It was a beautiful morning out at Bodega Head today. I was there for less than happy reasons, having lost my keys in the last 20-30 minutes of my whale watch shift, so decided to make the long trek out to have one last search of the area. As I drove past Campbell Cove, I was shocked at how much different the area looked at high tide. I mean, I expected there to be less beach, but not so MUCH less beach.
That jetty that stretches across the picture? that was where we climbed over dry rock to get to the pools beyond.
The below photo is a view from standing in what would be the water in front of that small stretch of beach you see in the above photo, taken the day Cay and I went out tide pooling.
If you see that white car up in the left side of the above photo, that's where I was parked when I took the following photo:
What people don't think of is the extremes that tidepool and mudflat animals need to be able to endure. Cold and wet, to often hot as well as dry. The adaptations these animals have to survive in these areas are unique and fascinating, from clams and worms that burrow, to barnacles that produce their own glue to hold onto rocks and shut their little "trap doors" against the dry air, to anemone that close up, pulling bits of shell and sand over themselves to keep in the moisture until the tide returns, there are so many creatures with so many different ways of dealing with the changes that occur constantly in their environment.
Anyway, today was a moment of reflection and wonder, and it put the two previous tidepool trips in a completely different light for me.
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