By: Jaimie and Lana—

This morning we woke up at 6 AM to go for our morning dip, eat breakfast, and get the boat ready.

While preparing breakfast, we had a couple of troubles—one being Peder getting a spice in his eye, so we had to get water off the boat to flush it out. Another trouble we had was not being able to find the gluten free oatmeal for Chrissy and Michael, but we found flax muffins instead.

We ate breakfast, packed the boat, and were on our way back to Saddlebag Island.

After rowing for 3 hours we anchored at Guemes Island to eat lunch at around 2:00 PM. For lunch: PB&J. We ate and rested for 1½ hours. Jake fell asleep after eating lunch.

Once we were ready to keep going on our voyage back home, Jake was still asleep, so, as a crew, we decided to let Jake sleep and he woke up after an hour of rowing.

While we were rowing, we encountered four foot wakes and everybody had a blast going over them. We rowed for another hour and we reached the shore of Saddlebag Island.

We then had a little snack and drank some water so we can have enough energy to unpack our gear and dinner. We were on the boat for 7½ hours and rowed for 6 hours.

Once we anchored, our captain told us that we did over 250 perfect power strokes. After unpacking all the gear, the chefs started to make dinner. For our last night all together we had burritos with beans, avocados, cheese, onion, tomatoes, sour cream and garlic.

Since it was our last night together we had s’mores for dessert.

To be able to get s’mores first we had a song war. We played in groups of five people. Group A had Lynn, Jaimie, Peder, Jack and Indeya. Group B had Lana, Sara, Quinn, Jake and Arielle. Group A won so they got to get s’mores first. We gathered around a fire pit and laughed while eating our s’mores. After cleaning up dessert, we went to bed as a crew for our last night together.

By Indeya and Jake —

We woke up at 6:00 AM for our first dip dip dippity dip.

But that wasn’t until 7:00 AM because it took us a long time to pack up our sleeping stuff and get ready. Quinn accidently dropped his shirt in the water, which was honestly pretty predictable. In a thrilling culinary turn of events, Peder sent a bunch of potatoes out to sea. The recovery of said potatoes, as well as Peder’s attitude on the matter, was thoroughly documented on the camera by Jack.

At 11:05 AM we saw two juvenile harbor seals while exiting the bay, and at 12:55 PM we watched a lot of rhinoceros auklets fishing in the riptide around Clark Point. At 2:00 PM we were a mile from Pelican Beach on Cyprus Island.

We were under sail, so we had time to chat about a variety of subjects. We have come to the conclusion that school doesn’t teach anything right. The conversation got a little heated, so we had to take a moment to silently observe our surroundings.

We sailed for a bit longer and then began rowing as we neared the island. We latched onto a mooring ball, and set up a clothesline for the evening so the boat could move in and away from the shore.

However, the wind and currents came up, so we quickly boarded and rowed around the bend to more stable conditions.

Photo by Chrissy McLean

Jack is currently in the lead in the eating contest between him and Indeya. Tonight we ate mac ‘n cheese with a choice of tuna and/or carrots and/or cucumbers. For dessert, we played a newly introduced game called dip ‘n go, in which we have to sing a designated song while continually passing bowls of apples, graham crackers, and chocolate. We won the game! Whoop whoop! We plan to wake up at 6:00 AM tomorrow, which is just another morning in this long line of early suffering.

By Sara and Quinn —

On the morning of the second day, we woke up at the Anacortes Port at around 5:15 AM. A small craft advisory (a warning that did not allow the longboat to travel in the Salish Sea) was put in place the night before and so in order to avoid it, we left early.

Photos by Chrissy McLean

At 5:15 AM, the weather began somewhat bright and lightly sprinkling, but as the day progressed the weather became completely overcast and a little bit windy.
For breakfast, we had oatmeal and tea/hot chocolate. After the first meal of the day, we finished packing (with great help from the Bosuns) and set off for our first official journey on the longboat. This four hour long journey included some practice drills such as the ‘Man Overboard’ and the ‘Squall’ as well as some shanty songs.

