Thursday, July 10th, 2025; by Asher, Mira, Noam, and Vidita 

Today we were thankfully back to waking up at our regular time. We had breakfast at 8:00 and headed out a bit after 9:00, returning to 4th of July Beach to do an eelgrass survey! We were helping the San Juan Conservation District, as their eelgrass conservation crew is only two  people (Mitch McCloskey and Sage, who we had over for dinner last week), making it difficult for them to get work done quickly. While there, we made note of the population of flowering heads and did several treatments to determine the effect of harvesting. We also saw many megafauna, including a giant dungeness crab, many shore crabs, and several species of bird.

We returned to the dorms for lunch after a brief detour to look for orcas that we tragically did not see, then headed out again to pull in plankton down at the marina and examine it under our microscopes. We found many types of zooplankton and phytoplankton, including baby jellyfish and some krill. Although the lab was rather hot, it was worth it to observe these fascinating organisms.

After free time and dinner prep, we had dinner with Jess Farrar, the research director at the Friday Harbor Whale Museum. She gave us an interesting lecture about her journey into the marine science world and pinniped facts. Some highlights include smiling at cute baby seals, learning about opportunities to contribute to The Whale Museum exhibits, and the entire room gasping at the story of “Hoover the harbor seal” who imitated his owner’s thick New England accent. We ended the presentation with a round of applause and several more questions.