The first thing we did today was to begin looking at the final result of our research projects. We examined many posters from past years and evaluated their strengths and weaknesses. We ended up making a list of all of the things that we had to avoid as well as parts that we did want to include.
Today was the 4th of July so we were privileged to watch the parade. It was a great experience to learn about all the organizations active on the island like the Suroptomists, Wolf Hollow Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, and the Lions Club. There were also many fun floats that were assembled by determined community members.
After the parade, we all went to the pig war picnic. The Pig War is a historical event that occurred on San Juan Island in the late 1850s where tensions between settlers due to a border dispute culminated in an American settler shooting a British settler’s pig. As the situation continued to escalate the British and American armies were called to the island where they set up camp on different sides of the island. However, due to negotiations, no blood was ever spilled, and the only casualty of the pig war was the initial pig.
Next, we headed down to Jackson Beach for some fun in the sun. We lounged around the beach, took a few freezing dips in the water, and played volleyball in the blazingly hot sand pit.
Photo by Nina
Finally, we went down to the docks to watch the fireworks. Although we discussed the negative environmental effects of such a display (air and noise pollution), we all agreed it was a fabulous show.
Last night, Dr. Amy Cook graciously came over to join us for dinner and to give an informative lecture. In her lecture, she highlighted the importance of the scientific method and taught us how to apply strong inference or the hypothetico-deductive method. This method is a way to avoid falling into various biases in your scientific experiments like anchoring or IKEA bias. Despite the topic being less interesting than those on living organisms, the knowledge of applying strong inference is vital to successful research and will follow us for the remainder of our lives. She has a beautiful website that you can visit here: https://www.evergreen.edu/directory/amy-cook
Cattle Point with Dr. Amy Cook:
We started the day with a trip to Cattle Point where we met up with Dr. Amy Cook and took part in an exercise on pattern recognition and strong inference from our lecture with Dr. Cook the night before. Dr. Cook was very helpful and engaging with our ideas and encouraged further exploration of our interests. We all split into groups and made our way down to the beach, looking for ideas of patterns and relating hypotheses. Most of the groups wandered into the rocky intertidal zone and came up with very detailed hypotheses relating to the patterns they found. Caleb found a fully grown male red rock crab with a missing pincer in one of the deeper tide pools on the beach. We also ran into a family of five red foxes who made working around them very interesting.
This Henricia Leviusica (Blood Star) was picked up and checked out by Caleb, who also took this photo.
The Foxes at Cattle Point:
During our stay at Cattle Point, we were approached by a lone red fox along the coast. It seemed very comfortable around humans, likely due to associating humans with food, and got within a few feet of a couple of individuals. Suddenly, out of nowhere, another two red foxes descend gracefully from the cliffside, joining the lone fox. They run around the intertidal zone, playing and tackling each other until another pair of red foxes appear from the bushes, bringing the total count of foxes frolicking around to five. While watching the group of foxes, we wondered why a group of five foxes would travel together, as they are not known as pack animals. Our resident animal behavior specialist, Dr. Amy Cook, hypothesized that either it was a mating pair and their three pups or a mother-daughter pair co-raising their pups together. Alas, the truth will elude us as the red foxes escape back into the woods to live out their lives in peace.
The Fox family is up to no good. While the littlest kit one gets a bath from one of the adults. The other two kits start a game of tag. While the other adult pays no attention. Photo taken by Katie. The adults have a little chat in the fox world. Photo taken by Katie
Garry Oak Restoration:
After a quick lunch of sandwiches at the dorms, we headed out to the island’s northwest side to help restore Garry Oaks in a protected forest. Why do we need to help these trees, and why are they important, you ask? Garry Oaks are an integral part of the San Juan ecosystem. This is because many other types of creatures rely on them for different phases of their life, and if we get rid of Garry Oaks, we destroy the habitats of hundreds of creatures in those forests. We spent a couple of hours using chicken fence to create a cage for Garry Oaks that would help protect them from deer. Caleb and Sid spent time hammering in rebar to keep the cages in place, and the rest of our group was very helpful with identifying Garry Oak saplings, making the cages, and placing them on the rebar. We learned much about forest ecology from Ben Halloway, a San Juan Land Steward who oversaw our restoration work. He talked about the thinning and self-thinning of trees and how we must cut down trees to help others grow. Riley gave us a great analogy- if there are too many straws in one cup, none of them get enough water.
