First Tide Pool Trip! Abalone and Sacred Coves - July 2008

My sis was in town and a couple of my friends had been wanting to take me to see some tide pools anyway so we went to the Palos Verdes peninsula (i.e. Portuguese Bend) to Abalone Cove and Sacred Cove. The tide was at about 1 foot (lower than two feet is best for seeing tide pool life).


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I cannot describe how amazing it all was! I had never seen any of the tide pool creatures before in the wild. Only at/in aquariums. I couldn't believe how many there were! Hundreds of starfish were draped among the rocks. I really cannot think of a better way to explain it. They seemed to conform to whatever shape the rocks were and were lying all over other starfish as well. I was astonished at how colorful they were! Also, there weren't too many of the purple urchins, but some of their green skeletons (shells?) lying about. And the rocks in that area also has some beautiful texture.

[UPDATE: For this trip we parked on Sea Cove Dr. I believe, but as of Sept. 2010 you can no longer park on Sea Cove Drive at any time without a permit. Also, the hours for the parking lot listed on the Abalone Cove web site may be inaccurate. I'd suggest calling before you head down there or you might have to risk parking illegally!]

These are the first photos here taken with my new (at the time) camera. Here are some of my best shots:

This is like a sea urchin skeleton. It's called a test.




anemone


ochre sea stars

Click here for more of my photos from these locations.

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