As raucous spectators gathered at Seattle Stadium and around screens on Monday to watch the city's first ever FIFA World Cup match, others gathered on Puget Sound's beaches to take in a much quieter scene, lively in its own right.
Low tide in Seattle dipped below 4 feet on Monday morning — a low not previously seen by the city's shores in four years — unveiling a world that's normally underwater. For visitors and locals alike, the week offers a chance to get up close and personal with clambering crabs, dazzling sea stars and dawdling moon snails.
Monday and Tuesday mark the lowest tides of the year. At Golden Gardens in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood, those in search of marine life waded far past the usual shoreline, mucking through eel grass and Turkish towel seaweed. Local schools brought kids to the shore as Seattle Public Schools students prepared for the end of the year on Wednesday, squealing in delight at the marine life around them.
Four-year-old Estelle crouched in a couple of inches of water, poking a large orange anemone with her finger and using a hollow moon snail shell to scoop water on the anemone repeatedly. Two purple sea stars languished nearby.
“She's quite fond of the sea anemone,†said her mom, Jennifer Ross. “We've been here for 40 minutes.â€
The family lives nearby, Ross said, and takes any opportunities to bring Estelle tide-pooling for a free, hands-on activity. “She's very curious.â€
The Seattle Aquarium had 10 volunteers at the beach to educate people about the marine life around them and the do's and dont's of tide pooling etiquette: Walk carefully, there's life beneath your feet, and touch gently with one wet finger so as not to disturb the wildlife, said beach naturalist Jezella Peraza. One of her colleagues brings a pencil to the beach to show kids the indents a red rock crab's strong claws will leave on the pencil.
A blue heron swooped down along the shore, scanning for fish. A seagull grabbed a red rock crab in its beak, trapping the many-legged critter. Scattered along the sand lay dozens of gray moon snail egg collars, each holding half a million eggs, Peraza said.
“We're connecting with adults and kids in the public on what's outside in their backyards: these vibrant shorelines,†Peraza said. “It's just a beautiful thing.â€
One volunteer found a barnacle-eating dorid at Golden Gardens, the first time Peraza has observed the sea slug that's capable of munching through barnacles at that beach.
Keelin Curran, who lives in the neighborhood, tries to walk down the hill to the beach whenever she can if the tides are low.
“I just love the smell, the mountains, the everything,†Curran said. “It's just so full of life.â€
There are inherent risks to wildlife when it comes to tide-pooling. Eel grass is important habitat for young salmon, and Taylor's sea hares — a minuscule sea slug — like to hide among the grasses.
Low tides arrive in Seattle every summer, like clockwork. But back in 2022, Puget Sound saw its lowest tides in more than a decade. Also on June 15 that year, the low tide reached -4.28 feet, according to the NOAA.
If you missed Monday's low tide, another tide pooling opportunity awaits. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimated that the low tide will reach -4.3 feet at 12:22 p.m. on Tuesday. Most Puget Sound tides are low within an hour of the predicted Seattle low tide, occurring earlier in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Admiralty Inlet.
After Wednesday, low tides will return to Puget Sound in mid-July, but won't reach the levels this week has seen.
“It is a treat, when the tides are low and the people are out,†Peraza said. “It's pretty incredible.â€
