Logbook entries
It is Saturday and that means it has almost been a week since we (all the students) arrived at the labs. This has been one of the most inspiring weeks of my life. I can't remember a week that could compare to the knowledge I have gained this week. I am so excited to see what lies ahead for next week.
The labs are a beautiful place to live. It is so green and peaceful, and of course our friendly deer are simply adorable. The only slight downfall is the temperature. During the last couple of days the temperature has shot up but it still doesn't mean that the water will be warm! Yesterday we had the pleasure of jumping into 56 degree water, which might I add, is a "peak summer temperature." We had to take a swimming test, rather a test to see how shocked our bodies are to be dunked in that water should the ferry swing by and dump us out of our 10 foot row boat. Well, any way, now we can say we swam in some very cold water.
Because we took the swim test we are now allowed to row to town. Laura and I decided to make a quick walk to town while stopping to pick blackberries along the side of the road. I had never picked berries before and it was a lot of fun! So very tasty too! The plant of course was not a fan of the situation and stuck a small thorn in my finger.
We met up with Courtney, Nicole, and Fredi who rowed to town to maybe hang out for awhile and after discovering a couple of drunk dudes we decided to head home. Fredi was a wee bit tired from rowing against the current for awhile on their way to town and the girls needed a third to row back with so we could switch off if we got tired.
So, off to the rowboat I go! It was fun! The best thing about making our way out of the marina was the people on their boats looking at us and making fun comments like "need a taxi?" Some were helpful and untied our boat and pushed us out. That was nice of them. I am quite positive we were a sight to see amongst the the big sail boats. Nicole for the first portion of the rowing trip was wearing a headlamp to let people know we were around. She looked fantastic! Thankfully traffic was low and no one headed in our direction. I was not willing to test out my abilities to survive in the 56 degree water.
Once out of the marina it was smooth rowing from there. Fredi and Laura got to the dock as we were pulling up and helped us out. I can see that the adventure is only begining.
08.28.2005: Shopping and sighting
Yesterday, Saturday 8/27, was an interesting and exciting day. Fredi, Laura, Courtney, Nicole, and I went to the supermarket to get groceries for the week. While we attempted to make it as easy as possible it was a very new and somewhat stressful experience. I have lived with 4+ people my whole life, but I was never really forced to be involved in figuring out what we all wanted to eat, how to buy it, what brand, etc. At my home if the food was there we ate it and if we didn't like it we didn't. So, overall it was a learning experience of seeing the others' reactions as well as controlling my own. I'm glad we got through it and moved on about our business to take an unintentional tour of the island.
Laura, Fredi and I picked up Courtney and Nicole in town to head toward Lime Kiln. Yeah...we got a wee bit lost. Apparently the whole island is beautiful, not just some parts like most places. Mom, I saw a lot of cows! I will get pictures next time :o) Once Laura recognized where we were, which was after making a circle around the northern end of the island, we were well on our way. At Lime Kiln we had something interesting to look at before the orcas came by. I spotted what looked like a floating carcass of a harbor seal. Fredi confirmed it and was very interested in what may be the cause. The current was strong and headed offshore so Fredi didn't have his chance to perform an expert necropsy. It was okay by me because I don't think I would have wanted to witness that yesterday.
I think our group is having a good run of luck. We were at the point for less than 45 minutes before a pod or two showed up. There were people who appeared to have been waiting since the morning. Some think it may have been J and K because those two pods were hanging around in Canadian waters earlier in the day. Just when things were great, aside from a rush of boats near by, some jackass in a private vessel decides it is a good idea to intercept their path as well as rush into the middle of the pod. Needless to say it brought up a lot pf emotions that I didn't think I would feel over a situation like this. I think we all pretty much felt the same.
Once the orcas, and the jackass boat left we decided to head back because Courtney and Nicole should probably not get caught in the dark again on the rowboat. A little ways down the road we spotted the orcas and the jackass boat again! So we pulled over and used binoculars to try to get a reading of the name. It was like this huge sting operation or something. Fredi headed closer to shore and, luckily, the boat headed back and passed right in front of us. It was still far so it was hard to read the name, but hopefully we got something useful. I was still weirded out by how much it angered me.
We did notice that some behaviors occurred more often when that particular boat was harassing the whales, so perhaps those could be signs of agitation and not a happy show of play. I also saw an orca change its direction when the boat approached. Very interesting things occurred with the nasty boat around.
