been spotted in the Iversen Lane area, north of Gualala. Gary Humfeld recently spotted it and captured several photographs. One is posted on the Independent Coast Observer's web site under "On-line features, Mendonoma Sightings" at this link: www.mendonoma.com. The other photo I am happy to share with you here.

You can see the Bobcat's unique tufted ears. Thanks to Gary for allowing me to share his photo with  you here.

To see a dramatic photo of a Bobcat caught in a mid-air leap, here's the link: http://www.mendonomasightings.com/2011/06/09/bobcat-caught-in-mid-air-by-drew-fagan-in-gualala/

The fog rolled in overnight, cooling us off. With the low tides and calm ocean this morning, abalone divers descended upon the Coast in great numbers. Vehicles were parked at many key access points up an down the Coast. Hope they had a good dive!

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Yesterday we jumped into summer and the warm weather continues today. Of course there are pockets of fog in the usual places - hello, Point Arena! - but the fog will hopefully burn off for everyone.

There were a lot of happy faces as sun shone and David Wayne Floyd photographed the beach action at Anchor Bay Beach yesterday.

This morning with the favorable low tides, abalone divers were hitting the water. A crab boat is working the water south of Fish Rocks this afternoon. Today there is no wind!

Commercial fishermen are awaiting the opening of the Salmon season, which is May 1st south of Point Arena, I believe. Life on the Mendonoma Coast is like a dream, a dream from which you don't want to wake up.

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The Stornetta Public Lands bring us many wonders and here's another one - a Purple Sea Urchin "meadow." Peter Baye was exploring the tide pools of the Stornetta Lands at low tide recently when he photographed these underwater beauties.

These Sea Urchins have excavated pits in sedimentary rocks and live in a big community. They grow to about four inches across and can live up to 70 years. Their Latin name is a tongue twister - Strongylocentrotus purpuratus. They are found off the eastern edge of the Pacific Ocean, from Ensenada, Mexico to British Columbia, Canada.

Thanks to Peter for allowing me to share his photo with you here.

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Rick and I, plus our golden retriever Huckleberry, took a hike at the Stornetta Public Lands this Thursday. You can see that it was a lovely day. A very low tide occurred while we were there.

 Sea Lion Rocks are only accessible at low tide. The photo below shows this rocky staircase. As this is a Marine Sanctuary, it would be better to stay off these rocks. And you wouldn't want to be caught when the tide changes!

 We kept Huckleberry on a short leash because of sinkholes like this one and the dangerously steep bluff-faces.

 The main access is off of Lighthouse Road, which is north of Point Arena. Before you see the Lighthouse pay station and parking, look on the left. You will see a portable toilet, parking and these rather uninformative signs. Notice that this one still has a picture of a fish, indicating that fishing is allowed. But it's not!

Here's the sign BLM added when this area was closed to fishing, including abalone diving, in 2010.

Tomorrow I will show you that there's been a BIG change in the Stornetta waterfall.