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

This Fourth of July, we got to spend lots of time at Friday Harbor Labs, including touring research spaces, looking at different types of algae with Dr. Gunther, and learning about what sea urchin research projects are currently in progress. We got to take part in an amazing Fourth of July parade and experience quite a bit of what holidays are like here in Friday Harbor. The parade was attended by what we think was the entirety of Friday Harbor, and visitors looking for a great experience. Lots of candy, many dogs, great floats, stickers galore and smiling faces were enjoyed by everybody.

After the parade, we went to the Pig War Picnic, which had wonderful food, music, and people to be around. Others explored town while some stayed back to enjoy the festivities.

As the fun in the sun continued, we went back to Friday Harbor labs to tour all the different research facilities, including sea urchin and sea star research, ichthyology, and the library, which stored a world of information at the touch of our fingers. After the tour we met with Dr. Gunther to explore seaweed and the micro-ecosystems on the docks’ tires. While we explored we also collected seaweed samples that we will later press to make beautiful art pieces.

We ended the day with dinner and a fireworks show that we attended at the Friday Harbor Marina.

Signing off, Finlee, Leo and James

By Vedha, Max and Olivia

Day 1 (part 1): It was a long journey for most of us today. I had previously come to Seattle on a 15-hour flight, but despite this, it was an amazing car drive to the ferry. It was so interesting to meet everyone and learn more about their interests and backgrounds (even though it was a bit cramped). We made it to the dorms at around 8:00 p.m. and had a lovely dinner. The pizza was delicious.

– Vedha

Day 1 (part 2): On the other end, I had a quite peaceful day today. Arriving on the Island early and getting lunch at a sandwich shop before dropping my things off at Spring Street School and decorating my room that would be my new home for the next 4 weeks. I was excited to meet everyone and enjoyed our first dinner together as the Salish Sea School family.

– Olivia

Day 2: Today we woke up early to start our day, had a fantastic breakfast, and completed a quick town photo safari to get familiar with the island. The Americans (us) won! the other teams were T.M.I, Sharks, Patriots and CCP. We then quickly packed our lunches and visited the tidal zones! It was so interesting; we were particularly fascinated by the egg yolk jellyfish (it was poisonous). We saw numerous anemones, shrimps, sponges, starfish, sea cucumbers, crabs, limpets, and algae gracefully swaying in the tide pools. We all learned about the littoral zone, cnidarian species, sessile animals, and bivalve species. We learned all this through a fun game of Intertidal Bingo!