As a general rule, the Pacific's tides, at 10 to 20 feet, are much greater than tides on the Atlantic coast, providing a larger area for discovering tide pools. East or West, as a coastal explorer you want the lowest tides you can get. On rocks that become exposed early during the dropping tide, species diversity is relatively low and animals tend toward the crusty side. Barnacles, for example, add traction to slippery rocks, but don't make for exciting spectating. Drop down a few feet, to places that are exposed daily only at low tides, and the creatures get a bit showier.
Mussels stick to the rocks by extruding filaments stronger than steel.
In turn, beds of mussels create an environment in which small sea stars and other mobile creatures can live. At the next level down, the lowest tides of the month expose rocks usually submerged to reveal spiny beds of colorful sea urchins that have carved round nooks into the rock so they can survive the force of waves. At the lowest level of a tidal zone, a tide pool kidnaps a piece of the receding sea, and the diversity and showiness of animal and plant life explodes. Especially fruitful are shadier, more sheltered nooks. Touch one and it quickly pulls inside itself.