On day four, we awoke within our tents, the glare from the sun shining through the orange rain flys. As we got out, we saw our guides Sam, and Luke preparing French toast on the camping stove that we had brought. It was a delicious breakfast. After some time of waiting for everyone to get ready, we pulled the kayaks into the water, we were able to put on the spray skirts with some level of difficulty, pushed ourselves into the waves, and headed up to a beach just north of Friday Harbor. As we crossed the harbor openings, we followed each kayak in a single file line like a group of ducklings following a mother duck. Upon arriving at the beach, we tied up the boats and waited for the tides to change before heading back to Turn Island. During the layover, we ate ham and cheese sandwiches with apples, chips and salsa, before waiting for the tide to change. We tide pooled, napped in the sun, and watched the curious harbor seals wander by. The boat and float plane traffic was also fascinating, and the wakes were fun to play in as we meandered through the surf. There was also a small collection of rocks that were nearby which some of us were able to climb and watch the waves. The sea dropped off pretty suddenly which was a very pretty sight. Once the tides changed, we started our return trip to Turn Island. We used how the tides change in reaction to land masses which we learned about in day three to cross easier. We missed J-Pod by about ten minutes, yet only learned about this once we had gotten back to camp. From this point onward, we relaxed on the island, enjoyed group conversations, and several of us went swimming. The tide was high and the water was cool on a hot day which made for a nice combination. Once we had dried off, we enjoyed some artichoke spaghetti and s’mores with a beautiful sunset. Once the sun had completely set, we were treated to a beautiful night sky full of constellations and stars and bioluminescence in the water— phytoplankton that glows in the dark when an object such as small pebbles or a piece of driftwood is thrown into it. We enjoyed playing with the bioluminescence with the company of the raccoons digging for clams slightly down the beach before heading to bed on our last night on this kayaking trip.

Today we spent our time on the shores of Turn Island. We started off the day with a delicious breakfast of french toast and granola followed by a nap in the sand. We spent time resting our muscles after a long paddle trip upward from the D&R camping site. Our guides took us on a hike around the island, explaining some local flora like the Madrona tree which is often referred to as the refrigerator tree due to its cool to the touch nature. We also got to experience some of the local fauna including a noble bald eagle perched only a few meters away from us. The pesky raccoons also decided to make a reappearance but until nightfall they left us alone. We had a lunch of ham and cheese sandwiches along with some more salsa and chips which was followed by a lesson on currents and chart reading from Sam and Luke. As it warmed up, the gang decided to go swimming in the cold waters of the Salish Sea. Some members of the group decided to go as far as to dip themselves fully in the water head and all. Oscar swam out to the little island next to Turn as we cheered him on. We found some fascinating creatures in the water including a spectacular little comb jelly and a brown fish that swam up to Samuel and Ian’s legs. Sam and Luke then made us a delicious dinner of Thai curry and salad followed by some cookies for dessert before folks geared up to battle the raccoons once again.

On Day Two of our Salish Seas Kayak trip, we began with a nice morning on the Griffin Bay campsite, on San Juan Island. Later, we saw some local wildlife on both terrestrial land and aquatic seas. Finally, we arrived at our permanent campsite.

The morning began with a nice granola and toast breakfast at the scenic Griffin Bay campsite. The tides were down and a few people walked along the stony shore, looking at crabs, kelp, and anemones. Just before we left, we saw a gray fox, who was surprisingly at ease with us. Eventually it left and we packed up and began paddling to Turn Island, off the eastern coast of San Juan Island. On the way, we paused to admire some harbor porpoises who surfaced just a few yards ahead of us, as well as harbor seals and a California Sea Lion, which we saw swimming through the water. The water also gave excellent views of Mount Baker. 

When we finally arrived on Turn Island, we almost immediately began being pestered by the local raccoon population. After unpacking and setting up tents, we ate a delicious meal of chili. However, as dinner cooked, the raccoons continued their growing assault on our food stores.

As the sun went down, the cozy kayak camp literally turned into an armed camp. Everyone was armed with heavy sticks, and patrols swept the beach. Their glowing eyes could be seen prowling through the tall grass, and at one point a large one attacked one of our guides. They were intent on getting into our food and our tents, and it was a hard fought battle to keep them out. Eventually, the kitchen area was taken and we were forced to concede for the night. As we retreated, the raccoons swarmed over our kitchen, but the battle would be won at dawn.

