Know Your Ocean Etiquette

Angie, DON’T TOUCH THE MONKEY! It will eat your face off! Whack fact: Monkeys live on the beach in some places such as Railay Beach, Thailand.

The only National Marine Sanctuary in the Pacific Northwest is the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary off the Northern Washington coast.  The Olympic Coast Discovery Center in Port Angeles is open in the summer, and offers information on marine conservation, animals and habitat in the Sanctuary, and how you can help in its protection. I’ve never visited the Center, which is a personal failing I hope to rectify soon. I have visited the actual Sanctuary though, and it is beautiful!

When visiting the ocean, there are rules of etiquette everyone should follow.  These include keeping your distance from wildlife no matter how tempting it is to reach out and touch them (they might eat your face off, but also, it could harm them), refraining from feeding wildlife (seriously, stop), learning about wildlife and their habitat before you go, and spreading the word to others (like I’m doing here).  For more information on ocean etiquette, visit https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/protect/oceanetiquette.html.

Help the marine critters make it out alive, even marine monkeys!