• 08.29.05: The big picture

• 09.08.05
• Second week at sea
• Third week at sea

It's quite breath-taking the first time you see an orca whale. You really get a sense of something other than yourself. You suddenly feel like the big picture you've been dying to see is displayed right in front of your eyes; that there really is a bigger picture of the world than most people see. I wish more people could experience what I am. Perhaps the world wouldn't be just a playground for our species anymore. One can only wish.

I love it here. I love the whales, I love the water, I love learning, I love being challenged, I love my new friends, I love the deer, I love the sticky slugs, I love rowing to town and getting lost trying to get to the west side of the island; I just love it all.

I'm excited to see what's to come and I'll update as often as I can!

09.08.2005:

oh san juan islands how i love you so.

so today was yet another splendid day. we took microscopes down to to the dock and looked at various types of phyto and zoo plankton. i even saw a microscopic jelly fish. i was partial to that little guy... anywhoo, i wish i could document everything that has happened this past week, but i think it shall be forever engrained in my memory bank. okay okay, so i'm just rather lazy. well, let's see...we rowed to town yesterday and went grocery shopping. then we had an afternoon lesson on the food chain. then we went and collected some little creatures in the nets. it's such fun stuff.

i finally "snatched" one of the bikes from under one of the dorms. now i know what you're thinking. "some poor college kid is bikeless now"...see, even i ran that through my head quite a few times. anyway, if i get a knock on my door asking for it back i will smile, and kindly say no hablo ingles.

i can't wait to get on the boat...i wish my proposal was more promising...but, we'll see right? whales...geez you have to love them. i can't wait to see them interacting with one another ...and just be able to learn more about them.

i'm learning so much here...everyone here is teaching me so much. i'm like a sponge... with a.d.d. haha... it's hard to stay on task because i'm used to doing more than one thing at once. i guess you can't do that in a class of only 6 people... haha. anyway, sarcastically speaking... lots of math... my favorite. oh god how i love it. seriously, i hope we have like 10 more hours of it.

so there is this over hanging cliff that i like to sit on and draw/carve..whatever...ha, anyway...i saw river otters there on monday. about 5 or so.. i thought it was so awesome. this place is so beautiful, all i need is my guitar...if only shipping it were an option....but i just got a new hard case that i'm in love with back in april and to lose that would be to lose my soul..haha....sigh. for now, i'll just rely on good ol' damien rice and jeff buckley cover songs. speaking of which, his song "hallelujah" is playing right now... i think it fits just right for this evening..

cheers! and dulce de lecha (only the best chocolate/milky/sugary concoction my taste buds have ever tasted)

and now the real fun begins...time to listen to whale calls over and over and over.

adios,

nic

hi mom. i miss you putting "a-saurus" on the end of everything ;) hi dad. i miss playing the guitar with you :) hi jake. woof. :o)

09.26.2005:

Wow! What a day! I'm exhausted. Today was our first whole day on the boat. I found out yesterday evening that our captain (Captain Todd) doesn't like to run the heat! The only time he runs it is in the morning for our own motivational purposes. Haha. I was so depressed! I literally slept with 5 blankets (including my sleeping bag)! I ended up being very warm though. Anyway, Captain Todd gave us a sailing lesson and then we set sail at about 12:00 pm! I got to steer the boat... it's so awesome! I have pictures/video footage of the boat to send home, so don't worry... everyone will get to see! We sailed past an island called Speiden Island. Now this island is particularly neat because of the story behind it. So, apparently back in the 1970s these taxidermists from Seattle bought this island and renamed it "Safari Island" and import exotic animals such as Barbary sheep (the ones with the huge horns that curl under), European fallow deer and Spanish goats. Speiden became a game preserve for wealthy trophy hunters who drove around the island in Jeeps sipping martinis and shooting animals. Then environmentalists decried the enterprise and the operation shut down. Anyway, all the animals still live on the island and now the island is owned by the Oakley sunglasses company. Soooo, we sailed past that island and saw a lot of these animals. It was super cool. After sailing for about 4 hours we listened to channel 80 (the channel the whale watchers communicate on) and heard that the whales were heading towards battleship island... which was right where we were heading! So Captain Todd cut the motor and we dropped a hydrophone and sure enough they were there!! We could hear them calling and squeaking it was so great to hear them in their environment. It was breathtaking! Then, we could hear their blows and they were near by! A group of them even came up right by the boat...probably a little less than 100 meters. They are so beautiful!! Well anyway, today was awesome but there are some things I am going to miss/ have been missing for the past month and a half... such as:

