Blog credits – Cynthia, Alice, Isla, and Addie

We had a slow start to our day, waking up to a hot breakfast at 9:30 am. The bacon and cheesy eggs boosted our morale after a long kayak the afternoon before.

To give our arms a break, we set off for a six-mile round hike. On the way to the lighthouse (our turnaround point), we stopped at the old Stuart Island school house and a museum about the island’s settlers’ history.

As we continued to the lighthouse, we saw beautiful views of the environment around us. We noticed the contrasting biodiversity between Stuart Island and San Juan Island.

At the lighthouse, we ate a fresh quinoa salad with a side of cherries, crackers, and cookies.

On our trek back, we took a different trail, walking along the beach. At the beach, we saw harbour seals hunting and river otters swimming. It was a fascinating sight! After our hike, we had free time to explore. Our guides put together a delicious charcuterie board for us.

After eating, some jumped into the ocean, and others warmed up by the fire.

Ending our day with campfire songs and cake, we went to bed at 10:30 pm for our early morning of paddling the next day.

See you tomorrow!

Blog Credits: Olivia, Aoife, Silas, and Violet

For an exciting break in the usual pattern, we began our 3-day kayak excursion. Our route to Stuart Island was long and arduous, but worth it once we arrived at the place we’d call home for the next two nights.

When we got camp we had plenty to do, including collecting firewood, swimming in the chilly water, and exploring the forest. Later, we all gathered for dinner to eat delicious fish tacos prepared by our kayak guides. Eli and Zoe, our guides from San Juan Outfitters, were incredibly helpful, reliable, and kind throughout the whole trip.

Later, some of us decided to sleep under the stars with no tent–also called cowboy camping! We fell asleep to the sound of waves and chittering raccoons. Although it was a late night, we hope to wake up in the morning feeling refreshed and ready to rock.

~ Olivia, Silas, Aoife, and Violet signing off!

blog credits: Kate Ji, Una Gaffney, Addy Brautigam, Gabe Shih

We woke up bright and early this morning to go to the Whale Museum where we got an exclusive tour before they opened! We got to learn about toothed whales, baleen whales as a few other marine mammals! They had some really cool skeletons including a grey whale and a few orcas.

After the Whale Museum we loaded into the vans and headed to County park to eat lunch. We got to see some beautiful views as well as lots of moon jellies! When we finished lunch we got back in the vans and went to Lime Kiln state park where we got a wonderful tour from Erin and Josiah. That concluded our activities for the day so we came back to the dorms and discussed our plans for the kayak trip tomorrow!

The dinner crew is hard at work as we speak and we’re excited to welcome Hazel M. Havens who got her PHD for her work studying the Caribbean spiny lobster’s magnetic sense at UNC at dinner tonight! We are also welcoming Dr. Dennis Willows who was Director of Friday Harbor Labs from 1972 to 2005 and was excited to hear Hazel Havens speak.

We are so excited to start our kayak journey out to Stuart Island for 2 nights! Stayed tuned for photos and our experience coming Friday.

After many long journeys to Anacortes from places as far as Guam and Alaska we were grateful for a long nights’ sleep in our comfortable dorms.

This morning we woke, rested and ready for an exiting and packed day. We began with a scavenger hunt to get to know the town of Friday Harbor, running around looking for niche spots. The winner of this competition would get to bragging rights, stickers, and the first pick for team names.

After moments of success (and some backtracking), we quickly rearranged to drive to Friday harbor labs. We thoroughly toured the campus and went inside a few of the lab buildings.

Our group began in the Sunflower Sea Star lab, where Dr. Rebecca Guenther, an instructor at Friday Harbor Labs, showed us her most recent research project. She and her team have been studying the effects of the Sea Star Wasting Disease on the sunflower sea stars in the area for years, describing the problem and her solution.

As we listened attentively, she explained the artificial reproduction process, and opened the lids to the many generations of Sunflower sea stars in tanks.

Our final scheduled visit was the fish lab where we got to see diverse fishes, and how the fields of biology and engineering intersect. The researchers at this lab were studying bone structures using a CT scanner.

