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Trip Report    

Naturalist Trip - Alki Point

So much to see, so little time. This popular low-tide beach becomes very crowded and today was no exception.

Roseanne Lorenzana Roseanne Lorenzana
May 28, 2025
  • Road suitable for all vehicles

  • Rocky beach with extensive eel grass beds.  Seems to have been a super bloom of seaweed and all the rocks have multiple layers of seaweed. This made attempts to stand on or walk across the rocks very hazardous.  Therefore our group mostly observed the rocky intertidal from the edge.  Crowds of people also increased the hazard because they flailed  around on top of the rocks in attempts to stand or cross, risking a fall to land on top of one of our group. While bending over to make observations, we risked being tripped over by the crowd of people.

We observed many intertidal animals amongst the rock pile. This required lifting seaweed aside. There's a lot to see here, but also very crowded.  Due to the crowds, we moved further north to observe what was in the eel grass and along the concrete pipeline.  Further north from the pipeline, lots of intertidal animals under and on the dispersed boulders and amongst the seaweed.  (There was an over abundance of Sargassum.) The rocky ridge that parallels the shore in this area provided different types of crab, nudibranchs, tube worms, different barnacles and more.  Essentially, there isn't a place on this beach that doesn't provide a lot to observe. Our group was fortunate to run into Mona Ching, a former Mountaineer whom I'd known from my Mntnr sea kayaking days, who was also a former Seattle Aquarium Beach Naturalist. She gifted us with about an hour of her time - what fun!