Tidal Pools Abound With Life At Cannon Beach

 The tide is out at Cannon Beach in Oregon and the tidal pools are filled with amazing sea life for easy viewing and close- up observation if you don't mind getting your feet and legs wet. Actually, most of the coastline of Oregon & Washington ( and their inlets and sounds) are chock full of sea life. And I am not even talking about the sea mammals and birdlife in great abundance.

 A team of people in red shirts ( they are also on hand to answer questions about the sea life ) come to the shore at every low tide and put up signs warning people not to climb Haystack Rock or tread too far out on the rocks. This is not only for the safety of the public , but also the wildlife, for obvious reasons.

 The rocks teem with barnacles, mussels, seaweeds, anemones, starfish...

 ....look closely. You can see 2 starfish here, but the rocks are loaded with anemones too. They are the things that look like olives with pink or green centers.

 I counted almost 50 starfish then stopped counting. There are starfish everywhere in, on top of, under, and around every rock. Most of the time I saw them wrapped around each other.

 My husband spotted this sun starfish, not as common as the others in these tidal pools.

 Sea anemones showing their brilliant color as they open in the water. Don't they look like flowers ?

I have been a distracted blogger lately. The gardens and livestock need a lot of attention and I have also been playing with our grandchildren. I love our life here on Cedar Pond but very often I think of Cannon Beach and the special times my husband & I have had there. The ocean is what draws us. The wonders the ocean and shore reveal are beyond words. When I seek calming thoughts my mind turns to the sea and although the sea is often stormy, turbulent, dangerous and unpredictable, the thought of the sea quiets my mind and causes me to think about God, His ways, His wonders. "Then God said , let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place , and let the dry land appear, and it was so. And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters he called seas; and God saw that it was good." Genesis 1:8,9