Photo from https://ohgarryoaksociety.org/garry-oaks-seedlings/Caleb took a quick break from destroying a fallen tree with a hammer. Photo taken by Morgan.
FHL Seminar:
For the final learning lesson of the night, we went to the Friday Harbor labs. There we sat in on a lecture about turbulence and how it affects microscopic organisms which was presented by Dr. Mimi Koehl. The whole presentation was about a type of sea slug and how they get to the right parts of the reef. The theory was focused on the odors that the corals produce that attract the sea slug larvae to swim out the sea current to get to the coral reefs. We learned that Dr. Koehl’s team discovered that sea slugs aren’t fully attracted to the reef by the odor of the corals but by the idea of environmental cues causing an on-off effect. You can vist Dr. Koehls website for more information on her research: https://ib.berkeley.edu/people/faculty/koehlm
Blog was re-written and added links to the mentioned scientists websites on July 7th, 2024
Written by Katie Chin, Sam Feit, Max Liu, Scarlett Thornton
False Bay, SJI (Taken by Scarlett Thornton)
We started off the day with an early morning to False Bay to catch the low tide. Despite the perilous sinking sands, we managed to traverse the soft sediment environment. With the guidance of our courageous scientific director Adam, we set off to find lugworms, important detritivores who digest sand, ridding it of bacteria and other organic matter. In order to find these worms, we searched for their spiral-shaped fecal casings and dug underneath. Using quadrats, we determined the density of the worms and their casings.
We met future doctor Frankie Hedge, who is surveying sediment density to inform her study on blood worm density and preferred conditions.
From left to right: Gretchen, Caleb, Scarlett (Taken by Nina Johnson)Adam!! (Taken by Scarlett Thornton)
The next part of our day, after a sandwich lunch, was the Friday Harbor Lab Preserve tour. Guided by the most knowledgeable Justin Santiago, we took a fascinating nature hike through the preserve, learning about the incredible Douglas Firs and snacking on some salmonberries. As we walked, the incessant but interesting sounds of different birds filled the soundscape, many of which were identified by bird expert Justin. We learned about interesting indigenous practices for maintaining a healthy forest, as well as the scientists’ goals for the forest in the future. The hike was a rare terrestrial exploration for us marine folk, but both terrestrial and aquatic environments affect each other.
Friday Harbor Lab (Taken by Sam Feit)
Lastly, we visited the Friday Harbor Labs to purchase some FHL merchandise.
From left to right: Max, Caleb, and Katie at the bottom (Taken by Sam Feit)
This evening we are looking forward to welcoming Dr. Amy Cook for dinner and a presentation. She studies animal behavior and conservation biology, among other things.
Kindly recounted by: Finlee Rice, Tatum Bunting, and Caleb Zulauf
We all rolled out of bed this morning, feeling refreshed from the night of rest following our kayaking trip. SOME ate breakfast while others slept in as we waited for the first post-sea-kayaking meeting with a scientist. Dr. Becca Guenther an accomplished scientist, professor, artist, and overqualified hot tub fixer upper with a Ph.D in Coraline Algae, gave an insightful lecture touching on the life cycles of algae, their uses, what qualifies an algae, and the polyphyletic nature of algae. She also made it amply clear that algae is already plural, and that “algaes” is grammatically incorrect.
From closest to farthest, Caleb, Gretchen, and Ben lay down and measure up against a collected bull kelp on the Friday Harbor Labs docks, as Nina (far left) walks by with Scarlett (to Ninas right) who feeds ben some seaweed. (photo credits go to Tyler)
Once our interest in seaweeds and algae was appropriately piqued, we ventured back to the increasingly familiar Friday Harbor Labs. Armed with buckets and shovels, we spread out along the docks to collect algae and seaweed samples for pressings. Tires, leveraged onto the dock with the ends of shovels, proved treasure troves for interesting specimens of seaweed (and a few well-dressed kelp crabs, sea squirts, and sponges). After a few water fights with rockweed vesicles and a bull kelp horn solo (courtesy of Sid), we lugged our overflowing buckets back to Spring Street.
