The day of May 19 was one of the few in 2007 when the tide was especially low in the daytime.  Our outing had been planned a long time ahead for this occasion.  The destination was Point Holmes situated where Knight Road has turned into Lazo Road after passing the Comox Airport.  Our knowledgeable and enthusiastic guides, Robin and Stephanie Harrison of Comox, welcomed our group of 15 at the Point Holmes parking area at 1 pm.

Surveying the scene from the parking area, we overlooked a beach that was covered with stones, most of them 6” to 1’ in diameter, and that at this low tide extended a good distance to the water’s edge.  It was not obvious where we would find the tidal zone life we had come to see.  Two weeks earlier, when scouting the area with friends, we had seen a large number of purple sea stars and some interesting Tunicates (sea squirts) suspended from rock formations, but not much else.  Robin suggested we explore to the left of the asphalted boat ramp that goes from the parking area straight towards the water.

The stones high up on the beach that from a distance had looked whitewashed turned out to be covered with small acorn barnacles.  This zone is dry most of the time so that the barnacles get to feed only during a relatively short period around high tide.  Robin explained that the animals have their heads anchored at the bottoms of their calcareous shells while they are weaving something like legs on the outside to collect food.  Further down the beach, where the stones were covered with green lettuce-like seaweed, the terrain was wetter and more slippery.  And this is where things became interesting.  We learned that by turning over the stones we could open another world.  As the friend who had been with us two weeks earlier pointed out, “we could have known this from the turnstones.”  (He was referring to the Black Turnstones that are here in the winter.)

Turning a stone

Under each stone, there were one or more orange sea cucumbers, usually a Sculpin (fish that can live out of water for several hours if kept moist), various small crabs, and cemented onto the stone’s underside a number of irregular calcareous walls housing tube worms.  We saw snails, hermit crabs, chitons, a dark-green kelp crab, several flat and shiny porcelain crabs, a cling fish which can use a kind of suction cup to attach itself to a rock, Tunicates, hairy shore crabs, and segmented worms.  Robin would show us illustrations of some of these creatures in a pocket-size book by Rick M. Harbo, “Pacific Reef and Shore: A Photo Guide to Northwest Marine Life”. 

 

Sea Cucumber	Can You See the Sculpin, or the Chiton?	Kelp Crab and Turkish Towels

After more than two hours of rolling stones (and carefully replacing them in their original positions) while being exposed to a fresh breeze from the sea at moderate temperature, we were cold enough to say good-bye to our gracious guides.  We would not have lasted that long if the forecast rain had materialized.  Instead, we were fortunate to have some sunshine while out on the rocks.  We encountered rain only on the way up and on the way back.  It was an interesting and enjoyable excursion.

Out on the Rocks