1. A looooonnnng bubble bath -- or just a bath in general -- �with really hot water�
2. Actually using my hairdryer that I brought.
3. HEAT
4. Internet
5. My cell phone
6. Curling up and watching Extreme Home Make Over

...there's more, I just can't think of them all right now. Anyway... more to come!!

09.28.2005:

Today was freezing!! The sun decided to NOT come out and combined with the wind on the boat= FREEZING! I was definitely not a very happy camper. I had all my "cold gear/wet gear" clothes on and my big wool whale hat I got from Vancouver. I was nice and warm. Anyway, yesterday morning we came across the L2 pod of whales. There are only 5 members of this pod, which is a sub pod of the L pod. We saw a cute little calf swimming with them. Aw. Anyway, I'm really enjoying it out here and I won in UNO (the card game)! Oh yea! Also, I've found that personal space is non-existent on a 42 foot catamaran. Ha ha, I expected it, but, now living in it... yea, overboard is the closest option to sanity in a situation where personal space is needed. Anyway, it's beautiful out here even with the rain. I can't wait to tell all of you about it in more detail!

09.29.2005:

Dear September, you have served us well with your warmth and sunny days. Thank you for not letting us freeze our tails off when jumping into the frigid Puget Sound waters for a "swim test" and for letting us make the most of our short sleeved shirts. Oh October, go back where you came from. Seriously, in two words I can sum up the weather for today : cold and wet! Nonetheless, I am having a marvelous time. Today we started sailing upwind to the south. We began at Mitchell Bay, where we had anchored for the evening. While sailing we went through a "potato patch," or minus the sailor lingo... waves! The swells were about 4 to 5 feet high and the boat was going up and down pretty hard. I was a little worried at first, but my adrenaline got pumping and I kept thinking "This is awesome!" So, amidst the chaos of the waves and rain, Laura (another student -- and quite a cool one at that) and Val (one of my super awesome profs) decided to place themselves in the heart of the chaos by sitting at the bow of the boat in the trampoline net. Fancy this; a huge swell totally submerged them! It was crazy! Captain Todd told me that "green water" had taken place. Green water is when water rushes over the boat and you can't see the white of the boat anymore... only the greenness of the water. So the weather was nasty all day... but, just when you felt like a soggy pretzel, here come 12 or so Dall's porpoises riding our bow!! They stayed with us for about 5 or so minutes, although it seemed like forever. Rain didn't even faze us at that point! We were hanging on for dear life between the waves and wind... but, we made it... and got an awesome experience and memories to take with us. Dall porpoises are so beautiful! They have black bodies and a white stripe on their dorsal fin and a white patch on their tummy. I could look over the side of the boat and see them swimming close to the surface and they would jump out of the water right in front of us! There was a harbor porpoise with the group too. Harbor porpoises are all gray... so pretty. Oh and to top of the day, our stuff got wet where we sleep. Mine was ok, but my roomie's computer is messed up. Hmm. October, why do you have to bring rain?

