Today was a pretty chill day for the students of Salish Sea Sciences. The day began with a leisurely wakeup after an action-packed weekend. The only exception to this being Hannah and Olivia who both woke up at 6:30 to head to Friday Harbor Laboratories. Those of us who slept in went to depart for a tour of the oyster farm over in Westcott Bay.

The tour proved to be very informative as we learned about the methods of growing oysters up in the Salish Sea. Two main varieties are grown in the Salish Sea, the native Olympia Oyster, and the Pacific Oyster (introduced from Japan). A fascinating aspect of oyster growing is the number of ecological factors which must be monitored and considered for the best growth. Oyster harvests can easily be ruined by heat waves, chemicals in the water, and bacterial outbreaks. Since oysters filter the water, it’s very easy for them to accumulate toxins and bacteria from the water within their bodies. While it may not harm them, it can be very bad for human consumption. As such the Westcott Bay company works hard to communicate with scientists and conservationists as they grow their oysters. As a special bonus one Max Mittleman managed to bargain for 2 dozen free oysters which we enjoyed tonight.

Apart from the oyster dock, the day was more or less just more project grinding as most of us finished our data collection. A bunch of us went on a fun walk along the marina despite the drizzly weather, no doubt annoying countless locals as we hung over the side of the docks and yelled about all the cool critters that were everywhere. Tommy’s jellyfish refused to bioluminescence, most of my sand dollar larvae died, and Ethan’s bubble snails died by the dozen. Algae are rotting, and the science room on the property is becoming more like a morgue than a lab. It’s crunch time here at Salish Sea Sciences as we all ready ourselves for some excellent presentations. Perhaps the real work was not the projects we are making, but the friends we made along the way.

Signing off for now,

The Supremely Scientific Students of Salish Sea Sciences

Warning !! The harbor seal photos are, as the last necropsy was, relatively gory, and not for the fainthearted !!

Hello again everyone, It’s the Students of Salish Sea Sciences returning with a brand new blog post! Today we once again partook in a wide variety of somewhat random activities. As usual, our day began with waking up (recommended at least once a day). After waking up and munching on a nice breakfast, we all departed for Friday Harbor Labs to watch a necropsy. As some of our faithful readers may recall we already observed a harbor porpoise necropsy. Today we watched another marine mammal get cut open. Instead of observing a harbor porpoise this time, we watched a harbor seal. While it was undoubtedly cool, most of us concluded that it was kind of underwhelming compared to the porpoise.

Most of our day thereafter was devoted to collecting project samples and developing our own research. Cassandra from the fish lab came by for an hour to try (and mostly fail) to teach us how to use data software, which left most of us exhausted, close to tears, and overwhelmingly confident we weren’t going to major in computer sciences. Hannah spent her day fertilizing and observing more Ascidian embryos, Maddie collected water samples, Ethan set up snail habitats and Emma cooked seaweed into a delectable concoction. Many other project activities occurred as everyone was hard at work.

Nothing terribly noteworthy happened (other than a brief thrifting expedition) until dinner time rolled around. We were joined by Ms. Shauna Barrows, a field assistant for San Juan County Land Bank, an organization devoted to protecting vast swaths of land for conservation and various ecological purposes. It was a very interesting talk that took a more political perspective and diverged from our usual scientific talks.

In summary, today was another stellar day in which we engaged in very fun activities and greatly furthered our projects. Moreover, we had a fantastic speaker and even got to thrift some clothes to wear to the Barbie movie. Welp, signing off for now,

The Students of Salish Sea Sciences

Salutations fellow citizens of our green world, it’s the students of Salish Sea Sciences writing yet another blog. Today was yet another eventful and action-packed day for us. The day started off a little early with a 6:30 wake-up call that I could only describe as harrowing for many of us tired teenagers. Despite this momentary challenge, we were all able to push through and commence our first activity of the day. We drove over to Cattle Point where we rendezvoused with Dr. Dobkowski, the scientist who spoke to us the night prior.

The primary goal of our Cattle Point expedition was to survey different squares filled with algae within a medium-sized grid called a transect. We used data sheets to record which species of algae we could identify and the general percentage of each square they covered along 4 different sections of the beach. The explanation I’m writing probably doesn’t do an adequate job of explaining the process, but the general idea was simply that we were helping Dr. Dobkowski collect data on species diversity in different locations.

