Written by Elliott Jones, Sonja Larson and Colette Bennette

Sleeping in was a relief. We needed that, as we do now, while we write this. Anyways, the morning went smoothly and we eventually made our way to the 4th of July Beach over on the South end of the island to perform some eelgrass surveys, instructed by Morgan.

Due to the changes brought on by climate change many organisms are being affected by epidemics and such, similar to our own. Eelgrass is one of these organisms, and being the foundation of an entire ecosystem, as we learned today, it’s extremely important we monitor these changes.

From the parking lot on the hill we trekked down to the beach where we observed a local salt marsh and the expansive array of birds that rely on it. We then headed out far down the beach, trudging through the rocks, mud, and algae. 

When we reached the site, we set out transects at different depths to start recording the population of eelgrass shoots in our quadrats, all the while avoiding interrupting the rambunctious activities of the seagulls.

Legs cramping and boots full of water, we finally finished and headed up to the shore to eat our packed lunches, before heading into the mossy and overgrown forest on the way back to the van.                         

Once we got back from the field and laid around the dorms for a bit, we got to do something fun…tie dying!! We all had picked out our shirt sizes the day before so we were ready to start today (well yesterday but shhh) We all grabbed our shirts and got to work on coloring the shirts and setting up what designs we would have on our shirts. Even though we all had the same materials, each and every shirt turned out different. Most of the peers here did spiral designs while others just scrunched up our shirts and poured some color on it. 

Once we got done, all of our hands were covered with dye. Some of our hands were solid colors like green, orange and blue. Today, our hands are still dyed, so if you see us with stained hands, now you know why. Hopefully the dye will wash off soon but until then, we’ll stay colorful. 

After eating way too much spaghetti, we all settled down for a couple hours of free time. Dustin and Estevan made their way down to a nearby beach to go swimming, while others took the time to work on their independent projects. 

Since we had finally gotten our hands on some embroidery thread, a bunch of us sat down around the dining table and taught each other how to make friendship bracelets. Now we are all pro bracelet makers. 

This is the bracelet Elliott made. Aren’t you jealous of its beauty? – Photo taken by Sonja

Putting on warm jackets and sweatpants, and made our way down to the town docks. Using a car jump starter and a couple of lights, we did some night-lighting in the water. Putting the light in the water and using the jump starter to power it, we were able to illuminate the nearby ocean and reveal what seemed to be a whole new world of life. The water was full of floating particles and the occasional jellyfish and shrimp. We laid down on the docks and spent just over an hour staring into the water. It was super cool to see all of the larvae, fish, and polychaetes in the water.

Once we returned to the dorms, we were all very tired from the day, but still very excited from doing the night-lighting at the docks. After some late night ice cream and talking about what we would do the next day, we all headed to bed to get enough rest for the next day. See you tomorrow (oh wait today haha we posted the blog late).

Today’s Blog by: Kira, Abby, and Andrea

Having spent an amazing time at Salish Sea Sciences this summer, we all woke up excited to spend our last Saturday all together. We made our way to the farmers market and walked around looking at all the local artists and farmers. We would eventually go to different places and collect more data for our projects, some of us went on a ferry ride, others to Cattle Point, and others stayed back at the dorm analyzing the data they had already gathered. At the end of the day we went to watch Island Stage Left‘s performance of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing” under the stars that featured the artist resident Paulina, and we all loved the play!

And now, for the exciting content: student interviews!! Today, the Blog Team interviewed Andrea, Estevan, and Naomi. Let’s start with some thoughts on this morning’s Farmer’s Market trip.

— Andrea, what was your favorite part about the Farmer’s Market?

“I loved the gluten free brownie that I bought. It was a little bit crumbly, but the flavor was there. The market in general was full of life, and the energy there was infectious.”

— Andrea, do you have any other comments regarding your experience at the Farmer’s Market?

“I apologize to the man whose video recording I walked in front of while the band was playing. I honestly did not see the camera.”