10.01.2005:

So you know that feeling of not cold…but, freezing? Like, when you think to yourself “yep, a few degrees lower and I’m definitely turning into an icicle”. No? Ok, you don’t have to admit it….but I know you’ve thought that. Anyway, I find myself judging how warm a day is by how many times I have to run hot water into the sink and lay my hands there just so they function correctly. So, last night we anchored a little off of Roche Harbor (just far enough that we couldn’t sneak away in the middle of the night and take showers). However, in the morning we docked in Roche Harbor and got onto LAND! First time in almost a week. We were greeted by “Sarge”, a yellow lab who we found out later belonged to one of the dock workers. “Sarge” is almost 6 and has been working the docks with her owner since she was 49 days old. She’s very sweet and she greets all the boats as they come in. I tried to bribe Sarge onto the boat with a donut we bought from the Lime Kiln Café, but she just couldn’t be bribed. Hey, lady has her standards. Well, after getting some fresh water and dumping our waste (yea…yum) we headed out to the South end of the island. About the time we came up to Lime Kiln lighthouse we heard blows! And sure enough, there came J1 (Ruffles) and J2 (Granny)….the oldest members of the J pod. Ruffles was born in 1951 and Granny was born in 1911! Pretty sweet. Anyway, then we saw more and more for the next couple of hours. We set up our equipment and dropped in the hydrophones. They were talking up a storm! We saw them breaching and tail lobbing….it was so cool! We even saw one member of a group of whales that was around whale watching boats tail slap 12 times in a row! Then the weirdest thing happened…all the whales went under for a deep dive, or so it appeared. Hmm….makes you wonder what they are saying and how they are communicating under there. We watched them at a distance today for the most part because when around Lime Kiln you have to stay a mile _ off shore to give the whales space, and to give the land watchers a more natural experience. So, we ate some lunch and while eating was taking place we heard “Whooosh” (a whale blow)! We looked out and there were 2 whales swimming at full speed (porpoising) about 30 meters away from our boat!! They were HUGE! It really puts things in perspective. Out here, they are the dominate species. See, the one thing I love about Orcas are that they have the capability to tear our boat to shreds, one breach…and it could severely damage the boat…kayakers could be eaten…..but, you see…they choose not to. I find humans lack that capability. Our species feels the need to prove that just because we can…we will. Hmm. I read this quote somewhere, although I wish I remembered where: “The core problem faced by whales is the self centred focus of humans. The perception that "we" come first dictates almost every point of human contact with the natural world. The "wise use" philosophy (if something exists and is not threatened, use it) is pervasive. Perhaps this is why the captivity issue is important to understand and to be involved in. Though the numbers of captives are relatively small, the impacts of thoughtless human actions are easy to see when we come face to face with individuals whose lives we have torn apart. The captive member of British Columbia's "A5 pod" we know as Corky, and her personal cause, are important not just to her and her family in the ocean, but to all cetaceans... because in understanding Corky and her needs, we expand our field of vision to the world beyond. Why not allow self-organized and self conscious, social and intelligent species like whales and dolphins the opportunity to live free from human interference? Getting to that point from where we are now is a simple exercise in thought... seeing outside ourselves, and learning to care for others.” So, now we are heading to Jones Island, which is located on the East side of San Juan Island. From there we will anchor and leave to pick up our other captain, Captain Judy, in the morning. Ahhhh bed, here I come. Hi family. I love you. I reserve the bath tub with the jets, candles and bubbles for November 1st when I return. J

10.01.2005:

Today we sailed around with Captain Judy. She's really nice, especially because she lets us shower every other day and likes to heat up our cabins before we get tucked into our beds for the evening. Today I : Ate, played around with software, froze, defrosted, ate, (repeat, repeat)

10.02.2005:

Wow, I showered today. First time in a week. I smelled so bad. I really think if you were offered to smell fish, or me….you’d gladly pick the fish. Anyway, we ran errands and took inventory of what we had/ what we needed. I did a weeks worth of laundry for 50 cents. How cool is that???? Then Scott fixed us so-so-so good veggie burgers! Today was a nice day to just relax. Courtney and I picked up some candy bars and a magazine from King’s Market (the local grocery) and have all plans on getting caught up in what the world is up to. J Tomorrow we’re gonna go find some whales! We now have a pager, which pages us and tells us where the whales have been spotted. So, I can’t wait to test out some stuff and get started on my research! I’m having an amazing time! Hope everyone back home is doing well. Don’t forget to check out the new pics that should be up shortly! J