Dried and flattened seaweed, collected by Dr. Guenther (All further photos by Caleb)
Once back at the science rooms, we started by setting up our seaweed presses in which we carefully arranged different seaweeds. Some of us made pictures while others simply arranged them in a pattern. From there we layered them between cardboard and blotting paper and placed them in a press. In a few days we are going to remove our pieces of art and observe how they have changed with time and pressure. After clamping our press down we got going on making cyanotypes. We took previously pressed and dried algae and placed them on photoreactive pieces of paper, left them in the sun to photoreact, and finally washed them in water and a diluted H₂O₂ solution and let them dry. All this work resulted in vibrant blue backgrounds with the white negative space of algal specimens.
Cyanotype after being exposed to the sun but before being washed.Cyanotype post wash.Dinner crew requested to be put in the blog during its making, so here they are making vegetarian meatballs for our guest (Dr. Sandy Wyllie Echeverria (check out some of his incredible work about eelgrass here)) as well as all the students and staff. Listed left to right is Sid, Gretchen, Ian, Morgan, and Tom.
We paddled out to Stuart Island for a four day camping trip.
Taken by Scarlett Thornton
Caleb and Nina on the dock at Stuart Island.
06/28: Hike to Turn Point
Taken by Scarlett Thornton
— Taken by Guide Gretchen
Group hike up to Turn Point Lighthouse on Stuart Island
Taken by Scarlett Thornton
Lunch at Turn Point Lighthouse
06/29: Day kayak trip or hike
— Taken by Soren Hecimovich
Some of the group took a day paddle along Stuart Island to explore the waters and marine life including Porifera and harbor seals.
06/30: Kayaking back
The group kayaked across the channel between Stuart Island and San Juan Island early to avoid bad winds coming in. We left at 8:30 and arrived at Friday Harbor around 11:30. Afterwards, the group crashed out at the dorms and watched “The Boys in the Boat” and various other television programs.
One of the first activities we partook in was a field trip to the Whale Museum. There we learned about baleen, the precarious situation of the San Juan resident orca whales, and more. It was a great experience to kick off the program.
Photo by Finlee
A photo of Adam. One of the amazing science directors for Salish Seas. He has a wide range of knowledge and is always ready to answer all of our questions! In this photo, he is posing underneath a whale skeleton in the whale museum.
Taken by Finlee
A picture of Caleb holding a sea cucumber, one of the many creatures featured on the intertidal bingo. One of the best parts of this trip was the opportunity to see creatures that many of us had never seen before.
Taken by Finlee
After we went to the whale museum, we drove to Dead Man Cove. We went to the intertidal zone where we played intertidal bingo where we tried to find everything from cnidarians to kelp crabs.
Taken by Morgan
This is a photo of some of the girls and boys taking a very cold and daring dip into the ocean after dinner to cool off and have fun
Day 3, June 25th
Picture taken by Morgan
On our second full day, we travelled to Cattle Point Beach. The water was calm and the sun was shining at full force. We were ready to search for and ID crab moults!
Picture taken by Morgan
This photo of the slime of the students having fun eating lunch and chilling out while conducting some research at the tide pools on the west side of the island yesterday.
Picture taken by Soren
This picture was taken of a plumose anemone at the beach directly below the lighthouse. While we were searching for crab moults we also found several other creatures like sea stars and anemones!
We also met with Professor Billie Swalla over dinner where she talked about her work with evolutionary biology and what she did in that field. You can check out her biography here:
After our now-daily morning walk, the group headed back to the Whale Museum. Under the guidance of marine mammal extraordinaire Tracie, we assembled the skeleton of a steller sea lion and attempted to determine the cause of death. Finlee was correct with the diagnosis of blunt force trauma from orcas! We also discovered that the sea lion had been shot in the mouth, but the injury was not fatal, as there was evidence of healing and wear on the damaged tooth.