— Estevan, what was your favorite stand at the Farmer’s Market?

“I liked the high quality H2O. It was very empowering, it made me feel very open and alive. The natural spring water left a slight tingle on the tongue.”

Naomi, what did you do today during project time and can you tell me a little bit about your project? 

During project development time Naomi headed to Friday Harbor Labs to watch the feeding of the lab’s Pycnopodias. The feeding went well and Naomi says she got a lot of information about the sea star’s feeding behaviors. Naomi is studying and recording these feeding behaviors in individual stars using underwater cameras. The Pycnopodia populations were some of the most impacted by sea star wasting disease so the chance to work with them is really incredible! “I am so happy and grateful to Dr. Jason Hodin and his fellow researchers for letting me work with their sea stars.”

And for our next act, we’ll find out just how much we enjoyed tonight’s play!

— Estevan, what were your thoughts throughout the play?

“Honestly, the quality of the play was fantastic. They really brought life to the stage, and despite pandemic setbacks, it was overall a fantastic performance.”

Essentially, our day was fantastic — just ask Naomi!

— Naomi, what was your favorite part of the day? 

“My favorite part of the day was helping my fellow researchers conduct their experiences with chitons and barnacles. The access we have to the intertidal zone and the variety of organisms that reside in the Salish Sea through the labs is incredible. Thank you Friday Harbor Labs and the University of Washington!” 

Today was filled with productivity and fun! It was an amazing week. From working on our projects as individuals to watching a fantastic performance as a group the week could not have been better. Finally, a special thanks to Naomi, Andrea, and Estevan for their wonderful interview responses!!

Today’s blog is brought to you by Dustin, Islay, and Setharonious.

This morning we visited members of the Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU) in a small office/garage building less than a 10 minute walk from the dorm.  There we met Jason, who manages the North America chapter of SMRU; Jessica, who is a junior scientist; and Jesse, the field technician, who explained to us what they do related to bioacoustics.  Jason gave us an overview of the physics of sound, Jessica showed us how the computer identifies and compiles orca noises from hours of sound data from the hydrophones and Jessica reviews it.  Jesse is the technician and he constructs Coastal Acoustic Buoys which hydrophones are attached to and then deployed in the ocean.  Currently, Jesse is working on assembling CABOWs (Coastal Acoustic Buoys for Offshore Wind) for companies that are building offshore wind power on the East Coast.  

This team is aiming to generate a solution to the rampant noise pollution humans have introduced into the ocean. Right whales are endangered in the Atlantic and the noise pollution from the construction disrupts their behavior.  Therefore there are regulations in place which require companies to avoid creating noise when whales are observed within a 10km radius.  About 10 CABOWs would be placed in the water to detect Right whale sounds and notify people on land to stop creating noise.

-Students calibrating sound waves on the Audacity program. Photos by Islay Ross

After the SMRU’s engaging presentation on whale calls and sound level zonation, we dove into creating our own sound waves to analyze.  We downloaded the Audacity program onto our computers, and recorded a 10-second tone clip to find each individual computer’s calibration number.  Long story short, we imported 442,368 individual data values from vibration graphs into cells in a Google spreadsheet; squared each cell; found the average of those squared values; and added our initial calibration value…etcetera. Then, divided into 5 groups, we dispersed into town and individually recorded minute-long sound clips.  When we returned from town, we got to see our sound bytes in wavelength form!  Some of us had tourist chatter, passing cars, or airplanes- it was awesome to apply theories of bioacoustics to everyday sound effects.  Then, we headed off to lunch! 

After our lesson on marine acoustics we returned to the dorms to make progress on our final projects. Some students stayed at the dorms to continue their research in physical and online scholarly literature, and others went to Friday Harbor Labs to do field work and collect data. Just about all of us have a clear goal in mind, and this program is doing more than enough to make them possible. From orcas to the violent and dangerous behavior of chitons, our various interests will be presented in depth on our posters. I must go now, the chitons draw closer with every passing moment… I can not keep outrunning them, this may very well be my last entry. REJECT SOCIETY RETURN TO MATT.

