Dos and Don’ts in the Tidepools

TIDEPOOL MANNERS
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Please DO…

  • View the tidepool movie in the visitor’s center
  • Check the kiosk at the start of the path to the tidepools
  • Follow the path to the tidepools and exit the same way; there is no exit at the south end of the tidepool area (across the beach)
  • Stay on the trails, we are trying to rehabilitate our native plants
  • Ask questions of the rangers and volunteers
  • Know when the tide is coming in, some areas fill in faster than others, notice the difference between high tide and low tide
  • Explore slowly and gently, you will see more
  • Walk gently between the rocks; they are slippery and full of plant and animal life
  • Leave animals, rocks, and shells as you find them
  • Touch the animals as gently as you would touch your own eyeball and always make sure your hands are wet
  • Briefly examine the hermit crabs, but return them quickly to exactly where you found them
  • Kindly pick-up after yourself and collect any trash left by others
  • Respect the animals. You are visiting a fragile, living library – it is their home
  • Enjoy our tidepools and come back again, check a tide calendar for when the next low tide will be and come an hour or so before
  • Leave at closing time

 

Please DON’T…

  • Go into the closed zone in the far south of the area – look for the sign up on the cliff. This area is vitally important for research and sustaining the tidepools
  • Take any plant, shell, animal or other natural resource from the area; taking them home with you is illegal, it will kill the animals, it will deprive other animals from using empty shells for protection, and it will deprive the next visitor from seeing them
  • Pick up the animals
  • Poke the anemones, it hurts them when you stick your finger down their throats
  • Remove, pry, or jiggle any animal or plant attached to a rock or other surface
  • Move animals from one tidepool to another; where you find them is their home
  • Handle, touch, or poke at an octopus or brittle stars as they are easily stressed and become easy prey
  • Use a bucket, stick, or net to explore; use only eyes and gentle fingers
  • Turn over rocks; you will be disturbing the home of the creatures who depend on that rock for safety
  • Swim, jump, or run in the tidepools, it hurts the animals and could hurt you
  • Use or leave tobacco products on trails or in the tidepool area
  • Climb on the cliffs or rock faces, they are unstable and are likely to break off taking you with them
  • Throw rocks; even little ones can grind up the plants and animals in a tidepool when the waves crash over them and some have animals living on them that you can’t see
  • Feed the birds or other animals
  • LITTER

Last revised 28-Jul-26