Tidepools: when to go
The best tidepooling is a low tide in daylight. These are the next ones for each spot, from NOAA tide predictions and the sun, then what people have found there lately.
Seen in the pools lately
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Algae watch (weekly pier samples)
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Tidepool spots
Why use Cars & Coast for tidepools
The tide math is done for you
Daylight lows at or below +0.5 ft for each tidepool spot, from NOAA predictions (Monterey 9413450, Santa Cruz 9413745) checked against sunrise and sunset.
What's been seen, credited
Recent intertidal observations from iNaturalist near the pools, with the observer's name and photo licence on every picture.
The rules up front
Many of these pools are marine protected areas: look, touch gently, take nothing. The page links the state's rules.
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Look, don't take
- Most of these pools sit in marine protected areas. Taking anything, shells and rocks included, can be illegal: see the state's rules for each protected area.
- Touch gently with one wet finger, put any rock you turn back the way it was, and step on bare rock, not on the animals.
- Watch the water the whole time. Sneaker waves reach rocks that looked dry a minute ago; go on a falling tide and leave before it turns.
Which pools are protected
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Boundaries and rules: California Department of Fish and Wildlife, CC-BY. A pin on the shore sits just inside or beside the water boundary, so "next to" means the pool is in the protected area. The state page for each area is the rule; this is a summary.
How the ratings work
Wave heights for today and tomorrow come from a nearshore model at each break (CDIP, Scripps); other forecasts come from a regional model on a ~5 km grid. None of it is a reading in the surf zone. Conditions change fast; look before you go in, check the official forecast, and never turn your back on the ocean.
More on the coast
Sources: CDIP / Scripps Institution of Oceanography nearshore wave model · Open-Meteo marine and weather forecasts · NOAA buoy 46236 and 46042 · NOAA tide predictions (Monterey 9413450, Santa Cruz 9413745) · National Weather Service alerts and marine forecasts. Refreshed every 30 minutes.