We woke up to a surprisingly unsurprising morning of rain. Although it was gloomy outside, we were brave enough to walk all the way to the Whale Museum, a staggering 15 minute walk. At the museum Tracie gave us a 30 minute presentation on the different pods of whales that you can see in the San Juans at different times of the year. After the presentation, we explored the upstairs exhibits, which included dressing up in whale costumes.

We then walked all the way back in the rain to prepare our picnic lunch and headed off to Friday Harbor Labs. There we met Lauren and Beatrice who let us observe them spawn sand dollars, as a part of their research in the molecular mechanisms involved in cloning.  For most of us it was a new experience to be in a lab and look through the high-tech microscopes. We even got to see cell division!

George von Dassow et. al , 2009

After labs and lunch, we hiked to a vista with a breathtaking view. With further inspection we noticed many boats in the water before us and realized that they were chasing the orcas. We got our binoculars out and were able to see the orcas for ourselves, which we deduced were transient because of the terrified seal, not wanting to enter the water.

After this, we went to a different part of the labs to learn about scientific illustration from Sharon Massey, in which we drew some of the invertebrates that we caught earlier this week. We enjoyed this relaxing break from the rain as we all discovered our artistic talent.

We returned to a revitalizing dinner of burgers with Dr. Hilary Hayford, who we researched with earlier on intertidal snails and barnacles. We enjoyed learning the context for the research we did with her previously.