January 7, 2021

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After awe, erosion next catches my eye. The sedimentary hillside is slowly oozing seaward. The stuff is so saturated one can jab a stick in to a depth of a few feet. This time of year there is little to no sand so walking is tough going through rocks, boulders, and driftwood. Fortunately there's no plastic or debris of consequence.I intentionally went during a relatively low tide. I have photos from years past of purple and orange sea stars in abundance clinging to the base of huge rocks: now not a single sighting there. There are tide pools just a little bit away on mile 12 in which I've observed over the years black and gumboot chitons, various types of starfish, nudibranchs, anomenes, even an octopus. The only of those things I found this day were plentiful anomenes and a single starfish that was an unusually dark purple. Whether it was a trick of the light or not, to me, the anemones appeared less vibrant in color. I read that their color is in part due to natural pigmentation but mainly to their symbiotic relationship with green algae. I don't venture far from shore these days at low tide so there is a lot I'm unable to observe but the things I mentioned used to be where I looked this time.