By Kika Dunayevich, and Gray Rager
We had a leisurely morning today, waking up to a breakfast of cereal, oatmeal, and locally picked wild Himalayan blackberries that were the product of much pain and sacrificial flesh donated to the brambles. We listened to a tragic but riveting lecture by Miranda, who detailed the havoc seastar wasting disease (SWD) is wreaking on the Salish Sea’s localized ecosystem. Subsequently, we were motivated to take action to protect the lovely echinoderms and proceeded to work on our new website, pisaster.org! We analyzed several potential templates for the website and tentatively began to assign titles to our organization’s members. Miranda talked about a localized outbreak of seastar wasting disease she observed on Rosario beach, located on Orcas Island. The intertidal was littered with sea stars dappled with white, oozing lesions – there were piles of goo littered about the beach where their unfortunate cousins had dissolved into white mush.
After finishing our discussion and project work for Pisaster.org we had a rag-tag lunch made up of grilled cheese, quesadilla, nutella sandwiches, and many salads. After lunch, we prepared for our trip to False Bay Creek; our objective was to try and get photographic evidence of salmon and trout populations that had yet to be documented. We departed for False Bay Creek targeting low tide, only to realize that the lack of water had unearthed sulfuric fumes and black muck that reeked of raw sewage. We noted some interesting wildlife (Kika discovered a Lionsmane jellyfish), and continued up the creek. After several attempts that inevitably coated us in fermenting mulch, we gave up our endeavor and departed for Zylstra lake. We walked leisurely around the preserve, debating the merits of a logic-puzzling riddle proposed by Joey. Madelyn discovered a dead juvenile fish, which Kika gleefully seized, delighting in poking and prodding its bloated dead body.
Kika takes her new pet on a walk (photo by Miranda).
Meanwhile, Madelyn was having her own adventure in the murky waters of the algae-riddled lake. Attempting to film local salmon populations and assisted by Joey, who was equipped with a waterproof Gopro camera, Madelyn waded up to her waist into the muck and sacrificed a three-day-old shirt to the escapade. Alas, it was all for naught, as we failed to catch any footage of larval fish. Miranda, who was suffering from a terrible bout of carsickness, didn’t participate in our shenanigans.
Joey prepares to do ritual combat with a fish (photo by Miranda).
Our return to Spring Street was met with the announcement of our first guest: Timothy Dwyer, a marine biologist, avid SCUBA diver, and professor at Friday Harbor High School. We sat down to a meal consisting of flavorful minestrone soup and pasta salad. Tim proceeded to give a fascinating presentation detailing his expedition to Antarctica, punctuated with stunning photos of pristine arctic waters.
Maddy encourages Tom and Joey to maintain focus (photo by Sara).