Stay safe out there,

-Setharonious (and friends)

Hello! This blog is brought to you by Naomi, Meg, and Ana.

Clouds and Scaffolding

The overcast weather was nothing new to PNW locals when we awoke this morning; the grey hues outside made us ever more reluctant to get out of bed. As we made our way through our morning routines – eating breakfast, getting dressed, learning the knot of the day – the sun began to wake up just as we did. 

Zooplankton and Silhouettes

We headed out to the lab on campus to grab equipment to help in Kira’s project data collection; then, we headed down to the Port of Friday Harbor and did some plankton tows! The fun wasn’t over yet, though – we then headed back to the lab where Kira and Miranda instructed us on how to prepare our acquired plankton for a silhouette scan. The pictures came out great!

After we finished recording our plankton silhouettes, we shared a quick lunch before our first group headed out for a trawl on the research vessel Kittiwake! The moment we had all been waiting for was finally here.

Islay, Ana, and Dustin’s phytoplankton silhouettes (Photo by: Islay, Ana, Dustin)

Foraging for Critters on the Kittiwake

Both groups had an amazing time on the Kittiwake as they searched through trawl hauls for invertebrates to bring back to the labs. It was like searching for treasure.

Finds included multiple giant Apposticopus Californicus, a wide variety of sea stars, giant sea urchins, scallops, and lots of jumpy prawns. One group was lucky enough to have found a small shark in their haul!

Tim with the shark! (Photo by: Maddy)

Project Progress

While one group on the boat enjoyed seeking organism treasure, the other group was enjoying some much-needed project development time. Some of us ran experiment trials, some analyzed data, and some watched videos of sea star feeding sessions. It’s great to see the vast range of interesting questions and experimental designs we’ve all come up with!

Sea Star Culturing 

Tonight for dinner we had the pleasure to meet with Dr. Jason Hodin, a Wesleyan College graduate of biology and a Ph.D. of zoology from UW. He has worked with pycnopodia (a.k.a. Sunflower sea stars) over the past few years, focusing on the Sea Star Wasting Disease (SSWD) which became a worldwide epidemic in the early 2010’s and killed many stars and continues to affect most Sea Star species even today. We’ve already learned quite a bit about SSWD from Salish Sea Sciences Resident Scientist, Morgan Eisenlord, who was an early author on SSWD, but Dr. Hodin took us through his project of culturing sunflower stars to help repopulate the Friday Harbor area.

The purpose of his studies and experiments were to not only boost population numbers, but also to understand more about the life stages of the sunflower star. He showed us pictures of the pycnopodias’ stages of life — emphasizing the difference in appearance in the larval stage versus the adult/juvenile stage. We loved the presentation and had many questions digging into his expertise and fascinating work with the sunflower stars.

Final Thoughts

The time is flying by so fast. We can’t believe that this is already the third Thursday we have spent on San Juan Island. We can’t wait to make even more memories in our remaining days with our new, lifelong family.

~ Today’s blog is brought to you by Hebaq, Maddy, and Estevan!

This morning, we groggily got ready and ate breakfast, before learning the knot of the day, which is useful on sailboats for attaching things. After that, we headed out to Friday Harbor Labs for another data collecting session! Those of us who already had data or couldn’t collect at FHL opted to help other people collect data instead. A few hours later, after spotting jellyfishes and surveying tide pools, we gathered at the windy observation deck, where another group was carefully looking out for whales. The whale watchers, Hebaq and Estevan, had finished their survey, and unfortunately saw nothing. However, as we gathered our stuff, ready to leave, we heard Tim excitedly point out an orca on the horizon!! We watched in awe as it came up a few times. It was an amazing way to end a tired morning.