Our first stop of the trip was Saddlebag Island. We set anchor in a bay at the beach where we were going to land and had lunch on the boat.

After lunch, Michael set the anchor and created a clothesline system to allow us to land. Then we all worked together to fire line all of our stuff off of the boat.

Afterwards, we had an hour of free time to explore the beach and relax.

Then, the chefs prepared dinner while Michael met with the navigators and leaders to discuss the plan for the day after.

Following dinner, we had our closing meeting. That night, 5 people went into the tents on land while the remaining 5 slept on the boat.

By Peder —

We took the ferry from Friday Harbor to Anacortes, and at 11:00am we met up with longboat Captain Michael and Mate Chrissy from the Northwest Maritime Center and saw a longboat for the first time. The first thing I thought was, “I am not going to survive!” The boat seemed really small for 12 people.

Photo by Chrissy McLean

We quickly got busy with setting up the boat, getting our stuff in dry bags, making dinner, setting up navigation charts, and arranging sleeping quarters.

We learned a lot about boat orientation. We learned what port and starboard are. Starboard is the right side and port is the left. We learned about the masts. There is the mizzen mast, the main mast and the foremast.

We rowed around the harbor to and from the marina boat house. We made dinner. We had pasta with an artesian sauce. We then had a meeting about shore calls and how the sleeping would he arranged. We unpacked the boat in about an hour and had it set up for sleep in about 45mins—yes, we slept in the boat. Before sleeping, Michael the captain told us a story about the tides. We then fell asleep as the boat rocked gently against the lapping waves.

Photo by Chrissy McLean

On the morning of Sunday, July 3rd, Salish Sea Sciences takes to the water on longboats, courtesy of the Northwest Maritime Center. As the NWC describes, longboats are “26′ open wooden boats. They are historic replicas from Captain George Vancouver’s exploration of the region in 1792 that were built at the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding. The boats are equipped with 8 rowing stations and 3 sails. Stepping aboard is like going back in time. Both longboats are US Coast Guard Inspected vessels and are staffed by licensed Captains.”

Photo by Tom Grauman

NWC Program Coordinator Nancy Israel tells us, “Captain Michael Sharp and Mate Chrissy McLean are really excited to meet our Salish Sea Sciences team. Michael and Chrissy are experienced longboaters and Marine Educators. Michael is a licensed Captain who has recently been working for Salish Sea Expeditions aboard the yawl Carlyn as the Mate doing inquiry based science. Chrissy used to work for Pacific Crest Outward Bound on kayak and longboat courses and for the last 8 years, she has been working at the Port Townsend Marine Science Center.”

Here is Captain Michael’s blurb from the Salish Sea Expeditions website: “Michael [is] a licensed USCG Captain, lifelong sailor and adventurer. His earliest memories are of being aboard sailboats. In early 2015, Michael arrived in Port Townsend after an eight-year Alaskan odyssey aboard his 36-foot steel cutter Bluewater with his wife Susanna and Nisa the Wonderdog. When not working with Salish Sea Expeditions, he is a Maritime Educator and Sailing Instructor with the Northwest Maritime Center, and helps businesses and nonprofits with program development and strategic communications. With more than 25 years of sailing experience on vessels up to 137 feet, he is known for his emphasis on safety and preparedness and his ability to inspire enthusiasm in anyone who is the tiniest bit interested. In his free time, he enjoys exploring his new home in his Vanagon, learning ukulele and marveling at how spring arrives four months earlier at 48 degrees North.”

By Jack, Lynn, and Peder —

Today started wonderfully at 7 o‘ clock. It was a much more blissful morning compared to the teary-eyed days of the past. No more waking up before the rest of the island. We headed to Deadman’s Bay to engage in barnacle research pertaining to dissertation chapter 3 of University of Washington graduate student Will King. Ironically, we talked of horror stories on the way.