Like every good trip we started with a not so early wake up. Most of our group had packed the previous night and as such all that had to be done was get up, eat breakfast, and get out. We walked down to Friday Harbor where we packed all of our belongings into dry bags. Jackson Beach, the place where we would be launching, was only about a 10 minute car ride away. After arriving at Jackson Beach, we offloaded the kayaks for the truck and carried them to the surf where we packed them full of as much gear, food and water as we could manage. The final step was to launch. We pushed off from the beach and the water supported us, the water was cool. A slight breeze tickled the back of our necks and the soft gentle rolling of the waves rocked the boats. As we paddled further down the coast we came across a small grouping of harbor seals, some sitting high and dry sunbathing on the rocks while others bobbed up and down within the cold waves perhaps just cooling down or maybe searching for the fish that hid beneath the waves. We watched them for as long as we could before continuing on our way to the campsite. Our next stop, lunch at Fourth of July Beach where we were treated to peanut butter and jelly  with bananas, chips, and salsa. We had some time to examine the effects of invasive caterpillar species on the local ecosystem before putting our boats in the water again and kayaking north to our final stop for the night. We unloaded our boats and pulled them up to avoid the pull of high tide and the possibility of needing to swim after a boat. After setting up our tents, we helped cook, played frisbee, and watched the foxes run past our camp. We watched the sunset together and helped clean up from dinner before heading to bed, listening to the sound of the San Juan waves. 

by Eliza with Samuel, Oscar and, Henry

Today we explored the sounds of the Salish Sea. During our second day at Salish Sea Sciences, students learned how to record acoustics using a new program called Audacity. We began by going around the dorm recording different sounds in order to get used to the software. After that we made our way over to Jason and Sam at the Sea Mammal Research Unit’s Engineering team where they explained their work which focuses on the development and deployment of hydrophone equipped buoys. The goal with these hydrophones(a kind of e special underwater microphone) is to see how different noise levels from boats affect the way marine mammals hear and communicate with each other. They then told us how the sound itself is measured, in a unit known as decibels. This is how they determine the volume of different sounds made by things such as marine mammals and boats. Then equipped with this new knowledge all of the students went out to different spots to see who could record a spot in town with the most noise. When we returned to the lab we all worked in groups to convert our data into decibels. From that we determined that the intersection at spring street and pine was the loudest spot during our minute long recording although it could have easily been the airport if a plane was landing during the time which just goes to show the variability in one area’s soundscape. After that we shared delicious meal of spanakopita and salad prepared by Elsbeth, Jonathan, William and, Denny and then listened to Ayla’s presentation about her experiences at Salish Sea Sciences and as a Stanford student.

By Elspeth with Denny, William, and Jonathan

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s…driftwood? Today, our second day at Salish Sea Sciences, students went on a scavenger hunt in Friday Harbor, explored the whale museum, and went on a hike in Lime Kiln Point State Park.

Our initial foray into Friday Harbor was a scavenger hunt. We raced across town taking pictures of strangely specific buildings and objects, earning points along the way. When we tallied up the points, our team was very close to the others, with only 250 points less.

Later in the day, we visited the Whale Museum. It was a whale of a time, and the tour pod-sitively blowhole-d our minds. We strode through the museum with porpoise, dol-finding interesting things along the way, such as this cool harbor seal skeleton. We’ve made it
a-pun-dantly clear how much we love puns, but, don’t worry, we’ll stop now.

After we returned, we headed to the Lime Kiln Interpretive Center, where we were shown around by Erin Corra, Founder and Director of FOLKS (Friends of Lime Kiln Society). She showed us many types of native trees and rocks, and the sea view was gorgeous. On the way, we toured the newest lighthouse in Washington State, built in 1919. We spotted a pod of orcas from the top, which ended up being a bunch of driftwood…we were all very disappointed. She then led us to a restored lime kiln – the park’s namesake – and we got a short history lesson on the lime industry in the San Juan Islands. Some of us went down to the beach below the kiln, where we found many hermit crabs and anemones. We headed back to the dorm soon after that, and began to prepare dinner and write this very blog post!

Before dinner, we recognized the history of Juneteenth, particularly as a federal holiday. After dinner, we got a very interesting presentation by Kyra and Henry, who currently work for the whale museum. We then ate ice cream and watermelon.

By Maddy, Joey, and Gray

Gray, Maddy, and Joey (left to right) riding a wild orca awesomely in the ocean. (Totally accurate graphic by Gray)

We planned on making pancakes last night, so we got right into making the batter as soon as we woke up. However, upon cataloging our ingredients, we found that we were missing eggs, which is pretty important for pancake batter. After Jacob and Miranda went on a super fast shopping run, Jacob and Joey began mixing up the batter, now with all of the necessary ingredients. Soon, the pancakes were coming off the griddle. Even though we didn’t have that much time to eat, they were delicious.

We rushed out the door (leaving Maddy behind on accident) in order to get to the Whale Museum, a place dedicated to educating and advocating for whales. Once Maddy caught up with us, we went inside and were transported into a world of whales. Our tour guide, Tracie, led us around the museum, showing us massive whale skeletons and preserved skulls of all types of marine mammals. A particularly interesting exhibit showed a conjoined seal pup, which unfortunately killed both the mother and pups during birth. After the tour was over, we spent some time walking around on our own accord, exploring the various games and exhibits.