Picture taken by Soren
We returned to the dorms to discuss and prepare for the upcoming four-day kayaking trip and then promptly departed to catch low tide at Deadman’s Bay. At the beach, we formed human chains to bail out a waist-deep tidepool for (future doctor) Meg Vandenberg, hoping to find armoured poachers. (https://cascadiaresearch.org/intern/meg-vandenberg/). Although we didn’t find the armoured fish, we did catch a variety of gunnels which were transported back to Friday Harbor Labs, identified, and sorted by species.
Picture taken by Katie
Picture by Morgan
Of the students participating in the tide pool draining, none worked harder than Finlee, Tatum, and Soren, catching the slippery Gunnels.
Picture by Morgan
We worked hard to empty the water of the tide pools to find gunnels and other fish. It was hard work, but it was a great bonding experience!
A highlight of our time at the beach was the orcas passing by. We even spotted a playful juvenile breaching!
Picture taken by Katie
In the evening, we ventured back to the labs to attend a seminar by Dr. Spencer Fire about harmful algal blooms and their effects on marine mammals. We learned about three major biotoxins– domoic acid, brevetoxin, and saxitoxin– and the symptoms exhibited by marine mammals like sea lions after acute exposure. These include reproductive failure and a loss of fear of humans.(https://firelabfit.weebly.com/)
The night before, the brilliant Dr. Billie Swalla, an evolution and development researcher and professor at the University of Washington, came for dinner and talked to us about her specialty, ascidians, and their genome. We also learned about chordates, and how evolution has changed their body shapes. She showed us a species chart that showed how most species had tails while there were only a couple of species with no tails. We got to walk through her lab the next day during our tour of Friday Harbor Labs. When we were walking through her students were adding their newest catches to the tanks. On our walk through we got to see crabs, barnacles, worms, and jellyfish. We are very grateful to Dr. Swalla for allowing us to peer into her lab and research. If you wish to find out more about her research you can access her website here: https://www.biology.washington.edu/people/profile/billie-j-swalla
Jackson Beach:
Last night, our group of upcoming scientists made a trip to Jackson Beach at night time. A couple of brave individuals entered the freezing ocean and jumped in for a while. Afterward, we all grabbed a volleyball and set up a court in the sand. Unfortunately, one team was severely outmatched skills-wise and began losing horrifically. Luckily, in a genius maneuver, the losing team performed a human pyramid to raise morale and demoralize the other team. The day ended with a clear victory as the comeback never materialized and a successful trip to Jackson’s Beach. HOWEVER, our journey wasn’t over yet as we began the next day exploring the expansive island.
Image taken by Cassandra
Research Project Talk:
To start the 3rd day of learning we got a lecture about our projects. Adam and Riley gave the time frame for how our projects are going to work in the next 4 weeks. The first week was mainly about getting out in the field and exploring. Then week 2 is about brainstorming and ideas for projects that can be used. Week 3 is about meeting with our mentors and getting data. Finally, week 4 is about getting more data and making our posters. They also told us how we could get our materials and how our projects would work. After their talk, Caroline came in to discuss charts and maps. We learned how people can rely on maps and figure out what’s happening with our planets.
