We Bring the Beach to You

Where can you find multitudes of dollars and colorful stars lying at your feet? Dollars by the dozen will be standing in beach sand at Jensen Point on Sunday morning, June 3, from 10am to noon, when the low tide moves out to -3.2 feet.

The Vashon Beach Naturalists invite whole families to come and learn about these and other intertidal species. There will be special accommodations for elderly and less mobile people. Canopy-covered chairs and tables will offer a comfortable place to sit on the grass, right beside the parking lot. Several aquariums will be set on tables to allow people to observe barnacles, snails, anemones, and hermit crabs in salt water.

The sharp-eyed Junior Beach Naturalists from Homestead School will assist adult guides in their quest for the shy animals of the intertidal beach. Skilled at approaching crabs, whelks, and moonsnails respectfully, they will gently lift them into trays of seawater and carry them up to the canopies. They will tell about the special ways each creature finds its food and shelters itself from waves and predators. Then they’ll return them to their sandy homes. The community of the Jensen Point beach is surprisingly diverse. It holds both tiny checkered periwinkles and giant bubblegum-colored spiny pink sea stars. Its resident crabs range from itty bitty hermit crabs snuggled inside of cast-off periwinkle shells to big fierce red rock crabs waving menacing black-tipped pincers. Vashon Beach Naturalists aim to share the fascinating stories of shoreline animals and plants without harming them.

This will be the first of four free public programs offered in 2012 by the Vashon Beach Naturalists in cooperation with Vashon Park District. The next one will be the Low Tide Celebration on July 4, 10am-3pm at Point Robinson. "We Bring the Beach to You" bountifully benefits from the participation of Homestead School, and receives additional support from Vashon College. For more information, contact Rayna Holtz at 463-3153 or Erin Durrett at 463-4357.