Low Tide Today - Giant Pile Worm

Check out something I saw on the beach during low tide-

Sometimes called a pile worm or clam worm.  Don't let that cute face fool you he can deliver a nasty bite with those jaws, yes it is as scary as it looks.  Luckily we know better than to handle any worms on the beach. This guy is about as long as my hand.  Here is a great article on these worms by Sue Pike  (at least the East Coast relative). :)


In the Pacific Northwest the low tide will be here all weekend - be sure to head down to the beach if you can....The Seattle Times has a great interactive site for tide times here.  You can select your beach and they cover beaches all over the Northwest, even south to the Oregon coast.
 
Here are the Seattle low tide times (it's great to get there an hour before as the tide goes out you can explore more, it is trickier as the tide comes back in!)
Fri     29      Low  10:32 AM    -1.9 
Sat    30      Low  11:13 AM    -2.1
Sun   31      Low  11:55 AM    -2.0
Mon    1      Low  12:37 PM    -1.5

Low Tide Ocean Shores, WA

1. There are few sandy beaches in Washington, but over the long weekend we went to Ocean Shores and the sand stretched as far are you could see.
2. Since it was low tide and not much life on the beach, we headed to the rocky jetty to find some creatures.  Here are a couple of chitons (believed to go back 400 million years), feasting on rock algea.
3. Hanging Sea Anemones (closed waiting for the tide to come back in)- bits of rock and shell attached, contain stinging cells (nematocysts), green due to zooxanthelae
4. Sand ripples left by the retreating tide.
5. Barnacles and Mussels
6. Luke and Easton
7. The brown blob is tar spot algae - very flat patches on rocks, common to rocks in high-tide zone ( Ralfsia pacifica)
8. Gooseneck Barnacles - clusters of white claws, compete with mussels for space, filter feeders, higher up on large rocks (Pollicipes polymerus)
9. Giant Hermit Crab with Connor

Note - While at the beach it is so important to be respectful of the creatures that live there and their habitat.  Here is a great list of guidelines from the Washington State University Beach Watchers:

• Please leave all living organisms in their native habitat, where you find them on the beach.
• Walk with care to avoid injuring plants and seaweed. Plants and seaweed prevent erosion, provide habitat and hiding places for intertidal organisms. They also provide food for many animals and insects.
• Step on bare spots as much as possible, walking slowly and at a safe pace.
• Overturn rocks with care, if doing so. When finished looking, return them gently to their original position to avoid crushing anything that lives underneath.
• Kneel quietly by tidepools, taking care not to walk in them or put your hands into them.
• Fill any holes you may create if digging for clams. Piles of sand left on the beach can smother other organisms.
• Leave creatures attached to rocks, rather than removing them for study, since removal may kill them. Since it is natural for them to be attached, more can be learned about them by observing where and how they choose to live.
• Enjoy anemones without prodding them. Anemones will often squirt water if poked, but sadly this can kill them because they need that water for survival until the next tide covers them.

Black Sand, Green Sand

Something so fun about the Big Island is all the different beaches, not just your manicured, dreamy white sand beaches, but fantastically diverse full of life, unique beaches. It seemed every beach had new and interesting things to offer...

Black Sand

Green Sand

Sand in the place where you are...

Generally I'm teased for being the crafty one in the family. However, don't let Luke's aloofness fool you. The sand stood no chance against these three.  Luke created 3-D names for each boy and countless sand castle creations. Everyday on the beach is a great day.  I have a smattering of posts coming up about Hawaii...just to warn you.  Even though we've been home a week, I just swept sand from the laundry room today, trips tend to linger with you a while and I'm going to pretend I'm still in Hawaii for a bit longer.

The Beach at Golden Gardens

This is the west side of Golden Gardens. It is a fun beach with lots of sand and digging spots. There is beach volleyball too and even fires are permitted on this side. The after dark scene is a party beach so when the families start leaving take note.

Field Trip - Low Tide

Today's tide in Seattle was the lowest of the year at -3.4  We ventured out with some friends to Lincoln Park beach in West Seattle.  There is a pretty ferry dock right there and it was very pretty. 

We had lots of fun exploring, finding all kinds of things from crabs and pretty sea stars to beached jellyfish. Oh, and a rusty piece of metal determined to be from a pirate ship...hmm, a little imagination never hurts :)

 
If you're in the area - tomorrow's tide is also really low -3.0 at 12:38 PM, head out and let me know what you see!  You can also look at this tide table for other areas (even Olympia and Tacoma are different) 

Field Trip - Discovery Park Beach, Seattle

Seattle is not known for sunny, sandy beaches, but a beach can be a particularly amazing place for treasure hunting.  This beach has a lighthouse (although it was all covered up with construction repairs).  There is often some unique people watching to do here to, like the gentleman in the sailboat/canoe who came ashore.  I found some of my favourite beach treasure - sea glass.  There is something about the brisk wind off the ocean and the smell of salt water that is refreshing.

Discovery Park is located at

3801 W Government Way
Seattle, WA 98199

They have a great visitors center there and if you have really little ones or other special needs you can get a driving pass to drive out to the beach.

A beach scene in the winter

Sometimes you need a little tropical beach in the middle of winter.  This is a great use for leftover Christmas card boxes to help make your scene 3-D.  We used sandpaper for the sand and blue paper for the ocean.  I dug through some scrapbook paper and found some beachy stuff that E selected from, paper for the background, stickers, etc.  We lined the box with some of the paper, glued a palm tree to the front then glued everything he wanted to stand-up to stiff cardboard (thank you recycling bin).  Colouring pages also make great "scenes". Below you can see the how to for the stand up items, you can also see it doesn't have to be precise cutting, just a big enough piece to balance the image piece. Cut a small slit in each piece and slide them together so the bottoms are even.

This has been a pretty fun play set, beside the cutouts and set-up fun, we have also has a shark attack, a pirate raid and aliens land on our beach...