Hello everyone, Leo here. I have directed this for the eyes of my fellow Salish Sea Sailors, but it should work just fine for anyone reading.

I do not think words can describe the new experiences that this camp has given me. To say you all are amazing is the understatement of the year, because you are all truly unique and unforgettabel individuals, and I love every single one of you, and miss you guys already.

Being able to laugh, bond, and eventually cry with you all, has made me feel more like you are family than friends. I will try my best to keep in touch with al of you, and hang out with those that are near.

It is 6:15 pm, so you know what that means!

My rose for this trip was being with you all. EG: When some of us found a place to sit and relax, talking or in silence, until the sun set and Adam and Bea were questioning what we might have been getting ourselves into. Camping and Kayaking: We had little access to our phones, some more than others ;), and it really forced us to bond together, and really demonstrated Philip’s philosophical prowess at the dinner table. Cards against humanity, and realizing that a 14 year old knows a few more terms than some of us could have imagined, while others read the cards confused while we all cackled. Our science directors, and getting to know them more like friends and other siblings than like people who made our amazing schedule. Thanksgiving dinner: We all shuttled out in our most dapper, spiffy fits to show our appreciation for eachother, and how we were nothing but absolutely busting with excitement. Night lighting with all of you: Seeing the defense mechanism for a segmented worm first hand, at the hands of James The Mountain himself. I loved how much I laughed, talked, smiled, explored, wondered, and discovered with all of you at my side, and my side at yours.

Hypothetically I would stay up for hours with you, talking about the most random ideas that comes across my mind. This trip was a first time for many things. I saw the milky way, and many shooting stars, in which I would wish for more time with us together. If there was any hopoe that a dream could work out like that, it is all I would ever wish for.

I will be posting the soundtrack on Spotify soon! I just need to polish a few thhings, but the video will stay as it is. I hope you remember these memories along to the sweet sway of the guitar. What I like to do is usually listen to one, or a few songs with every new lasting experience in my life, so that if I listen to it enough, it will become the feeling of those memories. Feel free to try it with that as you repeat the video.

My thorn, was this morning. It seems I can’t get a certain weight out of my chest, as if with each hug you all gave me a piece of yourself that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. Seeing you all go made me very emotional, as is this writing. With so little thorns over the course of the trip, I feel like this was the biggest.

My bud, is keeping in touch with you all. I cannot wait to keep in touch with you guys, telling you all abuot my roses, thorns, and buds in the future when I feel down, or reflective.

Below I have attached photos, chronological to the best of my ability. Scroll through! Take yourself back to the beginning of July 2nd.

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Hey yall, thank you again. Is there much more to be said? You all know the drill. We got wet for science.

Signing off, Leo Wall (AKA California Gurl, AKA The Wall, AKA Ryan G)

Love you all <3

The holidays have arrived! Today the Salish Sea Sailors embarked on a scenic adventure to the San Juan Island lavendar farm. At location, there was quite a bit of frolicking, jaunting, and strolling about the flowers and the bees. Many sights were to be had. Finlee got stung by a bee.

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Aside from the farm, the Sailors also visited Community Treasures, a second hand store near Roche Harbor. At said thrift, many interesting pieces of clothing, accesorries, and undergarments were found, and some bought! (not the underwear though, that’s gross). The thrifting was in preparation for our own joy and tonight’s dinner theme: Barbie. With the new Barbie movie out, starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, we decided that the best way to show our appreciation was to have the selected dinner theme. This is the second best option to watching the movie because, as it turns out, the local movie theatre is under construction.

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A lot of project time was put to good use today. Many went to Friday Harbor labs, local beaches, or stayed home. Emma patch tested her Fucus (Rockweed) gel samples on various “volunteers” and also used aloe vera as a comparison.

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To add on, tonight we had our second presentation night! Some highlights included: The migratory patterns and living habitat of bagels native to North America, our campers as clash royale characters, soaps, fish, and why uncle Iroh from Avatar: The Last Airbender, is the best anime character to exist.

Another great day with the gang. – Salish Sea Sailors OUT (peace)

(plus photos by Hannah !!)

Greetings!

Today the Salish Sea Sailors (unofficial official team name (even though we don’t sail)) got up to some worm hunting at False Bay with our previous dinner guest, and renowned scientist Tim Dwyer.

At False Bay, we ran an experiment tofind the preferred habitats of lugworms, a type of polychaete worm. By haphazardly throwing quadrats around the beach, we got a good idea of the average population statistics in the near-shore area and the area closer to the land. We also had a team digging for worms to gain an understanding of the actual number of worms relative to the number of burrows. We discovered that there was a vast difference in the number of worms further inland vs. further out in the tide.

After checking on Adam’s (one of our two science directors) ongoing eelgrass restoration project, we had a little bit of exploring time. Many bubble snails made it to our hands, and under our feet. Don’t worry everyone, there is certainly not a lack of them there.

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When we got back to the dorms, we had lunch and a poster workshop for our future presentations. Next was project work time, and we split up, with some students going to Friday Habor labs to further gather information for their studies, and some staying back at the dorms to do more research.

There will be no guest tonight, as it is Thanksgiving. (That is not the actual reason, we just don’t have a guest. However we have still decided that today is Thanksgiving.) We wish you happy holidays! Christmas is only 4 days away. (Can you believe it??)

Thanksgiving:

Our dinner tonight consisted of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, consisting of mached potatoes, beans, salad, stuffing, and of course, turkey. Before we dug in, we had to grab some photos outside of our amazing dinner fits, and giving thanks at the table before we continued the feasting.

Signing off – Leo (AKA The Wall AKA California gurl AKA Ryan G), Finlee (AKA Finland), and James (AKA The Mountain)

TRIGGER WARNING: Today’s blog post includes pictures of a porpoise necropsy. While the procedure was done respectfully and carefully, the images include blood and/or other exposed innards of the specimen. Thank you for reading!

Today’s adventures were quite a treat. Recently, a Harbor Porpoise was found floating off of Lopez island, so Friday Harbor Lab’s necropsy of the week was examining this unique creature. It exhibited severe scavenger damage around it’s left eye, and large, evenly spaced lesions on it’s tail stock (the area that connects the body to the tail) likely caused by a boat strike. Without further microscopic investigation or testing, the most clear and probable cause of death was some kind of infection (meningitis or bacteremia of some sort) that entered through the cuts caused by a boat strike and travelled through the blood.

After we went back to the dorms for lunch, and some project developement time, we went with our science director Adam Rogowski to examine Fecal coliforms in the Friday Harbor Marina. This bacteria is found, as you might have guessed, in feces or other waste materials from all warm blooded animals, including humans. We came to start the procedure for measuring the concentration of this bacteria in different areas of the marina in order to understand the water’s safety to other animals, where it might be coming from in the case of a high concentration, and how it could affect the local ecosystem.

Todays guests are… US! Tonight Salish Sea Sciences is having Presentation Night. Half of our students will be giving a presentation about a topic of their choice. The other half of our students will be presenting next week, and this week, their job is to introduce a person that is presenting as if they were a scientist joining us for dinner. This will include a brief introduction, and a summary of that students studies.

Some highlights of the presentation included: How breeding 54,000 lobsters can make you a quadrillion dollars, what a sandwhich ACTUALLY is, and the rising of Mario and Luigi, telling us about how our society works in the rising age of the softboys.

Signing off, James, Leo, and Finlee.

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