If You Can Only Pick One
Between the Tides in WA and OR
Kelly organizes the shore the way the tide does — splash zone, high intertidal, low — so you learn to read a beach's zones, not just put names on what lives there. Once you see zonation, every cove becomes understandable. And since the one thing everyone does on this coast is walk the low tide, this is the book we'd hand a first-time visitor.
Find your Guide
Pick the line that sounds like you. The first book is where to start; the second is where to go when you want more.
At the Tidepools
In the Field
At Home 
On the Beach
In the Field 
The New Beachcomber's Guide to the Pacific NW
Shells, driftwood, tracks, the whole wrack line
At Port Book & News At Home 
On the Water
In the Field 
At Home 
Getting Started
In the Field At Port Book & News
Between the Tides in WA and OR
Kelly organizes the shore the way the tide does — splash zone, high intertidal, low — so you learn to read a beach's zones, not just put names on what lives there. Once you see zonation, every cove becomes understandable. And since the one thing everyone does on this coast is walk the low tide, this is the book we'd hand a first-time visitor.
At Home 
Two ways in
Tidepooler Starter Pack
Mac's NW Coastal Invertebrates + Between the Tides in WA and OR
The laminated card for quick ID at the tidepool, plus the guide that teaches you to read the zones. Fits in a jacket pocket.
Mac's NW Coastal InvertebratesBetween the Tides in WA and OR
Nature Reader Starter Pack
The Soul of an Octopus + Tides: The Science and Spirit of the Ocean
Montgomery on what lives under the rocks, White on the water itself. Both will change how you see the shore.
The Soul of an OctopusTides: The Science and Spirit of the Ocean
Also in the Field Guide Section
Beyond the Field Guide
38 books in this guide, in 6 shelves.
Seaweed & Foraging 4 books
Pacific Coast Foraging Guide
Seaweed, shellfish, shore plants. Responsible and practical.
At Port Book & News
The Science and Spirit of Seaweed
The storyteller’s seaweed book, from our kelp forests
At Port Book & NewsMarine Science Writing 4 books
This Coast Specifically 4 books
Tides: The Science and Spirit of the Ocean
A Port Townsend sailor chases the world’s great tides to explain ours
At Port Book & News
Whales & Orcas 4 books
The Octopus & Cephalopod Shelf 2 books
For Young & New Explorers 4 books
Mac's Laminated Cards
Hand them the card, let the tidepools do the teaching
We sell these because we use them. Ask us what we'd bring to your specific beach.
If you're looking for something specific — Olympic coast tidepools, kelp forest ecology, that book about the octopus that escaped the aquarium — just ask.