Cattle Point with Dr. Dobkowski:
After the talk about our research projects, we headed out to Cattle Point located on the southern end of the island. We met up with Dr. Katie Dobkowski and her mentees: Lucy and Francisco, to provide help on their project. Dr. Dobkowski is a professor at Evergreen University in Olympia, Washington, and has done many research projects relating to seaweed in subtidal and intertidal communities on the West Coast. Their project was focused on crab molts and the different types of crabs around the beach. We mostly found Red Rock Crab molts on the first part of Cattle Points Beach, and around the corner of the beach, we found more Native Shore Crab molts. It was very tricky to find the actual molts, but it was tons of fun even with the sun and heat and the steep climb up to the vans. More about Dr. Dobkowski’s research here: Website
– Image taken by Morgan
Lab 1 with Dr. Hodin:
We headed to Lab 1, the Seastar lab, where we met Dr. Jason Hodin and his mentees: Venessa and Chloe. Dr. Hodin is a professor and a senior research scientist at the University of Washington. They explained their work with sunflower stars (Pycnopodia helianthoides) and wasting disease. Venessa and Chloe led us over to the seastar tanks, where they demonstrated how they feed the stars. They answered our many questions, especially about wasting disease and how it’s taking out sunflower star populations, along with their conservation efforts to save the stars. More on Dr. Jason Hodin here: Website
– Photo taken by Morgan
Exploring the rest of FHL (Friday Harbor Labs):
After exploring the Seastar Lab we were graciously led around the Friday Harbor Labs by Dr. Michelle Herko, the program director at Friday Harbor Labs. She brought us through the main building and shared the history of the establishment and how she got into working at the Friday Harbor Labs. Then, she brought us around the lab and showed us the various equipment and organisms researched. In one of the sections, there was an area for numerous invertebrates of all sizes and ages, like a large, squishy sea anemone in the lab longer than Dr. Herko worked there! Overall, the FHL was fascinating and led by incredible scientists, and I would love to visit again. More Information on Dr. Michelle Herko here: Website
Blog was edited for clarity, to add more information, and adding new pictures on July 7th, 2024
Mr. Beast: Wassup OGs? Mr. Beast here with our first daily report on the totally awesome Salish Sea Sciences summer bonanza!
[Cut to footage of people meeting at the airport, with lively music in the background]
Mr. Beast: To start, yesterday was epic! A few of the betas met up with Caroline and Tom at the airport, cruising through Seattle to pick up our studious Alpha and glorious Sigma,
[Camera zooms out to Mr. Beast with a big smile]
Mr. Beast: If you want free Beast Bars, stay tuned for more epic adventures by smashing that like button and subscribing! The top comment on this video will get a free shipping of Beast Bars, FOR FREE!
[Clip of the group laughing and buying onions at a produce market]
Mr. Beast: On the way to Anacortes, they made a pit stop at a produce market where Sigma and Alpha bonded over the hilarious challenge of eating raw onions like apples. Crazy, right?
[Footage of the group boarding a Washington State Ferry, with views of the water]
Mr. Beast: In Anacortes, we met up with more students, including our legendary Zeta. Then we all took a Washington State Ferry to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. On the ferry, Alpha and Sigma took their bond to the next level with a poker game, while Zeta watched patiently.
[Clip of the reunion at Friday Harbor, with hugs and cheers]
Mr. Beast: At Friday Harbor, Alpha, Zeta, and Sigma reunited with our long-lost brethren, the illustrious Kappa. It was like a scene from an epic movie!
[Footage of a pizza dinner with everyone having fun and eating]
Mr. Beast: Once settled, Alpha, Zeta, Kappa, and Sigma joined the betas for a pizza dinner, cooked by the amazing Tom and Cassandra. The dish? Pizza with a salad bar. Absolutely goated meal, guys!
Mr Beast: So, after we finished dinner and made some quick calls home, we decided to hit up the dorm’s backyard and started tossing around a frisbee.
Photo by Cassandra
[Cut to: Footage of everyone casually tossing a frisbee]
Mr. Beast: It started off casual, but then it turned into an EPIC game of ultimate frisbee!
Photo by Cassandra
[Cut to: People laying out endzones with shoes and running around in their socks]
[Cut to: Fast-paced action shots of the game]
Mr. Beast: Things got intense REAL QUICK! One team SMASHED it with four back-to-back points, totally dominating.
[Close-up of team 1 celebrating]
Mr. Beast: But wait! Team 2 wasn’t done yet—they finally got their first point on the board!
[Cut to: Team 2 celebrating their first point]
Mr. Beast: Just when they thought they were back in the game, team 1 came back STRONG!
[Cut to: More intense gameplay, focus on Alpha]
Photo by Cassandra
Mr. Beast: Then, out of NOWHERE, our super-studious Alpha switched sides! The game got even crazier with a few more tense points.
