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Fitzgerald Marine Reserve
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Moss Beach, CA
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11 reviews for Moss Beach
moss beach is a very nice beach.
when its not windy, I'll be there relaxing.
I grew up in a tide pool-free land. I had heard of these creature-filled wonders, probably even seen some sort of filmstrip segment on Sesame Street about them, but never ever got to see one in real life. It was a childhood dream, unfulfilled.
So, when we descended upon Moss Beach, I was enthralled. Looking into my first tide pool was sort of like looking at one of those 3-D Magic Eye posters - at first I didn't see anything, and I was disappointed. But then, wait, there's a hermit crab crawling over there! And another! And another! And there's an anemone! WOW!
I, like every other five year old there, could have literally spent hours staring into the pools, dropping hermit crabs into anemones to make them open up (no, wait, I didn't do that. That's BAD. Don't disturb the nature!) I don't know if other adults' attention spans would be held captive like mine, but I can say that this is definitely a great place to bring the kiddos if you're looking to spend a few quiet hours. There were a bunch of kids on the beach, but no yelling, crying, or boredom. Everyone was totally enthralled.
If you like your creatures bigger and fuzzier, Moss Beach is also home to a colony of harbor seals who rival the Pier 39 sea lions for their sunbathiness, cuteness, and viewable proximity. And if you are a total dork like me, you can make up names and stories for the seals (as my boyfriend said, "1000 childrens' books born in a minute - look, it's 'Slessinger, the Errant Little Seal!'"). That will fill up another two hours right there.
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Great place, with amazing views. Prime real estate for watching sunsets with your significant other!
The main attraction here is the tide pools, which are teeming with hermit crabs rolling around, bright green sea anenomes, starfish of bright orange to deep purple colors, and a host of other sea creatures. The best times to go are right before and after low tide, so that the pools are still still filled with water and the sea life is in action. There are an endless number of little pools to giant ponds to see! Make sure you bring a good walking shoe with good grip or waterproof boots, since you'll be walking on top of sea kelp and moss (and watch out for the star fishies, don't step on one like I did - accident, really!) Bring a camera too, it's impossible to take a bad picture when everything is pretty already!
A great place to bring kids for an educational adventure - we saw a few tour groups and families, but make sure the little ones don't go running around on the slippery moss. Great place for a date too, it's like an aquarium, but free!
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I had a flashback of Junior High when they took us on a field trip. Of course in Jr. High this place was cool! I remember having a handout and we had to identify the variety of sea life: hermit crabs, fish, anemones, starfish etc. in the tide pools. That was fun and then we were able to walk around the beach and hang out by the fallen tree and pretend to be cool kids. Ah the life of a teenager!
Went there recently and I didn't have a worksheet but I did identify all the sea creatures and walked around the tide pools, hoping not to slip and fall. I don't remember having that fear in Jr. High. I saw someone dropping hermit crabs into the anemones and watching the anemones close down around the crab, wait that was me. Hee. Sorry crab. It was only 1 I swear! The anemone looked hungry!
It was cold! I had a sweatshirt on and I was wearing my hood, pulled down and knotted with no shame. I don't know how some kids were in the water without getting hypothermia. It was fun looking at everything and seeing the kids get really excited when they found stuff. But that got old pretty fast so we walked around and sat on some benches overlooking the pools, fun and relaxing. Try it, but don't feed the anemones!
The "H" (aka hubby) wanted to go to see some tidepools this past weekend. So we asked some locals and they directed us to Moss Beach (Take California Ave. off of Hwy 1 in Moss Beach).
It was beautiful. The weather was awesome and we spent about 1 hour walking along these rocks/reef that contained tide pools. It wasn't high tide, but we saw several star fish, lots of hermit crabs, some small fish, sea anenome, and lots of coral. If you look into the distance, you can also see some seals sunning themselves on the rocks.
The best part is that it's free! LOVE it! I'd highly recommend tidepooling if you have kids or if you're a kid at heart! It's definitely a nice afternoon activity.
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A gorgeous beach for nice beach-walking and exploring/tide-pooling. It's particularly great for SF residents who want a more chill place not full of other people... a little beachy escape. It's a short drive down HWY 1 past Pacifica. Not sure how the surf conditions usually are (can always check http://surfline.com) but I saw at least a handful of surfers here catching pretty good waves. It's usually on the foggy, misty side so bring layers and warmth. When it does get sunny here, it's pretty much perfect.
Also, a little tidbit: I hear that the distillery that looks out onto the beach is haunted. There are yelp reviews for it, too. See: Moss Beach Distillery.
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(Mental train of thought while hoofing it out to the tidepools)
Whee!!!!! Look at me!!!! I feel just like a kid skipping down the beach, kicking sand up. I'm almost there. Whoops! Ow! Damn it I slipped on some moss!
yeah yeah yeah I was a klutz as a kid too
This place is a beautiful slice of the California good life. There's a calm inlet to the left as you walk along the beach. Now this isn't really a beach that you go to kick back, lay out and drink beers on while you bake (and I use that term loosely). No, this is more of a "Wear sweatshirts and perhaps bring the dog along for a special day" type of beach. It is a good beach to expose young children in terms of both the calm water in the small cove and for the older kids (and the big ones) there's the tidepool with all your favorites--hermit crabs, sea anenome, starfish. Of course, like all tidepools it's best at low tide (check the newspaper on the weather page for tide times). Any day with a -1.0 through -2.0+ is worth checking out and will impress even experienced tidepoolers.
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this beach is so beautiful and full of tide pools. these tide pools are amazing! so many star fish, crabs and really pretty coral.
this is a great place to go and feel like a kid again. lucky for me my childhood memory is a field trip from junior high, not a great one especially when your mom drives a group of your classmates then slips on a rock and twists her ankle. she had to go to emergency and had a light sprain. luckily she was ok but i do remember another parent taking me home but stopping us off for a nation's giant burger.
back to the beach! it's truly a remarkable sight to see with fantastic ocean views. dress warm because it can get pretty cold at times. if your walking around the rocks you better watch your step!
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This walk of coast has caves. Rock coves with the Pacific washing into them.
Moss Beach has mist and fog curls for air. The sky is grayer than usual.
It's typical for people to talk about change casually. It's just not fair.
Like, to talk about Moss Beach as a trip I'd gone to as a teenager, compared to now. It'd feel like a discussion about the different things, what'd happened. I'm much more of a dreamer these days.
Talk about emotions.
Moss Beach is supposed to have cautions signs. It doesn't. The cove rocks the ocean runs over is black, smooth. The dry rocks are sharply silhouetted.
The history with Moss'd started with long drives in my Corolla. A red one. The windshield wipers were squeaky, managed to clear the dew, rain. I had plenty of gas money to spare then. I use to breathe differently even. The beach air smelled like seashells. I was one of those typical writers. My thoughts came from a bunch of pretty metaphors with no substance.
Moss Beach is a stretch for the imagination. It's got plenty of surf; it goes on forever along highway 1. Make a right turn at any street marker and you're on it. Sand.
Nowadays I think about having children. Before traveling. Perhaps I'd own a house and mortgage. Charlie, my dog, would have pups before me. I'm hoping by next year at least, to be in another big city. Falling in love would be nice.
Yesterday the beach air was salty.
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Great beach for exploring the wonders of the sea. Go at low tide to check out the tide pools. Great for kids to explore nature. Not the type of beach you go to lay out or party more of an escape from the daily grind. Be sure to bring a sweatshirt as the weather can change pretty quickly. You can glimpse the harbor seals in the summer but the rangers won't let you get to close when the pups are around.
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