By: Shristi, Kendall, Kaiya, Dylan
We started our day off early and headed straight to The Whale Museum, a short walk across town! Our exclusive tour was led by Tracie Merrill, the Education Director, who was avid to teach us about the importance of orcas within the Salish Sea. She led us through the different exhibits, making sure to explain the different social groups of orcas in the area, as well as the challenges they all face.
After Tracie’s tour, we were given the opportunity to explore the museum ourselves. Some of us watched the documentary, Sonic Sea, and others enjoyed the interactive displays and coloring pages.
After the fun trip to The Whale Museum, we returned to the dorms to learn about the projects we’ll be working on throughout the course of the program. We discussed it for a bit, then we got a visit from one of our kayaking guides, Lauren, that will be leading us tomorrow to Jones Island. She explained to us what we need to pack and some details about the overnight trip.
We packed our lunches and went to San Juan State Park on the west side of the island. We enjoyed our lunches with an awesome view of Vancouver Island across the water. Many of us decided to go exploring across the rocks down to the shore.
Next, we drove to Lime Kiln Point State Park to meet Errin Corra, the creator of the non-profit, FOLKS-Friends of Lime Kiln Society, as well as Josiah French-Feld, a member of the indigenous Coast Salish peoples. We received a tour of the park, learning about a few different tree species and their connections to the local indigenous culture. We ventured down to a whale-watching lookout, where we were swarmed by wasps! Then we checked out the lighthouse nearby, hearing about the history of the building and their whale tracking system. We were able to go to the top of the lighthouse, and from there we could see the hydrophone cable, allowing the researchers to hear the nearby underwater sounds.
To end off our night, we plan to check out JP’s Restaurant since it’s Karaoke’s night and celebrate Sophie’s birthday!