Monday, October 3, 2005

Where to begin, where to begin?!?!  Today began our first "research" day.
It's Monday, and the beginning of week 2.  We anchored at the Friday Harbor
Labs last night and took off heading south at around 10:45 am.  We now have
acquired a pager that "beeps" us every half hour to inform us where the whales
are, what they are doing and where they are heading.  We learned they were
near Hein bank, near the southern tip of San Juan Island.  We headed out and
came across the whales by lunch time.  The hydrophones were deployed and there
they were!!  Today's recordings were clear and loud!  They were really
vocalizing!  The boat noise in the background was unbelievably loud.  We could
barely hear some of the calls that were coming in.  It makes you wonder if it
annoys the whales.  I recently read about a phenomenon called "masking" that
the whales use.  Masking is when the whales have to call louder, and we're
thinking longer due to having to communicate over anthropogenic sounds such as
boats.  It would be the equivalent of having an airplane fly over our heads
while trying to maintain a conversation.  Anyway, we collected some data and
after awhile started making our way up north, offshore from the whales.  Well,
although our good intentions reined true for the whole day, we found ourselves
in a situation later in the day that would totally rock our worlds.  Ok, here
we go.  As I was sitting in the bathroom doing bathroomly duties (haha) I hear
Brett through the haul yell "Oh my gosh-WHALE!  WHALE!! Coming straight for
us....it's coming at the boat!!"  So I run full speed up to the Port side of
the boat and no lie....three whales, 2 females and one calf, came right up to
the boat.  We could have touched them they were so close!!  One female closest
to me came up, took a breath and dove right underneath the boat.  We followed
her under by watching through the trampoline net on the bow.  We could see
almost every detail of her body including the whiteness of her eye patch and
her gray saddle patch.  We are pretty sure it was J40 that also passed under
us.  J40 is a calf who was born in 2004.  So, today was absolutely amazing.
The weather was wonderful, lots of clouds, sun and blue skies.  The day ended
with us sailing north into the sunset with the Dall porpoises riding our bow.
We all laid on the trampoline net in the front and cheered them on.  All in
all, it was a lovely day.






