THE INTERTIDAL

“[...] it is a strange thing that most of the feeling we call religious, most of the mystical outcrying which is one of the most prized and used and desired reactions of our species, is really the understanding and the attempt to say that man is related to the whole thing, related inextricably to all reality, known and unknowable. This is a simple thing to say, but the profound feeling of it made a Jesus, a St. Augustine, a St. Francis, a Roger Bacon, a Charles Darwin, and an Einstein. Each of them in his own tempo and with his own voice discovered and reaffirmed with astonishment the knowledge that all things are one thing and that one thing is all things—plankton, a shimmering phosphorescence on the sea and the spinning planets and an expanding universe, all bound together by the elastic string of time. It is advisable to look from the tide pool to the stars and then back to the tide pool again.” --- John Steinbeck, The Log From The Sea Of Cortez

Steinbeck’s words must suffice for this entry.  I will only elaborate to say the tide pool at 6:00 a.m. was a moving experience and, though sore from falling twice, I am blessed to have been part of the tide pool community if just for a brief moment.

The intertidal zone at low low-tide

The same area at a much higher tide

Carefully navigating through the kelp and seagrass.  Shortly after this photograph was taken, I was in the water!  I'm wearing the yellow boots.

Illustrating the difference between a sponge (upper organism) and a colonial tunicate.

Sea anemone.  These are related to a jellyfish.  I chose to stick my finger into the middle of the anemone to feel it close around my finger as if my finger was prey.  The prickling sensation wasn't painful though it felt as if I were the smoother side of velcro and the anemone had the barbs.

The Blob!  We noticed this undulating blob of protoplasm and wondered what it was!

Picking it up, we discovered it was a Sea Hare, a sea slug related to the slugs that frequent gardens, only much bigger, heavier, and with a defensive ink.  If you look closely, you'll see my fingers were stained purple (for my science geeks, I felt like I'd performed a messy Gram Stain!)