Dutiful Moms and Tide Pooling

As I mentioned in my last post, I studied oceanography in high school and took class field trips to the tide pools. But we also had homework and projects, so I needed to go to the tide pools NOT as part of a class field trip. Also in my last post, I mentioned that tide pooling alone could be dangerous. When I invited Mom to come along on my trip for my class project, she declined initially. But when I gave her a graphic description of her teenage daughter washing out to sea as human hamburger and she -- grudgingly! -- acquiesced.

So, the day came that we were going to go see a -1.0 tide at Pigeon Point (best we could do in late January) and she took a few hours off work that afternoon. I could tell that she was a little bent out of shape that I had dragged her off to do this thing, but just a little.

When we got there, she was going to spread a blanket on the beach, out of the wind, and watch. But I wanted to share some of the totally cool stuff that I'd seen on prior trips, so I dragged her along to show her a few things just below the lower-high tide line (an area that is virtually guaranteed to get wet at least once a day). 

She was, at first, mildly amused at the fire-boat squirting of the sea anemones when poked with a finger.  Then I went on to show her more and more things and she got more and more involved.  I spotted a Cryptochiton stelleri (OK, I explained that its common names were "Hidden Chiton" and "Gumboot Chiton"). I went through the whole sea-geek explanation of its anatomy and everything. She liked it. 

She got into heading farther and farther out to look at the critters, but she never really got into the wading in the low spots (for safety reasons, really!).  So, she kept an eye out for rogue waves and the tide when it turned while I collected the seaweed specimens I needed for my project. When we headed for home, she was still a little jazzed, definitely no longer bent out of shape.

So, weeks go by.  One day Mom says, "Do you need to take another trip to the tide pools? There's a minus tide coming up next week."

How's *that* for making a convert?  :-)

And, remember that "Gumboot Chiton?" Well, years later, when she was living outside of Boston, I visited and we went to the New England Aquarium.  We were peering into the "Pacific Coast Tide Pool" aquarium and I excitedly said, "Ooh! Look! Cryptochiton stelleri! And it's not on the display!!!"  She spotted it almost instantly and got all excited, too. That's when the docent who was standing by the display turned to look into the display wanting to know what we were talking about.  So, we pointed it out, went through the whole explanation.

She asked, "Are you marine biologists?" We replied, "No, we're from California." 

Of course, my friend Subrata would say, "No, but she plays one on TV." :-)