Earwig Experiments

We came back to the dorms to eat a delicious lunch of leftovers and sandwiches. After filling our stomachs, we went up to the labs to continue our experimentation with the earwigs. The first experiment tested the environment that the earwigs would prefer to live in. One of the shelters was covered with sand and the other was left exposed to natural light. Our results drew inconclusive information, so we decided to alter the experiment further. We noticed that we hadn’t put two earwigs together in the same environment, our curiosity began to spin into new designs and ideas. 

Our second experiment consisted of male and female earwigs being put into one shelter environment. This was when earwigs began to draw their pincers. The female’s aggressive nature was seen as they quickly attacked the male earwigs. We watched in amazement for the next 10 minutes as we let the experiment run its course. Weirdly enough, we enjoyed the entertainment we were receiving by watching the earwigs fight. We observed not only how they used the shelter, but also how these organisms interact with each other. After 2 hours of running the experiments, altering, and repeating, we said goodbye to our earwig friends and changed activities. 

Project Time

After the change of pace, we settled down in the dining area to begin our independent work time. Tim, understanding the fatigue that some of us were dealing with, also let people take care of their bodies with short rest times. The evening began to quiet down and we transitioned into exploration time. Tom and the cooking team, Sonja, Colette, and Elliott, prepared a beautiful dish of alfredo pasta. We enjoyed it over conversations with today’s guest, Tom Mumford, an expert on algae and seaweeds of all kinds! He’s studies seaweed since 1965, and now teaches classes on marine algae at the University of Washington!

Our views and understanding of kelp definitely has grown over this evening. Dr. Mumford began the evening with his bold claim that kelp is the basis of the ecosystem in the Salish Sea. Kelp, a diverse group of brown seaweed, was one of the first things that we were introduced to when we began working in the intertidal zone. Their role as mitigators of ocean acidification is one that is often overlooked, despite the fact that they are essential to almost every organism that resides in the ocean. We are so thankful to have met with such an amazing and influential person tonight, and we’re sure to carry this knowledge with us into our future careers!

Hello everyone, it’s Elliott, Sonja, and Colette writing the blog here today. 

Though we were all tired, we still started our day off at the normal 7:00 wake up. After the usual breakfast of cereal, bagels, or toast, we all grouped up for our knot of the day.

Today we learned how to tie the heaving knot. It is apparently helpful to throw at people when you are on a boat so that they can pull you in and tie your boat to the dock. That is because they are supposed to be able to catch it easier when the knot is weighted. We all tried throwing the knots at each other, and it was overall successful (many ropes were caught), so I guess we are in no place to doubt its usefulness.

The foggy landscape at the tide pools at Friday Harbor Labs. Picture by Colette.

After finishing breakfast, we headed to FHL (Friday Harbor Labs) to collect data for our independent projects. The bay this morning was covered in a mystifying blanket of fog—something we haven’t had the chance to see often on this trip. 

While some of us couldn’t collect data quite yet, we helped our peers to collect theirs. The projects ranged from jellyfish sightings to barnacle disturbance responses. We spent three hours down by the docks and the shore sharing what we’ve found with each other. We spotted a few Harbor Seal sightings and Estevan, Hebaq, Sonja, Dustin, and Islay were fortunate enough to lay eyes on a Minke Whale, which is pretty cool. We had a very successful day at the lab today.

Following lunch, we made a quick departure to False Bay to meet with Dr. Iyengar, Professor of Biology at Villanova University and last night’s speaker, to assist in some maritime earwig collection. 

Dr. Iyengar greeted us at the roadside landing above the beach. His son was by his side. His son is supposedly the reason Vik is able to comfortably handle the creepy bugs. We could’ve stood to learn a few of his tips.

False Bay is a peculiar San Juan destination, one that you can smell from miles away. We have been to False Bay before; however, the smell was much worse today. 

This could’ve been because of high tide or our location in the bay, but whatever it was, it was strong. Unfortunately, as we worked, many of us were bothered with the False Bay side effect of nose plugging and headaches.

