Community

Two in Tow & On the Go | Low tides on Fox Island

Last weekend, we caught one of the month’s negative low tides for the first time at Tacoma DeMolay Sandspit Nature Preserve  (aka Bella Bella Beach). And it was glorious. 

Community Sponsor

Community stories are made possible in part by Peninsula Light Co, a proud sponsor of Gig Harbor Now.

For a few magical moments, we watched the Sound pull back to reveal an entirely different landscape on Fox Island’s northern shore. Normally hidden beneath several feet of cold water, the shoreline opened into a vast landscape of rippled mudflats with small pockets of water warmed by the sun (a rare move around here). And all it took was a -0.08 feet tide, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA)’s tide predictions chart.

So we wandered, far beyond the usual shoreline. The kids dug into a west shore sandbar I didn’t know existed. To our right, two toddlers squealed at the sight of little fish swimming between their ankles. A boisterous group of girls practiced their best high-pitch screech as little crabs ran every which way below them. Families spread out in every direction as the tide continued to retreat. It honestly looked like people could walk to the middle of the Sound, a sight made even more dramatic by a depth that never rose past our knees. I swear we walked up to two kayakers who paddled in.

Exploring a beach at Tacoma DeMolay Sandspit Park during a recent negative tide. Photo by Tonya Strickland

Slippery sea lettuce and bleach-white white clam shells draped the landscape — mainstays along the new shore. Every few steps seemed to reveal another skittering kelp crab or slimy mollusk clung to a rock.

I found Fox Island’s illusive mineral formations, locally known as claybabies, the size of my hand on the newly exposed beach. If you recall from my clay baby article, large examples are extremely rare to find around here as people tend to take them home, even when the sandspit’s park rules say to leave the preserve as you found it (without taking any beach life home with you).

The negative tide revealed hard-to-find large clay babies. Photo by Tonya Strickland

If the kiddos in your life are anything like Clara and Wyatt, they’ll become fascinated with everything living at low tide. Gig Harbor Now reporter Carolyn Bick has a super cool photo essay that packs all the science from her DeMolay low tide walk last spring with the Harbor WildWatch animal educational group. The story explains the marine creatures she encountered on Fox Island, including the spiny northern kelp crabs and brightly colored sea stars.

Wyatt and Clara explore during a negative tide at Tacoma DeMolay Sandspit Park on Fox Island. Photo by Tonya Strickland

One of my favorite photos from that story shows the Harbor WildWatch team holding a mature northern kelp crab that’s missing its right claw. The group’s naturalists explained that the crab will simply grow a new one during a future molt. Nature is wild.

New space

We arrived at the end of the low tide window on our visit, so the water line began to rise within 30 minutes of our arrival. And it was crazy to see the water return and erase all that was once new. But even when the tides rolled in, there was still space to explore the preserve’s western shoreline, a surprisingly difficult task to do with kids in tow until recently.

That’s because we got to explore a part of the preserve that’s brand new to visitors. PenMet Parks originally bought the roughly 5-acre property from Tacoma’s decades-old Masonic organization, the Tacoma DeMolay, in 2010, then expanded PenMet’s footprint last year by purchasing another 3.6 acres next door. Most of that addition is wooded uplands, but “mostly” is the important word here because the purchase also brought 265 more feet of beach into the preserve. That’s nearly a football field of extra shoreline to poke around on at low tide, complete with wide-open views of the Horsehead Bay and Key peninsulas.

A beach at Tacoma DeMolay Sandspit Park is now more easily accessible. Photo by Tonya Strickland

After the rec agency bought the land, they worked to open it up. In January 2026, Gig Harbor Now writer Suzanne Roig reported that the Pierce Conservation District removed more than 800 feet of failing bulkhead from the west side, helping restore this newly expanded stretch of shoreline.

For years, reaching that side of the beach meant scrambling around a deteriorating seawall. Huge slabs of tilted concrete, overgrown brush and low-hanging branches made what should have been a simple beach walk feel more like an obstacle course.

With the kids at Tacoma DeMolay Sandspit Park.

That’s all changed now. Which is cool, but also kind of sad. We like scenes that are out of the way, so getting to the west side of the preserve felt more like unlocking a secret place worthy of only those nimble enough to get there. But now, everyone can get there — and easily.

So, if you have any flexibility in your schedule, plan your visit around one of the year’s upcoming negative tides. They’re one of those uniquely Puget Sound experiences that I’m happy the kids and I finally got to experience. 

See ya out there!

If you go

Tacoma DeMolay Sandspit Nature Preserve

https://penmetparks.org/parks/demolay-sandspit-nature-preserve/

Address: 53 Bella Bella Drive, Fox Island, WA 98333

Hours: Open from 7 a.m. to dusk.

Features: Viewpoints, picnicking, parking lot, mobile toilet, and water access

Parking: Free. Use the upper parking lot. Don’t park in front of the entrance gate.