We do more than eat, just not much.

     I spotted this guy munching away on my morning stroll to the lab.  Though I shouldn't have been surprised at how quickly he ate knowing what slugs can do to a garden overnight I still was.

Lunch in the library.

      Back when we first arrived at SPMC the staff had a potluck lunch for us.  Friday to show our appreciation for all they do for us we had a potluck lunch for them. It was a lot of fun and a lot of good food.  

Watermelon, feta, basil salad - amazing!

     After lunch the dive crew headed out to see if they could find any Olympia oysters in a channel that runs near the trestle.  Apparently genetic data shows that younger Oysters at the trestle site have some varied genetics from what was planted pointing at other Olympias nearby. 

The entire trestle takes my 180 degree pan function.

Anne, Annie, Dr. Dinnel and Nate Schwack.

     Anne and Annie dove for quite some time searching in the mucky water with very low viability looking for oysters.   Dr. Dinnel also had them collect some shell and bring it back up for us to look for small juvenile on that could be hard to spot underwater.  The ladies brought up a good batch of shells but none of them had any spat on them.  

 

Anne and Annie diving the trestle

The shell collection.

      One fun part of going to the trestle was that we went by Shannon Point on the water and got a new view of our temporary home. 

Shannon Point from another angle.

  

Sunset bike rides and oil slicks.

     Last night and this morning were more data which I think I am nearing the end of and that feels good.  Well except one part where I am creating a site map and layers of illustration representing densities of Olympia oysters, clam shell and oyster shell from each sampled quadrat that we took along the entire site.  That still intimidates me a bit but I have all my data and Crista is helping me with illustrator creating the site maps then Nam will help with my data point plots.  I understand it isn't very exciting to write or read about though. 
     I look for any excuse to ride my bike lately.  Tomorrow we are having a potluck for the staff here at SPMC, like they had for us when we first arrived.  We wanted to show our appreciation and admiration for all they do for us.  We realized we have no more paper pates and since we will be lunching down at the main building we needed some.  Off I went on my bike in to town.  It was beautiful out and I decided to extend my ride and take the Tommy Thompson Trail out across the trestle and back.
     Mount Baker looked just beautiful across Fidalgo Bay in the fading light.

Mt. Baker across Fidalgo Bay.

     Riding across the trestle was nice, hearing the waves gently lapping and feeling the warm evening breeze.  I was surprised when I reached the far end and saw oil in the water.  I just did quick research and Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are the chemicals of most concern that leech from creosote pilings and they will leech the entire lifetime of the treated wood.  I shouldn't have been surprised after all the oil we released from the mud when we were doing our survey but I still was. 

Yuck!

Still going 100 years later.

      Regardless of the leeching creosote pilings the Tommy Thompson is a beautiful ride and I will keep doing it, probably venturing further each time. I mapped my ride when I got back and it was about 15 miles, not bad at all.

Beautiful view along a gorgeous trail.

     Tomorrow I am hoping to finish the last bit of data stuff, start on my site maps, and enjoy a fun lunch before heading out on the boat with Dr. Dinnel, Annne and Annie.  Annie and Anne will be diving in Padilla Bay seeing of they can find any Olympia oysters, fingers crossed.

Cyanotyping and cake.

Cyanotyping.

     Today Crista and I did a cyanotype of oyster shells as part of her project documenting our projects.   We placed a native Olympia shell in the middle and surrounded it with Pacific oyster shells from my shell bags.  She pre-painted paper with whatever chemical it takes and let it dry.  We designed the oyster shells and then Crista brought out the paper in a black bag.  We carefully pulled the paper out and placed the bag over the top and placed the shells on the paper letting as little light in as possible.

Crista waiting for the exposure to take.

   We then pulled off the bag and let it set for about ten minutes, after which time we pulled off the shells and ran through the building to the lab to douse it in water and stop the exposure.  After a rinse in water and hydrogen peroxide it was ready to hang dry.

Ready to hang dry.

Close up.