[Cut to: Close-up of the scoreboard tied, crowd looking tense]
Mr. Beast: It all came down to the ultimate point: LAST SCORE WINS EVERYTHING!
[Cut to: Slow-motion shot of Alpha grabbing the disc]
Mr. Beast: In a matter of SECONDS, Alpha grabbed the disc and LAUNCHED it across the field.
[Dramatic music builds up]
Mr. Beast: It was like a scene from a movie, guys. The disc SOARED and landed PERFECTLY in the hands of a beta teammate!
[Cut to: Teammate catching the disc, everyone cheering]
Mr. Beast: GAME OVER, just like that!
[Cut to: Everyone heading inside, high-fiving and laughing]
Mr. Beast: After the game, we all headed inside, totally exhausted but PUMPED, and crashed into our beds. Time to recharge for tomorrow’s epic adventures!
[Closing shot: Dorm lights turning off, screen fades to black]
Mr. Beast: Remember, every day’s a new chance for something AWESOME. See you in the morning!
Mr. Beast: Rise and shine guys! This morning we were presented with an exhilarating challenge: a town scavenger hunt! And you know what that means… It’s time to assemble one of the most extraordinary teams of all time: Alpha Zeta Kappa Sigma! This team is composed of our studious Alpha, the legendary Zeta, the illustrious Kappa, and the glorious Sigma. Words cannot describe the glory of this team, but I’ll attempt it. These guys had that dog in them.
Photo by Max
[Cut to footage of the group running amok in Friday Harbor]
Mr. Beast: They wound through the beautiful seaside town of Friday Harbor with remarkable grace and style, like a pack of alpha wolves. Our mission? Take selfies at specific points around town. And guess what? We racked up the 2nd most points! But in our hearts, we were first. Everyone who witnessed this knew it: this was the birth of a superteam.
So, drop a comment down below about your favorite town location and smash that like button! Let’s go!
Mr. Beast: We continued the day with a next-level museum tour! Tracie, our guide, dropped some serious knowledge bombs about killer whales in this area. We even checked out a mind-blowing skeleton of conjoined harbor seal twins—crazy rare stuff!
[Cut to footage of Tracie explaining about killer whales, interspersed with shots of Mr. Beast and the crew listening intently]
Mr. Beast: But hold up, it’s not all good news. We uncovered another way humans are impacting marine life: toxins in killer whale bodies. This is a wake-up call, and we’re here to spread awareness.
[Cut to serious shots of Mr. Beast looking concerned, overlayed with images of polluted waters and wildlife affected by toxins]
Image by Katie, with special thanks to Mr. Beast
Mr. Beast: The next step in our journey was to hop back into the vans and mosey on down to eat our lunches. With the quick work of Legendary Zeta, we were able to discover that 99.99% of Adam’s playlist is made up of unknown tracks. Meanwhile, Alpha and Sigma had an enlightening discussion on the Top 3 Most Important Inventions of All Time (new video dropping soon!!), which were penicillin, the wheel, and selective breeding! Drop your predictions: will Adam’s songs be hidden gems or wacky tunes, and what do you think is the greatest invention of all time? Top 3 beta comments will win a free 1000 pack of Beast Bars, and tag 3 friends to raise the stakes!
[Cut to upbeat music as Mr. Beast and the crew get ready to listen to Adam’s playlist, with a text overlay: “What will we discover?”]
[Opening shot: Wide view of a dorm’s backyard, dusk settling in]
Mr. Beast (excited): What’s up, guys! After dinner and some quick calls home, we all hit up the dorm’s backyard and started tossing around a frisbee.
Photo by Scarlett
Mr. Beast: Hey guys, another Day 2 adventure is going to be epic, led by Adam and Riley. We’ve taken a trip to the intertidal pools, where we’re diving deep into the world of marine life. But first, we’re going to do something a little different. We’re going to observe the environment and jot down 10 biotic and 10 abiotic factors. Let’s scan the area and see what we can find!