Later Laura, Fredi, and I got home and I began cooking. Shortly after, Courtney and Nicole had made their way back to the cabin just in time for dinner. The stir fry was tasty and we all went to bed as happy campers.
I apologize for another long entry, but it is necessary :) Today was given the wonderful opportunity to join SoundWatch on the water to observe whale watchers and give them information regarding the guidelines of whale watching. The day started out calm with about 7 boats around J and K-pods with L-57 hanging out. We only needed to approach a couple of boats to tell them about the guidelines, so the excitement of the morning was my first experience peeing in a bucket on board with quite a few boats hanging around. That was definitely something to remember. A picture of the bucket (empty) is available.
Three humpback whales decided to grace us with their presence and they were magnificent. They appeared to be two very large adults and a smaller one. Kari, who is around orcas every day, was definitely interested in keeping track of the humpbacks, so we tailed them from a distance for a couple of hours. That was really neat to see and they kept taking deep dives, which meant they would show us their flukes just before going under for 5-10 minutes. After two hours we had to head back to the orcas to regulate :)
At this time J, K, and L were all around and pretty scattered. There were a lot of boats, mainly Canadian, but most seemed to be respectful of the whales and generally it was a few boats per small group of killer whales.
One of the most interesting moments was when the humpbacks and orcas interacted. Twice, the humpys went for a deep dive and the orcas followed. Two people, on different boats, stated that they had heard a sound that sounded like it was a humpback call (deep "oooooooooo"). It would have been awesome to drop a hydrophone in to hear what was up! They were probably talking about the stupid people on the boats that don't have anything better to do with their lives than to see them breathing and taking the equivalent of a stroll. Then again, they could have just been having a normal powwow determining that the orcas are friendly residents and won't eat the humpback babies. Who knows...
We then had to head back because it was getting late, but we had to move slowly because we were in an orca crossing zone. The highlight of the day was when we accidentally got in the path of a mom and her calf. While not very whale wise, and in violation of many of the guidelines, it was not intentional and the pair had crept up behind us. So, Kari cut the engine and let the animals go on about their business. They came up so close to the boat that I could have touched them had I not been enjoying orca-gasm! It was really neat to see them under water and be able to distinguish the saddle patch and eye patch from the rest of their bodies. The pictures should hopefully be up soon. I took those with Kari's camera and she will put them on a CD in the next few days.
SO yeah, overall and amazing day. Oh! I also saw Steller's sea lions on the way to Friday Harbor. They are HUGE! It was nice to see a few of them hanging out because they are rarely seen in SoCal.
Ma, Pa, y Ani, los extrano un monton y gracias por hacer lo posible para que yo pueda disfrutar estos animales fabulosos. Estoy de lo maz feliz, gracias!!
Thank you to everyone who made this possible, I can't begin to express how grateful I feel. It has been amazing here :)
Wow, these last couple of weeks have just been crammed with activities!
Last week a professor from UCLA (Rafe Sagarin) who is doing research on orange and purple sea stars came up and wanted our help out in the tide pools. Now, the idea of getting up at 5am, then 5:30am, and at 6:00am on the last day was not all that enticing, but it was a fantastic adventure. On the first day we lost sight of the trail and bushwhacked our way back. I've never done that and it was, amazingly, a lot of fun. On the last day we stopped at Roche Harbor for their doughnuts. I believe they put something good, or bad, in them because the energy and and weird, hyper mood that everyone had was awesome! That was one of the most fun and silly days.
We are now into our last week of the land component of this program and AAAHHHHHHHH I'm freaking out :) I am excited to get on to the boat and begin our research but am scared about sailing 24/7. I imagine I will learn even more about myself in the next 5 weeks than I have in these previous 5 weeks; in the previous 24 years at that. We are all going to be very, very close to one another at the end of this trip...
I have no doubt that on this trip, I am making some of the best friends I will ever have. It is amazing how quickly you become family with the people around you when the rest of yours is quite a distance away.
To my biological family and friends,
I miss you guys, but I would like to
import you to Friday Harbor. I am in my element with so many other
marine-loving geeks like myself. Plus, living a place without smog is new to
me and I am not complaining. I love you all.
See you soon!!!
