Fall Adventure: King Tides and Underwater Life at Cardiff State Beach
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Fall has arrived! In San Diego we don’t get to experience the hallmarks of Fall, but it has definitely gotten a lot colder. Absent though are the fall colors that many come to expect and enjoy for this time and season. So instead of Fall colors we set out to seek a different set of adventures: Exploring tide pools during a king tide!
King tides are term used to describe exceptionally high tides that are paired with some incredibly low tides. This low tide is what we were looking for, as this meant that many of San Diego’s famous beaches would now be exposing their tide pools in a greater fashion. This was the perfect opportunity to walk through the rocks and peer through the pools into an underwater world that would often only be seen in an aquarium.
King tides are pretty cool in that like the regular tides, they are result of the gravitational forces that the sun and moon impart upon the ocean ocean. When a full or new moon coincides with the moon being at its closest point to earth the tide is higher. A greater explanation can be found at Science Notes. Speaking of the moon, be sure to check out our post on the Spring 2024 Total Solar Eclipse!
In the image below I highlighted the days with the largest minimum and maximum tides, coinciding with what would be called a King Tide.
This year’s King Tides were from November 15-17 and will also return December 13-15, 2024. There’s some information here on the California Coastal Commission’s’ website. Not every beach in San Diego has tide pools however, so in planning our trip we took a look at the Visit California website to choose from one of our many beaches. Each of the beaches have different parking situations, distances needed to walk to the actual tide pools, and distance from where we were traveling from, so it was important to factor that into our choice of beach.
An important tip for planning your tide pooling adventure. Look at the local tide tables to understand when low tide is, and plan on arriving before that time so you can maximize the time spent at low tide, as immediately after low tide the ocean will continue to increase in height, which can be a surprise to the unprepared.
Ultimately we selected Cardiff State Beach as there was a parking lot near the #10 lifeguard station which put the walk to the tide pools at a very short 1,000 feet away.
We spent around 30 minutes hopping from pool to pool, being very careful not to step on the many mussels and shell-covered Anemones dotting the rocks.
As with many other of our ocean excursions, we never know what we will find. We were pleasantly surprised to see colorful Nudibranchs (sea slugs), many sea anemones, mussels, and barnacles.
