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.