Scouting the Tide Pools

My mom is in a kerchief, probably blue or red, leaning over a tidepool in Portsmouth, NH. She is probably wearing a navy blue top of some kind, but probably not wearing jeans. Khakis instead. Undoubtedly, she is wearing lipstick. She is leading my Girl Scout troop, and she has taken us camping. My memory says 4th or 5th grade, Junior Scouts for certain. I am sure there were other leaders there, maybe Mrs. Crossman or Mrs. Dale (although she was probably doing cookie inventory in her garage) or another sainted mother who willingly gave up a weekend to spend with a group of pre-teen girls, most of whom found the inhabitants of the tidepools rather disgusting. If I had my photo albums from my childhood with me here in Okinawa, I would include an awesome photo of our tidepool excursion, pre-orthodontia for me, my mother looking almost exactly the same as she does now. While I was only in Girl Scouts through 6th grade, I have many fond memories of the excursions and the badge requirements, the overnight camps at Camp Farnsworth and Camp Albany, the bridging up ceremonies, and selling cookies to everyone in the OR. Although I did not last through all the ranks of Girl Scouts, it was a formative experience, and one that I am trying to replicate for Maddox, and eventually Zoe.

Maddox is in her 3rd year of Girl Scouts now, but this year is working independently since we are away from our troop. We are currently working on two badges that were developed by the West Pacific Girl Scouts that are ideal for exploring Okinawa. There is some overlap with the Dolbow School Standards for Science and Social Studies, so the badges provide us with some framework for our studies. And lo and behold, one chosen activity is tidepooling.

Cape Manzamo

Maddox and I headed to Cape Manzamo which is located in our village of Onna. I had checked the tide tables for low tide, packed towels just in case, and put our water bottles in the freezer (which I of course left in the freezer like a rookie). The walk from the parking lot to the path that led to the cool tidepooling area was much longer (and hotter and thirstier) than I expected, so we got off to a slow start.

Okinawan Screw Pine Tree, all along our walk

We eventually found the "path" - some trodden grass - and followed it to a cave that we climbed down into. We walked out of the cave, climbed over some lava rock, and had the beach to ourselves and enough tidepools to entertain us for a while.

The cave along our path

Lava rock in the background

Our tidepools!

Ultimately, we didn't last as long as I would have liked.  I had a plan, but we were too thirsty to implement it.  If I ever become a Girl Scout leader, you can be sure I will never forget water again! But we did see some cool creatures, and hope to go back again sometime when we are prepared and when the heat decides to take a weekend off. And next time, I think we both need kerchiefs.

A type of brittle starfish

Next time I will bring my "real" camera, but hopefully you can see these bright blue fish

Cape Manzamo, Okinawa is a long way from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, but the lessons remain the same. Who knows where the next generation of tidepoolers in our family line will end up! 

And a few more shots of our morning:

It's a beautful place. So glad to have an adventurous daughter to share it with!