On our walks along the shore from site to site we also encountered some pretty cool creatures in the tidepools. Some of us even saw a fuzzy-looking nudibranch chilling in some grass. Overall, it was a pretty busy morning but it was also a good introduction to the kind of field work that marine biologists do to determine the health of an ecosystem.

After our morning of walking and collecting data, we retreated back to the comfort of the house for a few hours. After an uneventful lunch and some time spent further developing project ideas, we were met with a welcome surprise as Islay, a former Salish Sea Sciences student came in to help us work on art and scientific drawings. While some of us certainly made more scientific drawings than others, at the end of our art time, we created some pretty awesome art pieces.

I think almost all of us enjoyed our little art venture as it was not only an excellent way to unwind but also a good practice for creating art in multiple mediums. Some of us even created collages and 3D art pieces which was super cool!

All in all, today was another good day for the students of Salish Sea Sciences. A busy morning contrasted a very relaxing afternoon quite well! As projects continue to develop there will be plenty of opportunities to individualize our research and apply the skills we have been learning steadily over the past two weeks. Hopefully, tomorrow will offer something just as awesome as today!

-Philip and Hannah

Written by Philip and Photos by Hannah !!

Well, it certainly has been a little while since the last blog post! These past 3 nights have all been devoted to a kayaking and camping trip. On our first day, we traveled from Roche Harbor to a campsite on Stuart Island. While the 7-mile paddle there proved to be arduous for some, the paddle was anything but uneventful. Prior to departing, many campers talked about how cool it would be to see orcas in the wild. In an extraordinary stroke of luck, the campers’ hopes were fulfilled as a roaming pod of transient orcas was spotted in the channel. On this ride to our campground, we also found a number of other interesting sea creatures. Harbor seals, harbor porpoises, jellyfish, and crabs were all spotted on our way to Stuart Island.

Even after an action-packed first day of paddling, setting up camp, and observing local wildlife, the excitement only continued to grow. The second day gave everyone a much-needed break from paddling. Paddling time was exchanged for time to explore the island and its many hiking trails. To start our day off, some of us decided to dock jump in the early morning into the freezing cold water. Despite the extreme cold, it did the trick and woke us up very nicely. Our main activity of the day was an extended walk from our campsite all the way to the lighthouse on the other side of the island. On the way to the lighthouse, our trails took us to a library/schoolhouse where we took a quick break to drink water, look at maps, and frolic in the meadow nearby. Flower crowns were made and modeled by all. Some people even used their free time to play some intense basketball games before we resumed our walk. When we finally reached the lighthouse we had great opportunities to look out at the ocean and explore the rocky shores. We also had lunch and toured some pretty mediocre museums detailing the lighthouse’s history and its keeper’s quarters. After we had our fill of the lighthouse we walked back and had the remaining part of the day to chill and relax. Some of us even named areas on the island such as the ethereal garden and the cliff of wisdom. The ethereal garden in particular was a great place to nap on the soft moss as several of us fell asleep in the evening sun. To end our day off, after dinner, we shone a light off the dock and observed some mating polychaete worms. We even saw some devilish raccoons peering at us from the trees with their beady little eyes and foul stares. Rest assured they would be dead if they had the courage to come down and face us for real.

Day 3 went by remarkably quickly as we all slept in much later than the day before and went paddling once again. We decided to go and paddle a little bit as we worked our way through some harsh currents and then stopped and ate some pulled pork sandwiches for lunch. The beach where we ate lunch was also a great place to find sea glass and cool shells. Later in the day we jumped off the docks again and tanned in the sun. We also had our hair braided and got some makeovers (courtesy of Hannah and Maddie). Overall, day 3 was pretty awesome and had a good mix of activity and relaxation.

Finally, day 4 was a challenging day where we woke up early and packed our bags so we could kayak back to camp before any major currents started up. We completed a journey estimated to be 4 hours in a little over 2 hours of paddling with some beautiful conditions. All in all, the entirety of the kayaking trip was an extraordinary experience where we got to experience a really close and personal connection with the wilderness around us and a multitude of different cool animals.