Beam Reach

Tank tapping from the octopus perspective

Port Townsend to Port Townsend
(Boat Haven to Marine Science Center)

We raised anchor early today and were out of Boat Haven by 0715. Capt. Todd had anticipated strong winds, but when we got out in open water, we realized the 35 knot gusts weren’t worth the risk.  We turned back toward Port Townsend around 0800 and tied up at the dock by the Port Townsend Marine Science Center.

At 1400 we went to the science center to test the Flip videocamera in its underwater housing. We took footage of a juvenile octopus as we knocked on the glass, trying to get an idea of how sound from the outside affects the octopus’s acoustic environment.

We also used a hydrophone to listen to sounds inside several of the center’s tanks to see whether or not the organisms were making any sounds.  We deployed the same hydrophone into the ocean but realized we couldn’t hear anything when we used the Marantz (which,we later realized, was due to a faulty XLR to quarter inch cable).