Curious what little critters like to hang out in the ocean? Heard of tidepooling? Tidepooling is the activity of exploring tidepools, which form at low tide when water retreats along rocky coasts leaving pools of water. These pools of water become home to crabs, periwinkles, starfish, shrimp, barnacles, and sea urchins among other sea critters.
Tidepooling is a perfect family activity. It’s basically free, educational, will appeal to children of all ages and allows you to take in the beautiful ocean views. Our favorite place to tidepool is in Acadia National Park, specifically two locations within the park. The first is the “quiet side” of Mount Desert Island off of the Wonderland Trail (located along Route 102A, southeast of Bass Harbor).
The second area and where we spent the most time was Bar Island, near Bar Harbor. Bar Island becomes accessible by foot for approximately 1.5 hours on either side of low tide. We visited during the month of July and found the water to be pretty chilly but refreshing. Water shoes would be extremely helpful since rocks can get very slippery and are sometimes sharp. Parking was easily available. You may be able to find parking on West Street. West Street intersects Bridge Street, and the gravel bar is accessible from Bridge Street.
You may park your car on the bar. However, it is not recommended due to tidal changes.
A common periwinkle is a small saltwater snail that you can easily see in the pools on the North Atlantic coast. Summer is the best time to see them, and you can identify them by their spiral shell. An older kid nearby told us about coaxing a periwinkle out of its shell by humming to it. I honestly thought he was trying to mess with us and make us look like idiots, but then I saw everyone in his family doing it. It may not be necessary, but it worked EVERY single time. We were all fascinated.
To do so, hold the periwinkle in the palm of your hand and rest your chin on your hand near your wrist so that you’re eye level with the periwinkle. Now hum to it. I know it sounds silly but everyone will be doing it. Apparently the vibration during humming helps the periwinkle to emerge from its shell.
We took this trip a few years ago which explains the old pictures. It was definitely one of the highlights from our trip to Maine so it seemed fitting to write a blog post about it. Paige is humming to a periwinkle in the picture below. She’s not doing it exactly the way the kid taught us, but she looks so darn cute!
Wild Kratts, a popular show for small children that airs on PBS had an episode dedicated to tidepools. “Stars of the Tides” aired during season four.
While Acadia is known as one of the best places for tidepooling, these places are popular as well:
- Shi Shi Beach in Olympic National Park, Washington
- Chesterman Beach, Tofino, British Columbia
- Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area, Newport, Oregon
- First Encounter Beach, Eastham, Massachusetts
- Hunting Island State Park, Beaufort, South Carolina
- Cabrillo National Monument, San Diego, California
- North Point Beach, Morro Bay, California
What to know before you go:
- Check tidal charts.
- Wear suitable clothing and footwear.
- If you move animals or rocks, return them to the same spot.
- Don’t pry animals from rocks. You can injure starfish from trying to pry them from rocks. Just look and touch lightly.
- Take only pictures.
- Explore tidepools from the edges as to not wade through and accidentally step on a living creature.
- If tidepooling in Acadia – After you cross the sand bar to Bar Island, make your own cairn. Everyone does it. Then they take pictures of them 🙂
I learn something new every time I read one of your posts! Humming?? Sounds fascinating! I’d love to try that