Tidepooling

These are not my pictures from Seward.  Sorry, those are coming soon.  But these are photos of me discovering the hobby that would have defined my childhood had I grown up on the coast: tidepooling!    When I was offered to tag a long tidepooling I jumped at the opportunity, but I had no idea what I was jumping at.  We drove over to Outside Beach at low-ish tide, and there I discovered the intricacies of this "tidepooling" they spoke of.  Here's what you do:

You approach tidepools like this

But you have to be careful because they're covered in slippery algae and kelp like this

And then you dig around in puddles like this

 And find creatures like this!

red sea anemone

 

 She's got eggs!!!!

brooding sea star, they care for their young!

ISOPOD!!!!  AAHHHH!!!!  (Has anyone seen "The Bay"?  No?  Well, go watch it, then you'll get the reference...)

Sculpin

My fellow interns got some great photos and video of me FREAKING OUT over these animals.  I was so excited.  When I get hold of it I'll posted it here for your viewing pleasure :)