We saw one final lab where we observed University of Washington students conducting their own experiments and projects, with invertebrates and other marine life looking on.

We are looking forward to an engaging conversation over dinner with Dr. Billie Swalla, an expert in Marine Genomics and the first female Director of UW Friday Harbor Laboratories from 2012 – 2019.

Signing off,
Olivia, Silas, and Kashi.

By: Sophia, Kelly, Mika, Chloe B

In the morning, we went to Jackson Beach primarily to assist Friday Harbor Lab students in their beach seines; however, we ended up with half an hour to explore the low tides. We trudged around through the deep, muddy beach, collecting huge Dungeness crab molts and falling in the sludge.

Then, we helped the UW Friday Harbor Labs researchers perform a beach seine.

When we came back from Jackson Beach, we wrote thank-you letters to every guest speaker and host who took the time to meet with us.

After a long workload, our project proposals were finished, and we were ready to present. We went into the Spring Street art room and pitched our proposals to our family and friends.

Then, for our grand finale, we did what all must do, and we went to the west side to watch the sunset. We are now back at the dorms, soaking up our last moments with each other and preparing for an early morning of goodbyes.

This has been an incredible experience! We will miss you all, and we’ll remember you for the rest of our lives! <3

By: Bryce, Mary, and Sophie

The students woke up tired from attending karaoke the previous night! Glowing lights and joyful vibes had filled the atmosphere as they sang their hearts out. 

In the morning, the group made another trip to Friday Harbor Labs, where they participated in the conservation and research of eelgrass. Here, they met up with conservation research scientists Mitch and Sage to assist in their ongoing project.

First, the group mixed several differing substrates to help analyze which was best for eelgrass growth. These substrates were placed into jars and were ready to house the eelgrass.

Delicately, the group used tweezers to pick up the seedlings from their germination bin. They were careful to only pinch the eelgrass at the spot right above the seeds, noting how fragile the small plants were.

Following a pattern of three seedlings per jar, the group of students efficiently planted 144 jars of eelgrass over the course of the morning. With these seedlings, Mitch and Sandy are working on a project that aims to reintroduce eelgrass back into natural ecosystems with the hope of seeing eelgrass meadows thriving again.

In the afternoon after lunch, the group resumed their efforts and began finalizing their pilot project proposal presentations. These proposals aim to provide insights into the future development of environmental protection strategies, focusing on innovative solutions and public awareness of climate impacts in the world. 

After working on their tasks for the afternoon and enjoying the town, the students enjoyed a pesto pasta salad with watermelon, tofu, and chicken with the company of Dr. Mike Kuperberg. He was a biologist at Florida State University for 25 years, with 20 years of experience in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. Now, Dr. Kuperberg is the executive director at the Whale Museum with the goal of educating his community through the power of storytelling. After the presentation, the students enjoyed their final night together as a whole group!

By: Avery, Aiden, Elle, and Chloe H

Our day started with a van ride to Cattle Point to conduct algae surveys on the behalf of Dr. Katy Dobkowski. Working in groups of 4, we trekked across beds of seaweeds and clamored over algae covered rocks. Our groups were hard at work cataloging the density of different species of algae. All the data will add to an important data base, and aid Dr. Dobkowski in her research.

We all enjoyed the views and abundance of organisms at Cattle Point.

After gathering data on the different species of algae, we headed back to the dorm for our long anticipated debate. We were split into pro and con groups for each of the two topics: Island Marble Butterfly conservation, and the implementation of OPALCO’s pilot tidal energy project. After a stressful ten minutes of last minute preparation, impassioned debaters argued their side. The pro side won for the Island Marble Butterflies, while the con side won for OPALCO’s tidal project.

After a quick lunch of leftovers, we hurried back into the vans and drove to False Bay. When we got there, we were introduced to Beth Tate, a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife employee. At False Bay, we learned about the invasive fish, the Northern Pike, and sustainable ways to preserve and restore salmon spawning locations, as well as the complexities of renewable energy sources.

