‘Squeal of discovery.’ Guided tide-pool explorations return to Tacoma beaches
It can be called the “squeal of discovery,” says Tacoma Nature Center education program coordinator Brianna Charbonnel.
“Like when there’s a Sitka shrimp on the beach, and the kids don’t think it’s alive. They go to poke it, and it moves, and all that water that just looked still is full of life. And people are so surprised and excited to see a shrimp splash them.”
Parks Tacoma’s free guided tide pool walks are back! They return this weekend at Owen Beach and Titlow Beach and offer family-friendly beach discoveries and explorations at low tide.
Parks Tacoma released the following information in a statement:
“Hosted by naturalists from Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium and Tacoma Nature Center, these guided low-tide experiences offer hands-on opportunities to discover the plants and animals that live along Tacoma’s shoreline. Participants will learn how to safely observe marine life, from tiny crabs to other tide pool creatures, while gaining a deeper understanding of the region’s coastal ecosystems.”
Both programs are “drop in,” with no reservations required and completely free of charge.
Explore the Shore at Owen Beach
Owen Beach offers Explore the Shore, where naturalists lead beach walks at low tide. Explore the Shore is a walk from Owen Beach to The Point Defiance Marina on a pebbly beach full of critters that scamper. The program is two hours long and operates once a month through the summer:
Dates:
• Saturday, May 16, from 10 a.m. – noon
• Wednesday, June 17, from 12 p.m. – 2 p.m.
• Tuesday, July 14, from 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
• Wednesday, Aug. 12, from 10 a.m. – noon
Tiptoe Through the Tide Pools at Titlow Beach
On Titlow Beach, drop in for a bit more of a beach experience than a “walk.” Touch tanks wait up top for those not able or ready to walk down to the beach, and Tacoma Nature Center naturalists wander the beach ready to answer questions. Titlow is a rocky shore, with a lot more seaweed than Owen Beach, with sandy areas and eelgrass. Tiptoe Through the Tide Pools is three hours long and operates once every summer month except August:
Dates:
• Sunday, May 17, from 10:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
• Sunday, June 14, from 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
• Monday, July 13, from 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Guided tide pool programs return
“We see families with young children and groups that are meeting up as families and school groups,” Charbonnel, who has run the Tiptoe Through the Tide Pools program since 2010, told the News Tribune.
“We’re completely focused on intertidal organisms. We’re primarily looking at animals that are invertebrates that are exciting on the beach and that are moving around. Sometimes we have a few fish to look at.”
One of the things that Charbonnel looks forward to the most during tide-pool explorations is watching people simply discover a barnacle.
“I think that the average person forgets or doesn’t even recognize that a barnacle is alive. It’s just this thing growing on a rock,” she said.
Charbonnel says the biggest goal of tide-pool experiences is to connect people to the habitat.
“Sometimes we look out at the water and forget all the living creatures that are there,” Charbonnel said. “We want to teach people how many of the things on the beach are alive.”
If you come for a tide-pool experience, expect to find sea stars, crabs and shrimp.
And then there are the things that Charbonnel calls “gooshy.”
“Those things, that when you look at them, look like boogers hanging from rocks. But they’re sea anemones, or the mouth of a sea cucumber sticking up.”
Both programs also help educate the public on proper tide pool “etiquette.” How to protect ourselves, but also the myriad of sea life that lives along the shores underneath us.
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