The gang investigates a marine murder (photo by Miranda)

After the whale museum, we walked two blocks down to the Whale Conservancy, where we watched an informational video about orca conservation. We decided to have a quick stop at the market to get food before going back to the dorm. On the way to King’s Market, some people did parkour on a stairwell and might have looked really stupid (it was fun though). After a bit of decision making, we collected some non-gluten-free bread and fruit, and then checked out. Once we got back, we made lunch with the new food we bought.

We took a little break, and then Derek gave us an important task. He wanted us to go into town and collect information about the various whale watching agencies. By doing this, we were able to get a better understanding to what degree the industry is harming the whales, and get to know what happens on the tours themselves. After visiting all the whale watching agencies and having conversations with various staff members, we headed to the ice cream shop on the dock. We returned to the dorms to explain the information we found to Derek.

Then, we worked on our website and had a small break time to relax. We were able to upload employee biographies and also plan other aspects of pisaster.org ! Kika decided to make bombay potatoes for dinner. With some minor assistance from Joey and Maddy, dinner was ready by 6:30 with no delay. The potatoes and rice were especially delicious and went well with the assorted fruit. 

After cleanup, we headed outside to do some tie-dye. Equipped with many colors, we made some beautiful t-shirts and set them out to dry. We came back inside to watch a movie, this time choosing without any deliberation, as we had chosen a movie earlier in the day. Everyone was tired from a long day of fun, and we were all excited to get to bed.

By: Joey Giordano and Maddy Glaser

This morning’s adventure started on the beautiful docks of the Westcott Bay Shellfish Company, where we were surrounded by clear water and birds of all kinds. Eric and Sam, shellfish farmers at Westcott Bay, greeted us on the dock of the Westcott Bay Shellfish Company after a bit of a drive across the island. Although we all brought our water gear, we spent our time at the oyster farm dry on the sunny dock.

Eric and Sam pointed out the hundreds of oyster bags laid out on racks under the water. It looked similar to the oyster farm we saw in Judd Cove, but bigger. They informed us that each bag contained anywhere from five hundred to two thousand oysters depending on their age, but they only expect 50% to actually survive. To reach full maturity, the oysters take about two years.

They showed us their sorting table and demonstrated sorting out the dead oysters. While they sorted, we asked them questions which led to interesting discussions. Apparently, their farm uses one of the most sustainable models possible to maintain their 6 million oysters. Finally, they took us to a lower part of the dock, where they kept the baby oysters. Eric pulled a couple out for us to touch; they were no bigger than a dime and very shiny. After admiring them for a while, we said goodbye and headed back down the dock.

Next, we walked to English Camp National Historical Park for a short and steep hike up Young Hill. Although we worried that the hike might be exhausting, it was not nearly as long as we thought, and after our hike up Mount Constitution the other day, we were prepared for anything. We took some fun panorama photos at the top.

Once we were back at the dorms, we prepared to meet our next guest, Katie Flemming​​. Katie is the Education Outreach Director for Friends of the San Juans and her job is to inform, educate, and engage members and the community in what the Friends are doing. She talked about relieving the stress that comes with working on climate change and answered our questions about running an organization. While we were discussing, Maddy pointed out Islay, who was a resident at the previous Salish Sea Sciences camp, walking by the campus. After we all waved aggressively, we went back to our discussion.

Next, we took a quick couch nap while Tom prepared his presentation about salmon fisheries! When he was a teenager, he worked at the salmon cannery on Jackson’s beach (a long time ago in a land not so far away at all). He showed us some amazing photos he took while working there, both of his coworkers and the cannery itself when it was still running. One of his photos was of Kirk Johnson (!!!), who is now the Director of the Smithsonian. He said that the hours were long and the equipment was dangerous, but that it was a good way to make money in the summers. He also described the fall of the canned salmon industry as refrigeration became more accessible; people switched to fresh filets and other canned fishes filled in the gap.

After Tom’s presentation, we shifted to dinner mode. While we were waiting for everyone to get back to the house, Joey introduced 3 5 7, a simple stick game. Despite their best efforts, Jacob and Gray could not win a single game against him. For dinner, we had well seasoned baked potatoes, delicious chili, sweet corn and steamed broccoli. After dinner, we lit a fire and made s’mores, a great ending to a great day.

By Gray, Kika, Madelyn, Maddy, Jacob, and Joey

A lazy morning start was enjoyed by most on Sunday. Jacob, Joey, & Gray woke up early to make french toast for everyone, it was spectacular and loved by all. Promptly after breakfast we sat down with Derek and saw photos of his scuba diving adventures, and encounters on the Albanian coastline. Then we ate lunch together, and placed our sandwich order for dinner, before splitting up to enjoy our Sunday plans.

