Wetlands & Tide Pools

San Diego’s wetlands and tide pools are usually found on rocky shores and sometimes on sandy beaches.

Tide pools are shallow puddles covered and uncovered daily by the rising and falling of ocean tides. During low tide you may see an abundant array of animal life such as sea stars, sea urchins, sea cucumbers and much more. Some of the best tide pooling is found at Cabrillo National Monument, underneath the Ocean Beach Pier and Shell Beach in La Jolla.

Wetlands are covered by water part of the year and are low-lying marshy areas that connect land to the sea. San Elijo Lagoon is one of few remaining coastal wetlands in San Diego and part of San Elijo Lagoon Ecological Reserve covering 1,000 acres of diverse habitat including six plant communities: coastal strand, salt marsh, brackish/freshwater marsh, riparian scrub, coastal sage scrub and mixed chaparral. In the reserve you can access over seven miles of encountering a wide variety of flora and fauna. www.sanelijo.org