Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Little Corona Beach Tidepools

Author's note: This post was originally written right before I spilled beer all over my computer (a full beer no less, total party foul) and had to get a new keyboard rendering my computer useless for a couple weeks. Somehow the post got lost in the shuffle until I had an ah ha! moment and remembered I never posted it. So here it is in all its glory...

I imagine quit a few people had a night on the town for New Years Eve. Or maybe they stayed in and snuggled up with someone they loved. Or maybe they played online Scrabble with their brother until 11:45PM. Wow- that last group of people is pretty pathetic. But at least they started off their evening with some sunset tide pooling and shredded beef tacos. Or at least that is what I imagined they did......

Little Coronado Beach in Newport Beach is a tidepoolers dream at low tide. There are rocky outcroppings filled with tiny ecosystems stretching across the beach.  I saw more sea life at this beach than I have seen in previous Southern California experiences. Maybe we just got lucky. Or maybe the starfish like Newport's real estate as much as the über rich do.  In addition to the giant red starfish (plural- That's hard to get across.  I think the plural for fish is fish and not fishes. So how would you know we saw more than one unless I told you? Stupid English language...) we also saw sand dollars (live ones, not the bleached white sand dollar carcasses (or is it carcai?)  you can find in stores), purple sea urchins, sea anemones, tiny fish, clams, sea snails, mussels, and plenty of plant life.

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The beach is located just south of Coronado State Beach off of Poppy Street from Hwy 1.  It is hidden from the road, just down the path from a bunch of bluffside homes you can't help but drool over. Yes there was even one that had tube slide off the side of its balcony!

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The evening we went (New Years Eve) was incredibly foggy and cool but we were still able to have alot of fun. I can only imagine how gorgeous it must be when the weather is nice. If you are on a Disney vacation make a detour. If you live  in Socal, watch those tide tables and then dash on over. There is no telling what you might find.

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7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sharlene, I'm so happy you posted about this spot. We're heading down the coast this summer and want some uncommon places to visit. If you have any others in mind please let me know.

Alisha said...

The pictures are beautiful!

Cheryl Lage said...

Omigosh, Omigosh! We were vacationing with family in San Diego/Carlsbad this holiday past, and on New Year's Eve we were on a public beach that looks almost EXACTLY like this one...on a day where the weather looked EXACTLY like this! (My crazy 7-year-old son would not stay out of the water...he was so excited about the PACIFIC...he'd only been in the ATLANTIC!)

Wish I remembered the name of where we were...I'm freaking out that we may have been there (or very, very close..the rock promontory looks like one the kids were climbing...scared mom) when you were!

A lovely post to a lovely day, and location! :)

debi9kids said...

What an awesome evening at the beach. How great that you were able to see so much sea life. generally all I ever see on our beaches are jelly fish (TONS!) and crabs.
Thanks for the giggles while reading your second paragraph. LOL

. said...

That place sounds pretty cool! I wish we lived closer, so we could check it out......I just saw a live starfish for the first time at our beach last year. There were tons of them everywhere. I have lived here all my life and never seen anything like that at the beach. But I didnt get to see all of the other cool things you mentioned. Sounds like you guys had a blast!

Alisha said...

I love the new look too Shar!

Anonymous said...

Hi Sharlene,

I love you blog! Great photos.

Thanks for posting on TravelingMamas - have you come to Tucson yet? If not be sure to visit Pinnacle Pete's the kids will love it.

Beth