Saturday, March 2, 2013

Tide Pools at Point Loma



On the western side of Point Loma lies a rocky intertidal zone, a window into the ocean ecosystem. During low tides, pools form along the shore in rocky depressions.



 Tide pools can be huge, deep holes nearer the ocean. These pools are below the low tide line and are filled with ocean water most of the time.


 Some tide pools are small,shallow puddles found high up on the beach. These pools are above the low tide line and are exposed to air much of the day. This poses a special challenge to the organisms living there. They have to survive in both wet and dry conditions. Animals often hide under cool damp rocks and moist seaweed so their bodies do not dry out before the tide comes back in.  During a big rainfall, the pools may  fill with fresh water, a sharp contrast to the usual salt water environment. 



 These are park rangers. Rangers and volunteers monitor the tide pools. The tall ranger on the right is from Helen, GA...our home state. She said the boats in the pic on the right were whale watching boats. A whale had been spotted, but we missed it.

The cliffs are quite pretty too and make for interesting backdrops. There were shells embeddied into the rocks there.





Low tide was at 4:00 PM when we went. It was a beautiful day at the ocean. I love the exploring and Joe loved sitting and watching. I will say, the rocks were way slippery. I got stuck at on spot and had to take a minute to figure out how to get out....right side up.

From here we headed to Sunset Cliffs... a short 4 mile ride. It was perfect timing as sunset was at 5:44 pm.  That will be the next post.

Thank you for visiting...

11 comments:

  1. Gee it looks pretty there. I love the ocean.

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  2. What an amazing header picture! Absolutely beautiful!

    I love exploring tide pools, such a treasure. Thanks for sharing!

    Looking forward to the sunset trip.

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  3. Tide pools are cool. I haven't been near any in a long time. Are these near San Diego?

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    1. Yes, Judy....Point Loma is a seaside community within San Diego. It is a peninsula with the Pacific Ocean on the west side and south side. The east side of the peninsula faces the bay with a beautiful view of the city. There is no real sandy beach there....just rocks and cliffs.

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  4. Your photos of the cliffs and tide pools make me lonesome for Oregon. The beaches on the Pacific are much more dramatic than the white sandy beaches on the Gulf. Looks like you are finding wonderful places to explore.

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  5. Looks like a great place to explore. It is neat isn't it how creatures of Mother Nature have been born with instincts that tell them what to do when they need to. Your picture at top with the seagulls is very pretty.

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  6. Is that the San Diego area? I love that area, spent 2 1/2 yrs there while in the Navy. Was back a couple years ago and was sure different than in the 60's :)

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  7. Someday I hope we can spend some time near the ocean. I prefer the desert but it's nice to see water once in awhile that isn't coming down out of the sky.

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    1. We loved Point Loma when we were there a year or two ago. We had a wonderful sandwich at Charlie's Best Bread shop on Rosecrans Avenue. The view from up on top of the Cabrillo NP was incredible. As it was high tide when we were there, we did not see the tidal pools. Something to go back for.

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  8. A wonderful day of sightseeing, we missed it when in that area.

    Thanks for sharing.

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