Tidepools at Tongue Point

About ten miles west of The Downtown Hotel, off of Hwy 112 is Camp Hayden State Park, which has a very pleasant tent and RV campground, as well as a couple of spooky old military big-gun bunkers that are fun to explore, all in a nice woodsy location right next to the shore.

But the real attraction in the neighborhood is Tongue Point, at Crescent Bay with its amazing tidepools, teeming with colorful sea life.

This a is great place to go on a sunny day.  But checking a  tide table is critical to your visit.  You want to be there at a low (minus) tide, when a lot of what is normally underwater peeks out into the sunshine for awhile.  You can get close to some of it barefoot or in flip-flops via the sandy beach adjacent to the point (a good place to picnic for the day), but to get out into the thick of it, you need sturdy footwear.   There's a lot of slippery sea plants and sharp barnacles and mussels to clamber over, so be careful.