Go rock pooling at the beach.

“Met up with family today and we went rockpooling for a couple of hours. Our best find? a decently sized eel. I flipped over the rock and it was just insane to see an EEL of all things in a rockpool. Obviously the tide was out so it got trapped in. I initially tried to gently pick it up with my hands but it was near impossible. Eventually got it in the net and the bucket. We did put it back afterwards as we did the other sea creatures. Found a couple of sea stars, shrimps, crabs, some small, some medium, and some absolutely gigantic to the point one could barely fit in the bucket, etc etc. Have to say, rockpooling not only kills time but it's highly educational and intriguing. You can literally find so many sea creatures in these little pools that you'd initially see as nothing more than portions of seawater waiting to be sent back into the tide. The unpredictable nature of what you'll find, (i.e actually finding a good sized eel today), to the whole adventurous vibe you get from it, and the many animals and creatures you'll find, I'd say rock pooling is one of the best hobbies to do, by yourself or with your family.”

“Beach-combing and rock-pooling are two of my favourite things to do whenever I happen to be near the coast; I find that searching the salty shore for interesting and unusual sea-creatures (alive or dead – as they often are) is both great fun and relaxing to the mind. [...] I find rock-pools to be a lucky-dip as each one may hold different things and the cut-off nature of them sometimes results in larger or more unusual marine animals becoming trapped – so you never know what you may find. I recently spent some hours rock-pooling on Newgale beach not far from where I am staying in Pembrokeshire, the pools were not extensive but they nonetheless held a few interesting things. The first thing of interest I found was a small Common Starfish (Asterias rubens) that seemed to be drying out in the sun and far from water, I plopped him (or her, difficult to tell with echinoderms) into a large pool and he soon crawled off rather faster than you might expect.”

“Finding time to connect with nature with my nieces and nephews is always a highlight of time spent with family and, spending a week together at the beach, we inevitably headed one morning at low tide for the rock pools. There is so much life to be found in Irish rock pools, something I think many people are unaware of, expecting the need for a trip to an aquarium to really get up close with sea life. Turning over rocks in pools at low tide will be a much more rewarding experience than spotting sea creatures through glass, as children spot hermit crabs scurrying for shelter, or sea anemones drawing in their tentacles, right in front of them and in their natural habitat. Rock-pooling need not only happen in summer time, in colder months donning wellies will keep feet warm from the dropping sea temperatures. However, going barefoot always seems more adventurous and gives you a sense of really being in the sea and at one with the ocean.”