By Henry, Samuel and, Eliza

Today the Salish Sea Science crew took a boat trip on the Regina to Yellow Island. In order to help reduce the boat’s weight we voyaged to the island in two separate groups with the second group also getting the chance to explore the incredible biodiversity of life on Friday Harbor’s docks including towering tube worms and dazzling decorator crabs . When we arrived we were greeted by the Steward of the island Matt. He guided us to the tidepools we would later explore. Then after a brief break for lunch and a talk from Matt about the Coast-Salish people’s relationship with Yellow island, our group gathered and went to the tide pools. We spent time bounding across the stones in search of starfish. We found individuals of multiple species including Pisaster Ochraceus stars in both their juvenile and adult forms with almost all of them being of the purple color morph, and Dermasterias Imbricata stars. However, we only found about ten sea stars in the intertidal area we were tasked with searching, although the adventure was still fun. The trip back to San Juan Island was done with everyone in one group on the boat. Some of us were a little anxious about the boat’s stability with all of us on it at the same time. Luckly, it all turned out A-okay and we made it safely back to shore. We then ended the day with music from a rolling stones cover band and a pizza dinner.