[Cut to footage of Mr. Beast and the crew exploring the intertidal pools, taking notes and pointing out different factors]
Mr. Beast: Alright, we’ve got some people that saw seaweed, hermit crabs, barnacles—those are some biotic factors. Rocks, water, temperature—those are abiotic. It’s like a natural checklist!
[Cut to close-up shots of the biotic and abiotic factors they’ve identified, with labels popping up on screen]
Mr. Beast: Now that we’ve got a good grasp of the environment, it’s time for the fun part. We’re playing Intertidal Bingo! You all need to get Bingo by finding the most epic creatures and features we can find in these pools.
[Cut to shots of the Wolf Pack amongst betas holding up their bingo cards, excitedly discussing their strategies]
Mr. Beast: The goal is to find these items and mark them off our bingo cards. Whoever completes their card first wins an awesome prize!
[Cut to montage of Mr. Beast and the crew searching the intertidal pools, laughing and shouting as they discover different creatures]
Mr. Beast: Oh, check this out! We’ve got a sea star, a Gumboot Chiton, and even a sea anemone. These are some serious contenders for our bingo boards!
[Cut to footage of crew members marking off items on their bingo cards, getting closer to completing them]
Mr. Beast: It’s getting intense, folks! Who’s going to find that last elusive creature and claim victory? Drop your guesses in the comments below! Hint: likely not one of the betas…
[Cut to dramatic music as the crew continues their search, showing close-ups of the remaining items on their bingo cards]
Mr. Beast: That’s it for today’s adventure at the intertidal pools. Thanks for joining us on this wild journey of discovery with Riley, Adam, the Wolf Gang, and betas. Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and hit that notification bell so you don’t miss out on our next epic expedition. See you next time!
Photo by Sam
[this blog post was written with the help of ChatGPT]
Welcome back to the S(l)a(y)lish Sea Sciences blog written by the amazing group of two: Una and Millie! This morning, a few of us stopped in town for coffee. We went to The Crow’s Nest! I ordered a pistachio rose latte, which I thought would be more floral-y and nutty but it wasn’t, and ended up just tasting like a latte. Props to the barista: she worked like a pro, making 4 different drinks all at once.
Crow’s Nest barista barista-ing. Photo creds to Millie!
After working on our projects for 30 minutes, we went to a local high school to finish up what we did yesterday: PCR for the Invasive Mussel Project! After working carefully to measure out PCR cocktails with micropipettes, letting our PCR tubes run through the thermocycler, and setting up our gel electrophoresis, we waited excitedly to see the results. We expected some cute glowing lines demonstrating gene sequence length that would allow us to determine the mussels’ species when compared to the DNA marker. Instead, we got nothing at all! Other than the important life lesson that science can be frustrating and disappointing, I guess. Sam Garson, who was directing us, guessed that the issue was something that unfortunately we do not remember.
Salish Sea Scientists are pros with micropipettes! Photo creds to Maya.Millie practicing scalpel precision in only the most scientific way.Cleo and Una in the lab, carefully investigating…something. Not sure what. Photo creds to Maya.
Our guest speakers, Sofia Denkovski and Erin Casellas from Soundwatch, came in at 3 o’clock and talked about Orcas! Specifically near the Salish Seas. They first talked about the different marine mammals in the Salish Seas, then went on to the scientific names of different whales, then talked about Orca identification. We did a fun game of Orca ID, identifying different orcas based on their saddle patches and dorsal fins. We learned that each saddle patch on an orca is like a fingerprint to a human–none of them share the same one.
After the informative presentation, Adam drove all of us down to South Beach. We watched the sunset, ate pie (the rhubarb pie was so good omg??), and climbed the cliffs and logs all while the wind blew in our faces, making us chilly. We took a lot of photos and watched the sky turn indigo. It was the perfect time to reminisce about our trip and all the memories we made, since this was our second to last day.
Rhubarb pie is the best pie.Riya doing ” 😛 “.
See you all tomorrow! I can’t believe this is almost over, time flies!
Our benevolent dictator, Adam, let us start the day with a late 8:00 AM wake-up. While the extra sleep was greatly appreciated, we all would have liked to sleep for another twelve hours.
