On a recent day at Pillar Point in Half Moon Bay, the waters of a King Tide retreated, yielding to an extreme low tide that revealed a craggy reef — which in turn drew dozens of visitors to explore its bountiful tide pools.
Among the throngs of visitors attracted to the somewhat rare conditions, Rebecca Johnson and Alison Young — researchers with Cal Academy of Science — led a group of citizen scientists to search the area for a specific sea creature — sea stars aka starfish.
The informal expedition was to get a status update on sea stars, following their battle with a strange disease that touched off