Coastal exploration brings entertainment, education.

Byline: THE OUTSIDER By John Rezell The Register-Guard

`Come over here, you've got to see this!" I yelled.

In a matter of moments, my daughters bounded across the rocks like bighorn sheep, leaning with their hands on their knees as their sandals gripped the rounded, wet rocks.

"A bright green anemone," I said proudly pointing to the lime green creature floating in the tide pool.

"Cool," Sierra said, then turning and pointing out another bright orange sunflower star fish to Taylor in an adjoining pool.

"Look at this!" Taylor said, watching a hermit crab skitter across the bottom of a pool.

And on it went.

We hit the tidal pools at Cape Aragon, just south of Coos Bay. Our first stop, of course, was to actually see the hoards of seals and sea lions at Simpson Reef that we only heard in the fog the day before. They did not disappoint. There must have been 300 to 400 of them, barking and honking like crazy.

We drove up to the point of the cape and hiked down to the inland side. It was amazing. Purple starfish, orange starfish, anemone of all colors, hermit crabs, blue crabs, little skitter fish of some sort, mussels - you name it, the mid-summer pools were teaming with life.

The girls loved it. It was like joining prospectors on a gold find.

Ooooh. Aaaahhh. HEY! Look at this! Come here.

From the cape we drove right to the Charleston marina, continuing our coastal exploration. The girls loved looking at the fishing boats lined up on dock, and, of course, the harbor seals floating around looking for a free lunch.

We headed down the dock to Fisherman's Wharf, but continued on, down the dock, to get a taste of real life. On a smaller fishing boat, a fisherman chopped up shad - a large herring. He was preparing for the halibut run.

All along the dock, the locals were out crabbing. We watched a woman secure a tuna head in the bottom of her crab ring. She said the heads are cheap up on the top of the dock, where they are selling fresh tuna.

They just dump the wire ring down to the bottom of the harbor. Then every 15-20 minutes, they pull it up and see what they get.

She said the crabs will hang around if there is food there, as long as the seals don't chase them away. Those folks aren't as thrilled as the girls to see the harbor seals floating around.

We saw another guy pull his ring up with about five small crabs about the size of a CD. They had to throw those back in, or let them skitter sideways over the edge of the dock. It was just like the crabs in "Finding Nemo." And yes, we imitated the sea gulls, too.

We went into Fisherman's Wharf and learned a whole lot more about crabs. The woman was tossing facts out left and right, and asked if we had any questions. Taylor chimed in, "What kind of water do you keep the crabs in?"

At first glance, it might sound like a rather simple question. It was very enlightening.

"Water with oxygen," the woman said. "You can't just throw your crab into a pail, or it will die. And once it dies, it becomes toxic. You can't eat it."

That was the most interesting fact I learned. You can't cook a dead crab and eat it. I did not know that. That's why they advertise their Crab Cooker is always on. You catch a keeper, you cook it. Pronto. She fished a crab out of the tank for the girls to look at. It was a big 'un. I heard this high-pitched squeaking.

"Is the crab making that noise?" I asked.

She said, "No, that's me. I'm trying not to get pinched!"

You can learn something new every day.

John Rezell, aka Raz, is on the lookout for any Oregon adventure. E-mail him at [e-mail], and he'll join you. How else do you think he comes up with these ideas?