We spread out along the beach flipping over flat pieces of driftwood and shoveling out the earwigs by the plenty. Underneath the logs, the bugs were in unsettling abundance and plucking them out was fun and exhilarating, much like a game.

(Left to right:) Dustin, Elliott, and Kira handling a tub filled with earwigs… a very leggy sight Photo by Colette.

After the initial collection, we all formed a sort of ‘packaging assembly line.’ All the earwigs we captured would go from the large tub where they swarmed, to a vial filled partially with sand, to another tub full of the earwigs in their vials. I’d say our system was pretty efficient. Counting them all up, we had about seventy individuals.

Here are the earwigs in their new ‘packaging’. The vials are partially opened so that the earwigs can breathe (don’t worry, they should not open, we wouldn’t risk letting the earwigs free anywhere near the dorm). Photo taken by Sonja Larson.

Once we finally arrived back at our dorms, we headed up to the lab at Spring Street International School and brought out containers to do some entertaining behavioral experiments on the earwigs. 

After filling the plastic containers with sand, we put various shelters made of red-tinted plastic into the containers. We then placed female earwigs into the containers to observe their reactions to the new environment.

An earwig running around and investigating the scary environment of the Tupperware and its various contraptions. Photo by Colette.

Thereupon a couple of uneventful trials, we figured out new ways to tweak the experiment to make it more eventful and relevant for finding out anything other than the fact that the earwigs did not want to be in the containers. We covered some of the shelters in sand while others were uncovered, and brought the earwigs outside to where they would be exposed to more light. Exposing the earwigs to more light seemed to make them more eager to find shelter.

After finishing up our very interesting work with the earwigs, we were set free to our exploration time. A few of us returned to Friday Harbor Labs to work on their projects a bit more, while other people took time to relax or walk around town. 

Later, we all regrouped for a couple quick games of ‘ Heads Up!’ and a filling dinner of chili and rice. I really like chili so I think it was a very good meal (the dinner crew did very well). Since we didn’t have a speaker tonight, we were open to split up after dinner. Some of us played basketball, while others of us spent time relaxing or working on our projects.

After such a packed day, we can’t help but be a bit tired, and I know that none of us can forget the very overwhelming scent of False Bay. Even with all that, I think it’s clear that everyone is excited to keep on making progress with their independent projects. 

Today’s Blog: Kira, Andrea, and Abby

After spending last night celebrating the fourth of July, most of us were tired but eager to explore the intertidal zone at the Friday Harbor Laboratory. Although the weather was cool and breezy all of us headed straight into our separate tidepools where we would test for dissolved oxygen, salinity, pH levels, alkalinity and measure temperature with Connie Sullivan, a specialist in environmental toxicology, who works for Ross Strategic, an environmental consulting firm in Seattle. Our findings showed that different tidepools with different abiotic factors had distinct characteristics which was expected if the tidepools differed in exposure and shallowness. We left the labs feeling accomplished and having gathered so much data!

For lunch most of us had left over hot dogs from last night, while others of us had sandwiches along with some delicious lemonade. We enjoyed some potato chips and talked about our siblings. There were stories shared about siblings shoving beans up their nose, other siblings shoving polly pocket shoes up their nose and even hiding food in their diapers. It was very interesting to see how many of us have siblings who loved hiding things as kids!

After lunch we headed up to our lab to join a zoom call with Dr. Cindy Elliser. Dr Elliser is the founder of the non-profit Pacific Mammal Research or PacMam, which strives to research, understand and protect the mammals in the Salish Sea through outreach, research and education. She led us through an engaging presentation on how to identify all the pinnipeds, mysticetes and odontocetes. 

We have been insanely lucky during our time here and have gotten to see many of the marine mammals we learned about today. One of those mammals happens to be the harbor porpoise. The harbor porpoises are often overshadowed by the orcas, but are equally fascinating. We learned how hard the porpoises are to spot and research. Dr. Elliser showed us how these porpoises demonstrate different behaviors and how to identify whether a porpoise was socializing, hunting, or just traveling. Then we  received some data sheets that would allow us to survey these behaviors and contribute to this research!

