when I was a kid, this was the most magical place on earth. We'd always come here to visit my grandma for christmas or just to pay her a visit and as a kid, I spent so much time on the buff or at the tidepools that the area is still burned into my brain decades later. I want you to imagine being a kid when spongebob came out and seeing all these funny sea creatures and then you can just walk down to this rocky outcropping surrounded by pounding surf(oh my god it was so fun to watch waves smash against the rocks in huge plumes of foam) and see all the same crustaceans and creatures you saw on the television like sea anemones, starfish, crabs, plankton, occasionally a whale spout out in the distance, jumping around rocks and climbing cliffsides, going into a cave once within the cliffside and rushing to get out back out before the tide came in. There were fucking SEA LIONS bathing by the dozens right on the other side of a cliff, and you could stare down at them as they sunbathed or made their adorable barking sounds. There were these large rocks farther out in the ocean that had seaweed growing out of them that looked like trees, and when the waves crashed against them I'd imagine they were getting hit by a hurricane.

this particular outcrop of trees in pic related(ignore the geezer, I got this from google but I recognize the exact place and trail because) I'd clumb up and the branches stretched out over the bluff so youre just sitting on this thich tree branches right over a 20 foot drop into the ocean while waves crashed below you. 20 or 30 ft away theres a staircase down to a beach that few people used so there was no jostling for space
there was an archway of rocks that either was manmade or carved by centuries of surf and I still have it as my phone lock screen from when I was 14 and I climbed down to get to it right as the tide rolled in

god I miss it so much