After a quick breakfast, we gathered at the table with our notebooks and pens to reflect upon the kayak trip we had just returned from the day before. Caroline asked us three questions: 1) What did you learn from this experience? 2) What is an anecdote you want to hold onto? 3) How did you grow from this experience? As we all ponder these questions, Caroline explained that we are doing the reflection because moments are fleeting, and if you do not write them down, they fly away, never to be seen again.
Cleo, Riya, Caleb, Maya, Lizzy, Keelin, and William looking super tatted and buff
We all piled into the van for our first stop of the day, American Camp National Park. Once we arrived, we were quickly greeted by Emilio Santiago, a park ranger and archaeologist who has worked in several parks over the United States.
Emilio opened the visitor center and gave us a general explanation tour and history of the building. He explained that every plack had gone through all eight tribes that had historically inhabited the Salish Sea. He pointed out the Canoe paddles that had been hung on the wall and that each one had been carved by one of the eight tribes. He gestured towards a mural painted on the wall and told us about how the purple flowing was called Camis and has a humongous significance to the indigenous people of the area because its root was one of the staple foods. After a brief tour of the building, Emilio set the group free to roam around the visitor center.
After we stopped at the status of the pig who started the Pig War, a war between the English and the Americas started after an English pig was shot by American farmers because he had been eating all his crops. We held a quick photo shoot with the pig and then were off again.
all of us sitting on the pig
Emilio led us to a spot with a great view of the park and everything around it. There he motioned toward the burial ground where thirteen soldiers had been buried, casualties of the pig war. He told us how smallpox had devastated the indigenous people and how wooly dogs were used for their fur. Emilio was an endless fountain of knowledge and was happy to answer any questions we had. We were truly lucky to get to speak with such a knowledgeable guide.
Ooo la la Adam and Emilio
After the American Camp, some of us decided to climb some trees cause we just goofy like that!
monkeys part 1 ft. Cleorrr, Millarrrr, me (Riyarrrr), and Vilhelmmonkeys part 2 ft. Keelin and Maya
We then hopped into the van and headed to False Bay. On the way down to the beach, we saw many adorable puppies and stopped for a good ten minutes to pet all of them. We also saw a garter snake in the grass! It was super cute!!!!!!!!
heheheheheh
Although Millie was a little weirded out, haha! We all enjoyed lunch on the beach, and Stella, Sonja, and me (Riya) were crying and hoping someone would see how lonely we were……… :,((((
SORRY ADAM, WE STILL LOVE YOU
After that, you know what time it was: project grind time! Some of us goofballs also decided to dogpile on the couch.
teehee
I slammed my computer closed, the undeniable pressure of perfecting my proposal too much to bare. Luckily, there was light on the horizon: swimming in Egg Lake. Ever since I read the schedule the night before, I knew that this upcoming swim would be entirely and utterly life-altering. I suited up in my swimming suit and a new coat of greasy sunscreen, and we were off!
After a group car singalong performance of “Take Me Home, Country Roads” worthy of a Grammy, we stepped out of the van into the unpleasantly brisk air. I had never experienced such a chill (a low 70° 😨). Although I had my qualms about swimming and making myself even colder, Maya, Keelin, Una, and Cleorr jumped right in.
Look at that form!!
Eventually, I jumped in, with the support of my bff4lyfe Sonya, and found that 1) It wasn’t that cold, and 2) The seaweed at the bottom of the lake was, in fact, hairy.
After a solid hour of swimming and a toe in William’s mouth (thanks to Caleb), we returned to the dorms and took a much-needed break (trying to drown your friends is downright exhausting).
Super high-quality photo of us in the lake 😍
After an early dinner, we were off to our final event of the day: a talk given by Dr. Rachel Collin. The presentation detailed her research on tropical marine invertebrates, specifically sea urchins. Although the graphs may have hurt my head to look at, we were all completely invested.
Woah, how did this get here???
When the talk was over, a woman enthusiastically reminded us for the 4th time that there was an ice cream social after in the commons (I think she might have liked ice cream). The sundaes were the cherry on top of an already great day (haha, I’m so funny).