We explored the beach, which was littered with stinky algae, for around an hour, before piling back into the vans and heading back to the dorms for some project work time.

Tonight we are having Aisha Rashid, a member of the SeaDoc Society over as our dinner guest, and then heading back out for a final night of karaoke!

By: Shristi, Kendall, Kaiya, Dylan

After an early breakfast, we piled into the vans with our lunch boxes packed for our busy day ahead! Our first stop, New Hannah Farm, where the lead farmer Zach Chan gave us a tour, while explaining the sustainable farming practices he uses!

Zach taught us all about how different it is to work on a small-scale farm compared to the usual farming practices throughout the country that prioritize big yields in a small amount of time. He also showcased some of his impressive projects on the farm, including the upcoming greenhouse-on-wheels he is working on that will be super beneficial in the future!

After the farm, we headed for Lime Kiln Preserve for lunch, where many people purchased hotdogs at the small snack shack, the Blow Hole, and hung out by the tide pools after lunch!

From Lime Kiln we went to the Friday Harbor Labs where we listened to some REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) presentations. The presentations talked about their research, some of which covered sea urchin movement in relation to patterns and brain functioning, as well as exploring the role of water temperature in the development of sea stars and sea urchins.

After the presentations we headed to Jacksons beach and performed crab molt surveys lead by Jess and Katherine from the Friends of San Juan. Before we started the surveys we got sidetracked on a mission to held some people from the Friday Harbor Labs pull up a net! It was really deep in the water and their small crew was super grateful for our help. We even shared some popsicles after pulling up the net!

Then we continued on with the crab surveys, recording our findings of any European Green Crabs and Dungeness Crabs. European Green Crabs are invasive in the San Juan Islands, so our goal was to collect any of the crab molts we could find and identify them all. Thankfully, we didn’t find any European Greens!

To end off our day, we’re looking forward to a chill evening without a dinner guest. We are going to relax and enjoy our pizza dinner!

By Addy Brautigam, Kaia Wasserman, Max Lundin and Amber Xu

We started the morning off with the First Annual Salish Sea Debate activity prep! We broke out into 4 groups of 5 students each. We have two topics and each group is either pro or con of one of the topics. We did initial research and created our debate points today in preparation for the debate tomorrow night!

We then packed lunch and took off to Mt. Finlayson. We did the loop trail and ate lunch.

After we returned from our hike, we did some work on our projects!

To finish out the day, we have an Eelgrass learning activity with Dr. Olivia Graham, followed by dinner with Dr. Graham and a presentation. She is a marine scientist who is passionate about marine ecosystems, especially eelgrass in the PNW! We are so excited to meet and work with her!!

By: Chloe B, Kelly, Sophia, Mika

This morning, we went to the Land Banks‘ Zylstra Preserve and met with Shauna and Julia, members of the San Juan Island Conservation Corps, who helped us to remove the invasive teasels, which are European native weeds that outcompete the native species. They introduced us to the Beaver Dam Analogs (BDAs) that they recently constructed, being the first on San Juan Island. These man-made dams, mimicking beaver dams, function to slow down river flow downstream to the nearby False Bay, in hopes of improving water quality over time.

After a quick lunch break, we listened to a presentation from Caroline, utilizing her experience as a college counselor, about colleges and the first steps in the search and exploration for the right college. We talked about the importance of academics, location, culture, experience, reputation, and costs, covering almost any prospective topic.

After the presentation, we loaded into the vans and took off for Roche Harbor, today’s use of our recreation time. Here we went to the ice cream shop, where Caroline generously treated all of us to ice cream! With our ice cream in hand, we walked around the resort, through shops, and around the marina. Then, Cara beat everyone in bocce ball, and on the walk back to the vans, we encountered an adorable and huge Pyrenees puppy. We headed back to the dorms for our afternoon jobs, taking a quick ukulele break to sing “Lava” with Cara.

As of right now, we are all super excited for our guest of the night, Dr. Sandy Wyllie-Echeverria, to discuss sea and eel grasses. On the menu tonight is leftovers!