MOSS BEACH — The first extreme low tide of the season beckoned hundreds of starfish and sea anemone seekers to Fitzgerald Marine Reserve on Saturday, where tidal pools that have been under eight feet of water for months revealed themselves.
Spiky purple urchins, sidestepping hermit crabs and carpets of surf grass put on a show for the nature lovers that came to enjoy the day — many of whom were surprised that they timed their outing so well.
“When we got here, we were like, ‘Oh my gosh, this day is perfect,'” said Jennifer Rampton, 42, of Fremont, who came with her two daughters.
“I keep looking for an octopus,” said Ryan Meith, 42, who came to the preserve from Alameda with his wife and young son. “You have to be still. That’s when you tend to see things.”
With a full moon on Sunday, the tide this weekend is extra low, at minus 0.6 feet below average, enabling seagoers to walk out nearly half a mile on the rocky reef.
Low tides can get even more extreme as winter approaches, down to minus 1.6 feet. The afternoon of New Year’s Eve this year will be close, with the low tide expected to be minus 1.4 feet.
“As we progress into winter, you’ll see eight to 10 low tides during daylight hours you can come and visit,” said Laurel Finnegan, a ranger at Fitzgerald Marine Reserve near Moss Beach who keeps a tide app on her smartphone.
Here, the sea creatures are meant to be seen and not touched, a tall order for little children and their parents who are tempted to stick their fingers into sea anemones.
“You’re sticking your finger down that little creature’s throat,” Finnegan explained. “Just look at the reaction of the animal itself. You just poked it and it pulled itself in to protect itself.”
It’s Finnegan’s job to educate the tourists but also to enforce the rules. When she came upon Rampton’s 6-year-old daughter, Lia, holding a few hermit crabs in her blue beach bucket, Finnegan gently offered to swap the hermit crabs for a colorful sticker of a sea urchin. Then the little girl tried to remember from which tidal pool she pulled them, to make sure they replaced it in the correct tidal zone that has similar conditions. It matters, Finnegan said.
“If you pick it up and move it, it’s like taking something from California and putting it in New York,” she said.
Some of the sea creatures are already struggling with other challenges, she said. Scientists are trying to determine the cause of a “wasting” disease that has been killing two kinds of starfish in the area: the Sunflower starfish and the Ochre starfish.
Otherwise, the reef is healthy, she said. The tentacles of the giant green and sunburst anemones just below the water’s surface seem to wave at the tourists.
Jay Wells, 42, of San Francisco, said his 1-year-old daughter seemed quite content staying close to shore.
“We’re looking for heart-shaped rocks,” he said.
Contact Julia Prodis Sulek at 408-278-3409. Follow her at twitter.com/juliasulek
