By: Khadija, Emma, and Ethan
We start in the late morning allowing everyone the chance to sleep in and have time to exercise. Anticipation is building for our eventual departure on our kayaking trip, which we embark on tomorrow. Shifting gears, we took the Big Candied Red Apple Van for a short jaunt to Friday Harbor’s fabled Whale Museum. Listening to the fascinating information from our glorious tour guide, we learned about different types of mammals. We were encouraged by the conversation messages to protect our orcas across the Salish Sea. However, in the middle of our tour, our hearts sank as deep as the Titanic when we observed the bones of deceased conjoined harbor seal twins. We reflected on our humanity as we moved passed the exit. To kick off the afternoon, we had a quick, and zippy lunch. Followed by an eloquent speech done by Dr. Rebecca Guenther, Ph.D., that used a plethora of hard words that were incredibly hard to spell. As people press flowers, Dr. Guenther taught us how to press seaweed. Everyone worked hard to express their minds through algae. We placed certain seaweeds in certain places to create an image, whether it was organized or abstract. We winded down the afternoon by positioning algae on posters, which gave a contemporary, surrealist look to our modern pieces of art. Finally, we finish off the day packing for our greatest adventure yet: the brilliant 3-day kayak trip. For our jaw-dropping lecture, we have the stupendous Dr. Billie J. Swalla speaking about evolution theory in marine organisms. Dr. Billie J. Swalla’s research is focused on the life cycle of Ascidians, colloquially referred to as sea squirts. These captivating creatures go through an immense amount of physical changes throughout their short lives. Their action-packed lifecycles see them change from petite embryos that are slightly reminiscent of gunnel fish (but more minute) into strange tubular growths on the sea floor. Divergent evolution truly puts life into perspective. The formation of similarly performing traits from completely different ancestry was intriguing to our small little brains. We were bedazzled and bewildered by the bold claims made by Dr. Billie J. Swalla. Truly an experience like no other. Although this experience was incredibly insightful and offered a deep introspective into the world of Friday Harbor Labs, perhaps the real experience was the friends we made along the way.

Signing off for now,
The Salish Sailors