After our time in the lab, we all collected at the table with Caroline to reflect on our eventful canoe trip. We had a great time discussing the highlights of our different trips, we also laughed about the less fun experiences like the wind and the racoons! 

Our afternoon was laid-back and relaxing. After we reflected on our trip, we all split into different directions; some went to town, others called family, and a few took naps. As of July 1st, we all have the run of the town! We were delighted to hear earlier in the week that many of Friday Harbor’s COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted. Some of our favorite spots in town include the docks, King’s Market, and the Friday Harbor Ice Cream Company (of course). 

This evening, we all sat down for a delicious dinner of baked potatoes with Dr. Vik Iyengar, the #1 earwig enthusiast on San Juan Island. After dinner, we sat down in the common living room as Dr. Iyengar showed us a presentation on Sexual Selection and Sociality in earwigs. The presentation was very descriptive, and he had us in a trance! Our questions were endless and Tim eventually had to limit our inquiries.

Our day today was, yet again, fun & interesting. We’re all so happy to have a bit of freedom in the town, and all of the scientists we met today were so inspiring. Stay tuned for more adventures!!

Today’s (short!) update is brought to you by Sara and Miranda after (what felt like) a long day of hiking to the top of Young Hill, a part of English Camp, one of two National Historical Parks on San Juan Island, and waiting for the other half of the group to return from their canoe voyage. After spending the morning working on project development and turning in research proposals, we headed out to English Camp.

Upon arriving at English Camp, Science Director, Tim gave the students a brief history of English modifications to the area including houses, gardens, and introduced species. Making the trek along the North end of the island, we headed West afterwards up Young Hill. Read here to learn more about historical and current day Lummi experiences.

Students spotted Douglas Firs (which are actually pines), Madrona trees, and one bald eagle! 

In the evening, our second Kaigani Canoe voyage group joined us once again at the dorms where we gathered for a meal of leftovers!

Today’s blog was written by Naomi Scott, Elliott Jones, Estevan Torres, Islay Ross, Colette Bennett, and Abby Cooper.

Dry bags packed, bellies full of bagels, and water shoes strapped, we prepared for our canoe journey to Turn Island, a Washington Marine State Park part of the San Juan Islands National Wildlife Refuge with Kaigani Canoe Voyaging.

Introductions and Islands

Upon arrival, we were introduced to Matt Wickey, the founder of Kaigani Canoe Voyaging society, a company bringing traditional canoe sailing methods to the Salish Sea. We also met his team (Rob, Dani, and Jen), and the canoes we would be traveling in, Hoku’ula and Kaigani. 

Matt is the leader and founder of Kaigani Canoe Voyaging. He’s a wildlife biologist who’s spent a large portion of his life in Hawaii and has recently moved to the San Juans. His time in Hawaii immersing himself in Hawaiian culture is his inspiration for bringing traditional Hawaiian canoes to the islands here. He’s a strong believer in sharing indigenous cultures with people from all over, which he hopes to convey through these experiences.

Soon we were able to get in the canoes and on the water. Colette, pictured below, was chosen to ride on Hoku’ula’s trampoline! We learned to row in sync and listened to Matt’s Hawaiian chant to bless our trip.

Rowing across the San Juan Channel was just as exciting as it was challenging. We were all happy to see land by the time we hauled our canoes up onto the rocky beaches of Turn Island. Once we set up our tents for the evening we were given a few hours to explore the island.

Oysters and Onions

After a long day of paddling and hanging out in the sun, we were pretty hungry, so we set up our camp stove and started to chop up zucchinis, sweet potatoes, onions, tomatoes, and chicken to make a really delicious chicken and veggie marsala.