Photos by Caroline Grauman-Boss

We exited the van with terror in our minds, but exited to measure, identify, and record data about barnacles. Slipping and sliding, we perilously observed our calipers carefully.

We returned to the dorms, and proceeded to review our data. Jamie, Jack, and Tim headed back to False Bay to release our earwigs because we did not have time to perform our trials and did not wish to kill them. They were eager to return.

Soon we began to plan our costume for the famous Invertebrate Ball. At the thrift shop we encountered deer, orange, and purple.

Photos by Seth Grant

Inspired to be a sea star, we grabbed what we could and headed back to the dorms again.

All afternoon was spent making Sea Stars, Jellyfish, and a Nudibranch.

Creativity was flowing through the room like crazy as we cut, glued, and sewed.

Together we looked like a group of idiots, that was except Indeya who was rocking an 80’s purple get-up.

Photo by Tom Grauman

Our costumes were a hit. We brought home 3 prizes in the name of Salish Sea Sciences.

Now we prepare for our long boat trip around the islands. We will face the cold, feisty water and the smell of 12 individuals who haven’t showered for five days.

We are fortunate. Aside from a tremendous year-round faculty, the University of Friday Harbor Laboratories becomes home every summer to over 200 researchers—many of whom are willing to take the time not only to share their research with our students, but also involve them in it.

On the evening of July 1st, University of Washington graduate student Will King joined us for casual conversation over a sushi dinner prepared by dorm parent Sara Song Grant with the able assistance of three of our students.

Photos by Seth Grant

Three other students prepared the table and welcomed Will, peppering him with insightful questions—these same students wrote the day’s blog entry. The remaining students operated on clean-up crew. We rotate these stations daily.

After dinner, Will gave a presentation introducing us to aspects of climate change, encouraged questions, and informed us how to collect and use data effectively—not just for results, but also to stimulate fresh questions.

His own research aims at understanding climate change through an analysis of barnacle thermal tolerance.

On the morning of July 2nd, we joined Will in the field.

Photos by Caroline Grauman-Boss

Here are a few pictures of students working along their transect lines in the intertidal zone, identifying and quantifying three species of barnacle.

Vik Iyengar came to dinner on the 28th, on July 1st he was out in the field at False Bay early at 7:00am with Salish Sea Sciences. Here are a few photographs… To learn more about Vik and his research, please take a look at this earlier blog (and its links): Vik and Erika Iyengar: Earwigs! Slugs!

Photos by Tom Grauman

By Jaimie, Sara, Arielle, Jake—

Today has been a long but exciting day. We woke up at 6 this morning and promptly headed over to False Bay. False Bay has its name because when the tide is high, it looks like a nice place to anchor a boat. However when the tide goes out, the entire place is drained.

Photos by Tom Grauman

At False Bay we studied the population of Lug Worms (Aberinicola) by haphazardly placing quadrats and then counting the holes inside. We did this 100 times, then dug up 25 randomly chosen holes to get roughly the percentage of the holes that are actually occupied.

After that, we went further up the bay with Vik Iyengar and collected earwigs from under logs before returning to the dorms.

Once back, we went to the science room and wrote down the procedure for measuring the Lug Worm population and collecting earwigs.

After lunch we headed to the labs and practiced doing scientific drawings of the marine life we collected yesterday. We spent about an hour there before returning back to the dorms and sorting the earwigs by sex and size.

Next, we had some exploration time before welcoming our guest for dinner, Will King. Mr. King is a graduate student studying marine ecology. His study focuses on barnacles, and tomorrow we will be joining him in the field. After dinner, Mr. King gave a presentation explaining the effects of climate change on marine ecology, specifically how barnacles will react. Now we have about an hour before we will go to bed, waking up bright and early to work in the field tomorrow with Mr. King.