Tuesday, October 4, 2005

Wow.  Wow. Wow. Wow. Well here I sit, 30 minutes after the coolest moment of
my life listening to the Beatles greatest hits and convincing myself that what
I saw really happened!!!  The whole day we were with the whales, half admiring
them and half doing our research.  There were a group of them that were social
all day....rolling around with each other and tail lobbing.  It was a great
day to be out on the water, the sun was bright and the whales were giving us a
show!  I got some good data and hopefully the software I am using, 'Ishmael',
will localize it.  We're making friends with the local whale watchers
...talking to them on the radios...and having them recognize us.  It's pretty
cool.  I'm convinced some whale watching boats are alright.  Some are "good"
and some are "bad"...good being that they respect the whales and their
environment, bad being they harass the whales and use really loud motors while
zipping around the whales to get people the best view. Anyway, so I know
you're thinking "what was the big WOW that she's speaking of"?  Well, it was
about the time to end our third observation and start heading to Roche Harbor,
where we would anchor for the evening.  So, we start bringing the hydrophones
out of the water, and all of a sudden all the J pod whales we were observing
start grouping together.  They had all been swimming around the same area
before that, breaching and splashing about.  It was really cool to see.
Anyway, they all created this line formation and with one big breath from all
the whole line of whales, they all took a dive.  When they surfaced again they
were all in sync with each other.  So here we were watching this pod of whales
that had formed a line and were synchronize swimming.  All of us thought it
was so cool, but things were about to get a lot more interesting.  Rachael,
our friend from M3 (Marine Mammal Monitoring, off Canada) states that she
thinks it might be a "greeting ceremony".  We've all read about the greeting
ceremony before, but never actually have seen one.  So, almost immediately we
see L pod, coming from the north, heading south.  J pod, and us, were coming
from the south, heading north.  Just like J pod had created a line formation
and were diving in sync with each other, so did L pod.  So, here we have J pod
coming from the south, and L pod coming from the north straight at each other.
After watching them for about 10 minutes both the pods came together almost
perfectly parallel to each other.   Then, they all disappeared!  All the
whales in each of the 2 groups went under water! They were splashing around
and looking like they were having a great time, and then the water fell still
and you couldn't even tell whales were under there! By this time we had
re-deployed all the hydrophones and were listening to them.  How incredible!
I actually haven't listened to the entire recording yet, but Scott says it's
really amazing.  I can't wait to hear it.  So, anyway, after they were under
for like 10 minutes, the two pods surfaced and continued on their merry way,
opposite of one another.  We were all like....whoaaaa, we just saw a greeting
ceremony between two pods!  Then we started thinking ...'L pod is usually the
first pod to leave for the winter...and they were heading south (the direction
they have to go to get to the Pacific Ocean.)  ...What if this was a goodbye
ceremony between the two pods?  A last "hoorah!" before departing in the
chilly Pacific for the winter?  It was pretty wild, although I hope the L's
aren't leaving for good already.  So anyway, that was a definite highlight
today.  Now we are heading north to Roche Harbor to re-stock on fresh water,
have dinner, enjoy a 5 minute shower (5 quarters for a 5 minute shower at this
marina), and have a good night's rest.  Forecast for tomorrow?  RAINY and
COLD.  Brrrrr.  Oh North Carolina how I miss you so.  

Wednesday, October 5, 2005

I woke up this morning to the rocking of the boat and the motor running.  It
was actually quite peaceful....I didn't want to get up...I felt like I was in
a sea hammock.  :)  Anyway, today was another good day.  There were reports
(on the pager) of humpback whales and Transient killer whales around the
island, but we decided not to pursue them for reasons I'm still not sure of.
I would have loved to see them.  The Humpbacks were near Rack Rocks and the
Transients were off the north side of Orcas Island.  We were basically around
Eagle Point all day (the southern tip of San Juan Island, west side).  We also
learned that J and L pods were traveling together up north (so far up north,
it was off our charts!)  So, we have deduced that yesterday's ceremony was a
greeting ceremony...not a "goodbye" ceremony.  That was an awesome experience.
I'm glad; I didn't want to see the Ls go!  We also got to listen to what we
recorded yesterday from the ceremony.  Talk about amazing!  We recorded the
last 5 minutes and the first 2 minutes the whales were making a few squeaks,
calls and echolocation clicks.  By the tme the end of the 4th minute rolled
around you could hear really loud, clear, amazing sounds.  All at once
everyone in the pods started calling....in sync!!  In the midst of the
excitement we didn't write down the specific time in which the synchronization
of calls took place, but we are thinking that that was the time when the 2
pods came together.  Tonight our job is to look through pictures, video
footage and sound files to locate when those sounds took place.  Also,
amazingly we heard a series of really loud echolocation clicks.  It sounded
like they were coming from 10 or 20 meters away.....that loud!!  It was
literally saturating our hydrophones.  We realized that we were getting
ranged.  (Echolocation is a series of high frequency clicks that "echo" off
objects to show, in this case the orcas, where boats and fish are.)  Anyway,
we are currently drifting in between Eagle Point and Cattle Point. We didn't
see any whales today.  We did however have a friendly seal pup check us out
for about an hour.  We also saw some Harbor porpoises about 30 meters from the
boat.  We're now heading to Griffin Bay to anchor for the evening.  I can't
wait to see what tomorrow will bring! :)