Written by Elliott Jones, Kira Bretsky and Dustin Hendrix Photos by Kira Bretsky and Elliott Jones

We began our day by learning yet another Knot of the Day: the Sheet Bend, which is a helpful knot for tying together two lines of different diameters.  We discovered Tim is not the Master of Knots we thought he was, as he first demonstrated the same knot we had learned yesterday and then was required to look up the Sheet Bend in order to teach us correctly.  After we had all semi-successfully figured out how to tie our latest knot, we received more advice on how to get through the increased temperatures approaching the region.  Hydrate! Drink water! Intake fluids! Gulp it! Slurp it! Sip it! Better yet, guzzle it!  Anyway, you get the idea.  

Then we went to the Lab located on campus to digitally input the lugworm data we had collected yesterday.  Tim explained the importance of quality assurance/quality control, especially in large data sets such as the one we had.  (Collectively, we had 600 values to input into a spreadsheet!)  We also learned a couple shortcuts for copying or inputting values with a pattern (for example, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, … all the way to 100).  

While the lugworm surveyors were inputting data, yesterday’s Sieve Team checked on their sediment. The night before, they had transferred sand of different densities from each of their respective Ziploc bags into aluminum trays. The aluminum trays were then placed into a dryer oven (to evaporate liquid from the sand), which was definitely smelling funny by this morning.

After we put in our data from yesterday, we went to San Juan County Park to collect data on what was near the shore in certain sections. We split into 5 groups of three to check the shore about every meter to see what occupied the area of about half-a-meter. We mostly found different types of seaweed and barnacles. It was quite slippery, and you should definitely ask Maddy and Kira about their pants. Tim showed us an Apostichopus californicus (which is just a fancy scientist term for Sea Cucumber), as well as a Chiton, and we passed them around in a bucket before returning our new friends to their homes.

As time moves on, we’re thinking more and more about our projects. Some of us are researching Nudibranchs, while others have taken an interest in Zooplankton photography and Jellyfish in general.

Our afternoon was hot and smelly. The bad kind of hot, and the good kind of smelly. Now before you think we’re weird (we’re not, just keep reading) we’re talking about the smell of lavender. After we stopped back at the dorms to change into something nicer and grab our small bags and some cash, we headed to a local lavender field that was nearby. Most of us took pictures of each other and of ourselves. The lavender fields smelled amazing and it was really beautiful. We also got to try some lavender ice cream, which they had many flavors. There was lavender lemon sorbet, lavender vanilla, lavender chocolate chip and lavender chocolate. Basically they had a lot of lavender which makes sense since it was a lavender field. Overall, it was a great day even though it was very hot but we’ve been finding ways to beat the heat and just finding fun ways to enjoy the sun. 

Remember, HYDRATE HYDRATE HYDRATE!!!