Get Hit with Waves to Live on the Beach?

Too bad this algae is endangered because it's so neat, I want to see it more places!

On a recent Moss Landing Marine Lab field trip, the Biology of Seaweeds class went exploring north of the bay for different types of marine algae.  The algae pictured here is a really tough one compared to the others.  The Sea Palm, Postelsia palmaeformis, lives in the harsh crash zone of the intertidal.  It loves intense wave motion and lives on hard red algae.  Due to over-harvesting the little palm is now protected and illegal to collect.  It looks like a nice view but I don’t think I could take the punishment of having this kind of beach-front property!