Did you know that at low tide, you can walk all the way from Campus Point Beach to Sands Beach? If it’s an extremely low tide, you could even start at the Goleta Pier or Santa Cruz Beach and stay on sand the whole route. Two of my favorite Isla Vista beaches are along this route: Depressions and Devereux.
The goal of my long walk totalling six miles, was to explore two popular tide pooling spots: Campus Point which is visited by many UCSB students daily and Coal Oil Point Natural Reserve which is a Marine Protected Area. I have noticed that the Campus Point tide pools are not very biodiverse with a lack of species richness in the area. I was wondering if some of the other tidepools in the area had a more vibrant biological ecosystem, so I walked to Coal Oil Point since it is a MPA.
Upon arrival, I was met by a Fish and Wildlife Officer who informed me that the area was a “no take zone.” Thus, all visitors can observe the wildlife but no one is legally allowed to touch or take anything from the tidepools. This conversation was a good sign for overall biodiversity; I hypothesized that limiting human influence on the tidepools would increase their biodiversity. I was correct! While the tidepools were not as teeming with life as I would have hoped, they were still much more lively than those I had observed at Campus Point. I believe that this is because I did not go at a low enough tide. I talked to a woman who had been there for hours starting at the very low tide that day and she had seen much more than I had: an Ochre Star being the most notable species. I was still very excited by my finds of anemones, barnacles, mussels, and hermit crabs, and documented everything on iNaturalist. My personal favorite finds of the day were one brittle star and multiple giant wavy turban snails (bigger than my palm)! I found multiple snails that were alive and thriving.
Next time that I visit the tidepools at Coal Oil Point, I plan on going during an extremely low, low tide so that I can see more of the creatures living in this rich natural reserve in full glory!
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