Beam Reach

Week 2 & 3

I haven’t been staying up to date on my blog book, oops. This is not because there is a lack of things to write about but because there is lack of time to write about everything. The past two weeks a lot of things have happened lets see if I can remember it all… we have had many many many guest lectures that all gave very interesting talks. It’s really cool to have contact with them, bounce ideas off of them, and learn about their research. We went on a tour of the Center for Whale Research, played down at the dock with some hydrophones, and had a lovely potluck dinner down at smugglers cove. Labor day weekend, people scattered about to Seattle and Victoria. I stayed on Island and spent Sunday on the water with Kari and Soundwatch which was so much fun. Tomorrow we leave for the first 2 week excursion on the boat! I am so excited! We have spent the last few days, once it hit us that we were 54 hours away from boarding, running around making lists, buying food, packing, debugging equipment, downloading software, and building all sorts of things. Hopefully everything will go relatively smoothly… either way it will be great to be on the water and with the whales!

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Almost there

As the hours until our departure dwindle, we are all both excited and nervous. What will the boat look like? Where will we sleep? What will we eat? How will we collect data? And, how is this all going to work!?! The past few days and the upcoming hours until we push off have been about answering those questions. We have now bought all our supplies and food, tested the hydrophone array in the water and tested out a few computers. As far as science goes, we’re right on track. For the sustainability side of Beam Reach, we toured Jason’s house on Friday afternoon. He has built his own house with a number of environmentally conscious decisions in mind. From the type of structure to the orientation of the house, he has tried to keep waste and unnecessary use of valued resources at a minimum. Not only is the process admirable, but the house was gorgeous! Following the tour we headed down to Smuggler’s Cove for a beach pot luck. Both Jason’s and Scott’s kids and parents were in attendance making for quite a homey and familial atmosphere-all of us students living on our own loved it!! Today was devoted to food organization and shopping, as well as equipment de-bugging, and tomorrow we’ll put the finishing touched on our group science plan and equipment list. Monday midday we set sail. As for now…I’m just about spent and ready for bed!! Stay tuned for updates on our first trial run at sea!