Today we went to Cholla Bay to explore the sandy/muddy intertidal area. At low tide the water seems  to retract for almost a mile out of the bay and into the open ocean. When this happens you can explore the entire bay on foot before the tide begins to come back in. We saw many marine creatures including a turbo snail, moon snail, hermit crabs, blue crabs, skates, and flounder. To me, the most exciting part of the day was finding a female octopus hiding in a shell with all of the babies she had laid. When we opened the shell all of her babies began hatching and floating away into the water channel. I was even able to pick one of the babies up and hold it before it floated on to its new home.