Tide pools have otherworldly quality at night
Most people go tide-pooling in the warmth of summer, when the sun is shining and the bay ebbs around midday, exposing the intertidal zone and its oddly adapted creatures to the light of day.
But in winter, those low tides arrive in the evening, sometimes close to midnight, when city and county beach parks are closed.
Nevertheless, tide pool exploration in the dark of is an otherworldly experience.
December and January offer only a few evening low tides this season, including early December and on Dec. 24 and Dec. 25, said Doug Stark, a water conservation educator and naturalist with the city of Bellingham. Most extreme minus tides are in the late evening this year, but tide pool exploration is best an hour or two before the exact time of low tide.
Only one official guided walk is planned so far this season, so if you decide to go on your own, know the beach you plan to visit, and don’t park inside a gate that’s going to be locked when the park is closed.
“I would go to Marine Park,” said Holly Roger, with the outdoor-education group Wild Whatcom. “It’s the least treacherous. It’s a little less dangerous at night. It’s safe and flat.”
Roger suggested wearing a high-powered headlamp to leave your hands free for turning over rocks in the shallows or for examining snails, mussels, barnacles and sea stars.
In addition to a headlamp and backup lighting such as a flashlight, Roger recommends wearing rubber boots and warm socks, and to “dress like a duck” with a waterproof outer layer and warm inner layers.
You’ll be cold and wet afterward, so bring hot drinks and dry socks, shoes and gloves in the car.
Stark said Birch Bay would be another easy and safe place to examine the tide flats after dark.
“There’s parking right along the road there,” he said. “A moon snail might be out crawling on the sandy flats” with its huge foot, the width of a basketball, he said.
Elsewhere, Stark said, it would be fun to look for small sea stars, one that have survived the wasting disease that has devastated their population in recent years.
“It might be one thing to hope for, maybe see some young ones,” he said.
When is low tide?
▪ To find times and heights of tides to plan an excursion, use an online tide calculator such as protides.com. Navigate to Washington and then Bellingham Bay or the location you plan to visit.
▪ An app called Rise works well for those who use a smartphone or tablet.
Guided Walk
Doug Stark of the city of Bellingham and Holly Roger of Wild Whatcom will lead a tide pool walk from 10-11 p.m. Dec. 11 at Marine Park. Cost is $12 for adults, $8 for youth 4 to 17. To register, email holly@wildwhatcom.
This story was originally published November 25, 2015 at 4:01 PM with the headline "Tide pools have otherworldly quality at night."