Gray: For my Sunday I walked into town to visit shops, try fresh pastries, and explore Friday Harbor. Upon my return, Joey and I did a chocolate tasting (Chocolate truffle with cream was the best) and then went on a bike ride to the top of the Missing mountain.

Joey: In the afternoon I spent some time relaxing and then headed into town. I was going to get a souvenir, but all of the stores close at 4 on Sunday. When I came back, Gray and I went on a bike ride past Jackson Beach. We did some exploring: we biked up on a ridge, sat in a tree and ate an apple.

Maddy: I spent the morning with everyone at the dorms, and then I headed to Friday Harbor Labs to work on my eelgrass experiment. I transferred the eelgrass wasting disease cultures into new petri dishes so that they wouldn’t run out of food to eat. Then, I sorted and cleaned a bunch of eelgrass shoots that we all collected the other day at Padilla Bay, prepping them for the next step of my experiment.

Jacob: I thought about ideas for the website. Then, I read a bit about the Salish Sea and its original discovery. The “Salish Sea” book by Dr. Joe Gaydos explained why places were named what they are and who they’re named after. Mostly I just rested. I also went for a short walk to the skate park and back.

Madelyn: After breakfast, I didn’t do much before deciding to go on a jog. It was really nice to just zone out and take in the steel blue sky and warm sun, brightening all the towering trees overhead as I ran by. Later in the day, I found myself under a tree outside reading a book, feeling the crisp air on my skin and creating fantasies in my head. So I really just relaxed today.

Kika: I went for an invigorating jog down to Jackson’s Beach before lunch, taking numerous detours to collect ebony blackberries and getting shredded by bramble thorns on the way. I ate a quick meal and then lounged in the liquid sunshine to read the news and drink a cup of mint tea. After my relaxing afternoon, I spent the evening. browsing local shops on Spring Street before settling on a lovely leafy mug as a souvenir.

We ended the day by attending the Island Stage Left adaptation of Much ado about Nothing, starring Paulina’s riveting performance as Hero. We picnicked in the garden before bundling up to protect ourselves against the swarms of mosquitos. The play was amazing, and our critics are giving it a rare 10/10. We would recommend seeing an Island Stage Left performance or donating if you saw a show and really liked it.

 We headed down to the University of Washington Friday Harbor Laboratories’ docks to watch a necropsy. A necropsy is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of death or to evaluate any disease or injury that may be present for research or educational purposes. We watch 1^1/2 seals being dissected and sent to labs. It made most of us a little squeamish. While being dissected, we learned about how they relocate baby seals that have been orphaned and rehabilitate them to give them a better chance of survival. The one that we watched had climbed onto the beach where several eagles scavenged it alive, after being relocated. 

When the Marine Mammal Stranding Network and the Seadoc Society found him, they made the tough decision to euthanize him, since he had undergone immense suffering. They let us go down and look at the pup, it was quite bloody. We could see the teeth that had just started to grow in and the crevice where the pup’s eye should’ve been, but all that was left was an empty shell, carved out by the eagles. Then it was cut open and the liver, kidneys, lungs, and heart were removed. I learned about how the skull doesn’t get damaged even when the eye is eaten. They then showed us the brain. A few of us stayed behind to watch the start of the second seal pup’s dissection and ask questions. Afterwards, those that stayed behind left to catch up with the rest of the group who wanted to go up to the library.

 (Gray and Joey looking through books in the library, photo by Madelyn Crist)

( Gray touching a sea urchin in the tidal pool, photo by Gray Rager )

After the dissection fun, we were able to look around the Friday Harbor Laboratories. Walking in, we each picked up a postcard with a creature on it, varying from a sea anemone to a nudibranch. With colorful postcards in hand, we sauntered into the lab’s library. The room was flooded with warm sunlight coming in from the skylights carved into the ceiling overhead. Bookcases full of science discoveries and lab reports, bound by bright blues and soft yellows and cardinal reds lay out in front of the group. Books dating all the way back from the early nineteen hundreds, carrying evidence found by renowned scientists, sat in the rickety brown shelves before us as we perused between the tall structures.                                   

Not too long after admiring the old and new science pages, we carried on down the steps of the labs to find a small tide pool. We were each able to stick our hand in the cold, Pacific waters and touch a sea slug and a sea urchin or sea anemone. The sea urchins and anemones moved about our fingers when we plunged them into the water, as Derek gave us some quick interesting facts about the creatures.

Once we came back to the house, some of us found it more difficult than others to choke down lunch, while others were completely unphased after the dissection. Following the leftover pasta salad lunch, we began working on pisaster.org again, designing a logo, fixing the website structure, and writing blurbs for different sections of our lovely webpage. Working for a while, we made a lot of progress in layout and content, which is great and soon we took a break to play volleyball before dinner.

(the group working on our website, photo by Sara Sarmiento Ruiz)