Tidepool Adventures from Montañita, Ecuador 2020

I just wanted to do a short post on this as I sort and organize through our travel pictures. We are selling some of our shots here: https://mjmillermayhem.picfair.com and the rest will be posted on our website for you to personally scroll through or purchase! Since we have gotten back to the US we have been busy almost nonstop. Since we lost our home, job, and car we were trying to work on getting those back. We were so busy we couldn't even start on those high-priority items. All of the health benefits we gained from staying there have faded away and I'm back to struggling for oxygen. We don't go outside to walk because it is SO COLD here and that cold pain is worse to where I can't move or exist without pain. But we are trying!

I'm going to go down memory lane for this one. I really do miss the low tides and being able to see what treasures the ocean had brought over through the night. This was the first sign you would see to indicate you have made it to the right area. It was an interesting layout for a tidepool. Further back on land, to the left of the sign, you could find tons of shells and fascinating rocks. The closer you get to this sign, the less you would find. Just shattered pieces close to becoming sand. If you went about a third of the way to the tip, there was a drop-down area you could find some good-sized shells, but again mostly those on their way to becoming sand. Keep going to find the next area that offers shells at the tip. Only small shells and only in small clumps of piles closest to the cliff.

The went to the tide pools during low tide when it was said to be -.5ft below sea level. We were able to traverse quite close to the edge but with a constant threat of being soaked knees down. It wouldn't be so bad if there weren't tons of tiny sea urchins everywhere that could hurt if fallen on.

Mostly what we saw were these, sea anemone...carpets? I haven't been able to find out exactly what these are called but I think that was the closest term that matched. Each individual lump is like a sea anemone but all were tightly clustered together to spread out in a carpet form. Unfortunately, there are so many everywhere you have to step on them. And yes they squirt out water.

Some show up really small and tiny while others are a pretty good size. The picture above and below are of the same organism but different sizes.

Below is another of many species of coral that we had found and weren't able to take a sample of. After a while, they start to look like the sea anemone's above.

Lastly, I wanted to share how fascinating sea urchins were. They eat into the rocks they are attached to which creates these dug holes into solid rock. Everywhere you look and walk, there are dozens and dozens of holes filled with sharp little creatures.

It was just too cool to walk around and observe a completely different biome than what we see at home! As I look back at these images from a vacation past...it was worth going here and experiencing this at least once in our lives. Ecuador is a country I would encourage everyone to visit (when it is safe) and witness the wide range of flora and fauna there that can't be found anywhere else!

Have a vacation and LEARN!

I don't have much to say more about this. This was more about a trip down memory lane. We keep saying we want to go back...will that be possible in our future?