10/17/06
Another beautiful day in the San Juan’s. Although there are no whales today, it is sunny and cool, a perfect October day. We anchored last night in Fisherman’s Bay on Lopez Island. It is a nice anchorage and appears to be a bit more of a small island community than places like Friday Harbor. I awoke to the sound of the anchor chain being hauled up at 7:15 am, we had to get an early start so we could make it through Cattle Pass with the current instead of fighting against it. Upon arriving in the galley/saloon this morning I was greeted by the smell of Jason’s famous (at least to us) sourdough pancakes. They were fabulous and the morning was calm and colorful. While going through cattle pass we saw at least 7 sea lions swimming around. They looked so big especially after spending the summer working with baby harbor seals at my internship. At the Southern end of Haro Strait, near False Bay we paused to do a CT (conductivity and temperature) cast for Emily’s project. We let the instrument down 100m by hand pausing every 10m to record results. Emily and I had a nice arm workout hauling it back up. The rest of the day we’ve been hanging out in Haro making our way north hoping to run into the whales, it’s 3 and we haven’t yet. We will be anchoring somewhere at the Northern end of San Juan Island. The wind has finally picked up enough so we are sailing for the time being.
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So much to say and so little time! As everyone has been saying in their blogs, the realization that the end of BeamReach is setting in. We are back on solid ground, and as much as I liked living at sea, it feels good! The last three weeks on the boat have been… shall I say… eventful. Because the Gato Verde is in the process of switching to a bio-deisel electric propulsion system, there are lots of things that had the potential to go wrong, and that did go wrong. Its a super cool idea and sets a great president, however, when you are in the middle of the process it is both very cool and very frustrating. Besides the saga of the boat, between the multiple generators breaking and getting replaced, being pushed by the dinghy, maxing out at 3 knots and not being able to catch the whales, there were lots of great things this past voyage. First of all, we saw whales, lots and lots of whales! We saw some very tame dear and a mink up close and personal on Jones Island, a mike whale from the bluff on Stewart Island, some bow riding Dalls porpoise in front of Lime Kiln, and some sea lions in cattle pass. In terms of Science, we got some nice recordings, tried the dinghy / NOAA pipe test maybe 3-4 more times and finally got it right. Ishmael is still not cooperating, but in addition to the Sea Snake, we got another 4 element array, Willy. After tinkering with it a bit, and sending it off to the doctor (val) and his office (his garage), its worked wonderfully. Everyone chipped in for multiple rounds water quality testing every two hours from about 6pm to 8am. (Except for Scott and Jason who slept on the cat walk and saccrificed a lot of sleep in the name of science.) As for oter memorable events, we hiked to the lighthouse, played some basketball, got to pet some real kittys, and soak in the view from a bluff looking out on the water just before sunset on Stewart Island. We had a night passage from the west side of San Juan Island to the south end of Lopez Island, complete with bow watches, crafty navigation, walkie talkies, and night vision (not headlamps). We witnessed numerous beautiful mornings and beautiful sunsets. In fact, the Last time we saw the whales in fact was J pod heading south down the West Side wbehind them was the sun dropping behind Vancouver Island, AND to make things even better,it was Peggy’s birthday!
So now that we are back on land, its crunch time to get final papers and presentations done. Its time to enjoy the last week of island living until heading home and catching up with family and friends!
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Yesterday concluded our final week at sea (and my twenty third revolution around the sun!) We awoke to a splendid sunrise from the south end of Jones Island looking out across San Juan Channel to San Juan Island, our final destination. But before I describe our homecoming, let me recap the week. After many many boat troubles the week before, we set out last Monday with two main broken generators, one measley gas generator and our faithful dinghy. Top speeds reach no more than three knots or so, rendering our choices for anchorage minimal. The first night we stayed in Fisherman’s Bay for creosote log tagging and more water sampling for the Friends of the San Juans. Tuesday, after our break through Cattle Pass we put-putted up the west side of San Juan Island, analyzing data, collecting more conductivity and temperature data from the south end of Haro Strait, and making our way to the infamous Sung Harbor for the night.Wednesday, again, was spent in Haro with the dinghy and a number of fishing boats. We had word that the killer whales were in the south sound so we made plans for Thursday to try and head south to catch them, but were pleasantly surprised to actually hear their vocalizations on our hydrophone mid-strait then caught sight of K and L Pods within a half and hour. We were able to spend an hour or so with the two pods near False Bay, but did not have the capabilities to follow them north-instead we sat on the bow following them with binoculars as they reached Turn Point and headed east. That evening we had Marla Holt on board. She’s beginning her post-doc research on the Southern Residents through NOAA and wanted to get a sense of our projects, equipment, methods, etc. because her project entails determining if killer whales actually call louder or longer to be heard above increased ambient noise levels. Marla accompanied us again on the water on Friday for a long day on the water with J Pod, porpoises, bald eagles and lots of birthday fun for Peggy. J Pod was quite active, foraging near False Bay, then moving slowly north throughout the day. We were able to spot a salmon in one whale’s mouth, as well as a small fish J39 caught…so they DO eat fish! On our way back to Snug Harbor we were pleasantly surprised by the pod’s return south and gave up all scientific goals and sat on the deck taking pictures and marveling as the pod traveled through the glare into the sunset. Upon our return to Snug, we were excited once more by the lucky pass-by of two bald eagles over our boat. That evening we had Peggy’s birthday dinner, manacotti and chocolate cake. Saturday we said our good-byes to both Marla and the beloved sea snake (the towed array) and set off for Jones Island for advisor meetings and a brief jaunt around the island at sunset. That does, of course, bring me to Sunday, the sunrise and our homecoming to Friday Harbor. After the sun broke the horizon we were immediately at work unpacking the boat of food, equipment and personal gear, followed by a deep clean of the cabins, galley, heads, bilges, decks, dinghy, walls, ceilings, closets, nooks, crannies and any other area of space within the 42×29 feet on the boat. Once in Friday Harbor we also spent most of the morning unloading and redistributing food, gear, etc. to our one-week temporary homes at the labs. Yesterday was also my birthday so once the cleaning was finished we all ate pizza on the dock, and I read birtday cards and note from friends and family elsewhere in the world. Exhausted, we unpacked, picked up some groceries, then made deliectible chocolate covered strawberries and bananas to be frozen and consumed after bowling in town and dinner at the Ale House…the only two establishments open of course. Emily, Erin and I had a blast giggling at our silly shoes and despeciable bowling capabilities, a yummy dinner we didn’t have to make, and of course, the chocolate covered treats. To top it off, I even received a call from my parents in Vietnam at the moment, busied by morning traffic, but lucky enough to find a payphone that accepted their calling card! As for now, talking with them makes me excited to finally get home and spend time with friends and family I haven’t seen in a while, but also makes the realization that Beam Reach is nearing it’s end. Our time on the water will be left unmatched by most opportunities I will most likely have in the future and I’m quite thankful for the opportunity to observe killer whales in such a beautiful place! This week will be dedicated to catching up on some much needed sleep, getting back into my running shoes, researching a bit more into my topic and furiously finishing up data analysis and the final paper and presenation. In fact…that’s what I should be working on right now…
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