Eating dinner. Picture: Islay Ross

While some of us prepared food for the stove, others of us searched for oysters. We carefully and successfully shucked over eighteen fresh oysters from the rocks around our camp. Some were enjoyed raw directly after being opened while others were cooked in the leftover marsala pan. Those of us who wished to feast on the shellfish!

Sunsets and Sleeping outside

Once we were bundled up in pajamas and full of warm, sweet apple crisp, we watched the sky turn pink and orange.

Enjoying apples and the sunset. Pictures: Naomi Scott, Islay Ross, Estevan Torres

Headlamps lit and bellies full we went hiking a bit after dinner to go find a rock to climb. The night involved a lot of scaring each other, tripping over roots, and carrying sticks to fend off any raccoons we may have come across. After we made it back to the campsite we settled down either in our tents or on the beach to sleep. 

Morning Visitors

Waking up on the beach that morning was oh, so special. The sound of the water lapping against the rocky pebbled beach was soothing as each of us woke up to the sounds of nature—something not often experienced by those of us who live in the city.

Suddenly, to the north, we spotted orcas. There were two: probably the mother and calf transient whales that have been spotted recently in the area. We watched for about a half-hour as the pair surfaced and resurfaced not far off the coast between San Juan and Shaw Island. Sometime before they disappeared, going south and out of sight, the two whales appeared to be playing as they splashed around their flukes. Nobody will forget that truly incredible moment on this adventure.

After a quick lunch, Matt and Dani explained to us the wonders of medicinal plants. A few of us really took to this idea and started planning out imaginary gardens in our heads. We learned that with a familiarity with the land, you can easily and safely take care of most ailments. 

By this point in the afternoon, we were feeling the effects of the sun. Thankfully Matt and his team had brought all of the ingredients necessary to make organic, chemical-free sunscreen right on the beach. We melted beeswax, zinc oxide, cocoa butter, and comfrey essences together to protect us. 

After we were thoroughly covered in sunscreen, we boarded our canoes and got ready for the paddle back to Friday Harbor. When we got back to San Juan Island some of us swam with the canoes!

Arriving Home

We were told before we left that we weren’t allowed to tell the other group anything about what we had done because each trip is unique. They might not see things that we did, so we kept silent and talked about the few things we could, which wasn’t much.

We told the other group a few things about what we had done. They told us about what they had found and their day and a half without us. They told us about how they had gone on a scavenger hunt and how they went to the whale museum which we got to experience today. Unfortunately, we did not get to see the wild Salish Sea Platypuses the other group ran into while we were gone! 

We are looking forward to another night of bonding and brownies!

Hello everyone! Today’s blog comes from Ana, Andrea, Maddy, Sonja, Meg, Hebaq, Dustin, and Kira.

Today was a little different for everyone. We woke up at our normal time and Morgan told us that we were finally allowed to go into town! We celebrated this by going out and buying coffee from a local shop. Some of us even explored the grocery store. Afterwards, we had a sad goodbye with Group 1 who left for an overnight canoe trip with Kaigani Canoe Voyaging. We think they’ll have a great and safe trip with Matt Wickey (the boating guide) and his crew! The remainder of us had time to work on our independent projects until lunch. 

After lunch, we headed to the Friday Harbor Whale Museum where we received a very informational tour. We learned all about the different species of marine mammals and their importance to the San Juan area and to the Native American Coast Salish peoples. We then had the chance to look around at fun exhibits like the whale brain, whale calls, and beautiful stained glass of whale species. 

Later, Tim handed us packets with historical pictures of the Friday Harbor Town. He told us to find each building and attempt to replicate the picture we saw. We only had an hour and a half, so we split off into groups and started to explore! The scavenger hunt was really fun, and both groups stopped in different shops along the way…to look for historical sites of course. Ana’s team won!

After we found all the images, we headed back and made a delicious dinner for our smaller-than-average sized group. We chatted about finances over our meal, which was a little surprising but overall pretty interesting. We washed the dishes and then started to sing/ shriek karaoke in the living room. We plan to have a movie night and eat plenty of ice cream!!