     Later in the afternoon Dr. Brian Bingham did a presentation on presentations, do's and don'ts.  Half was on slideshows, graphs and general rules on how to make the best impact and impression of your project utilizing your slideshow.  The second half focused on the actual presentation itself.  Before he began he pulled out a cake and thanked us for sticking around so far.  He then offered us all cake, slicing Shad a piece nicely and putting it on a plate, he then walked over to Umi and offered him some.  When Umi accepted Dr. Bingham stuck his hand in the cake and slopped some onto the table in front of Umi.  Everyone was pretty surprised.  Then he asked what the difference on how he served them both was...presentation.  After the desk was cleaned up we all enjoyed some cake and heard a wonderful presentation.

Shad and Umi with their respective pieces of cake.

Trail Tales

Betty educating the group at the completed water front area.

    This evening Anna and I met up with the group from the Bikespot, my favorite little bike repair shop, and headed out with them on the Trail Tales Interpretive Ride.  It was led by Betty Kuehn and Betty Carteret and they educated the group on the history and cleanup of sites on the Anacortes shoreline.  It was really interesting.
      Anacortes boomed with lumber mills and shipping in a time when environmental impact wasn't even a thought.  Today they are reclaiming their waterfront and cleaning up past generations left behind pollution.  The Department of Ecology leads the project and has taken a bay-wide approach rather than individual sites.  They are focused on cleaning up toxins including, dioxins, furns, PCB's, heavy metals, wood debris, petroleum hydrocarbons and more.
     At the bottom of commercial in an area referred to as Dakota Creek we saw completed restoration and it was beautiful, they have replaced natural habitats long ago destroyed.   We then biked over to Randy's parking lot (a local restaurant) and looked at another cleanup site currently under renovation called the log haul out.

This area by Randy's, the old log haul out, is currently being restored.

      Next we went to Cap Sante Marine and the former Shell Oil tank farm where restoration has been completed.  It is now a beautiful waterfront area with walkways and inviting shoreline.

Betty addresses a captive audience at the Cap Sante and Shell Tank Farm Waterfront park area.

     Next we biked over to the old Custom Plywood Mill site that had served as a sawmill, wood box factory and plywood mill over the years.  It was a worked owned and operated factory over the years and apparently offered some of the best death benefits in the area.  Today is sits abandoned and all former owners are long gone and not liable for cleanup costs. They have already cleaned up an area where a stream meets the shore and created a wetland area.  There are more plans slated to start next summer to take out the decaying creosote dock and piling structures and to open up the wetland to create a larger intertidal area for marine life.

 Custom Plywood Mill site.

Eventually this old dock will all go but for now it looks pretty in the sunset.

        It was a fun evening ride, not too challenging but very informative.  The group of people was a great cross section of people and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.  Trail tales is usually a walk along the trail.  There are a few left this summer, hopefully I will have a chance to join future walks.
     The trail that we rode on for our last few spots is the Tommy Thompson Trail, the very same trail that runs over the trestle where our field work has been.  In fact the last stop of the night was at the west end of the trestle and the history of the bay was briefly discussed.
     I keep forgetting to mention that our very first day of field work as we re-grouped at the car we saw a wild weasel.  It was awesome!  I've never seen one before and honestly didn't realize we had them in Washington.

Stalking the biology department

     Monday I got up and headed to WWU to get all the questions I had formed over the weekend answered.  I got there long before the office opened and sat outside with my laptop working on data.  I did indeed get all my questions answered. 
     There was also a chance that there would be an outreach program on campus so I hung out until I got the official cancellation.
     I headed back to Shannon Point and took Chuckanut Drive.  At one point I just pulled over and worked on data for about an hour in my car enjoying the view.  Ah the joys of technology.

The frustrations of a new student.

     Friday I spent the day at Transitions at WWU, this is where all the transfer students get their ID's and registered as well as a wealth of information on college services and clubs.  That is the idea at least.  The first quarter a transfer student spends at WWU they are the last of the student body to register which means you really spend most of the day just trying to find classes that are open, meet your degree requirements, get override codes to be able to register for classes and pulling your hair.  Luckily I had Devin and Ranvir from WCC to help make the day a lot more tolerable.  We worked together, ran all over campus together and eventually each got at least one class that we needed.  Also I like my ID picture which is something.
   Happily I have an amazing partner and I returned home to a yard full of friends, the bbq going and a cold beer. We had a lot of fun and even ended up slip'n'sliding at midnight.  Thank goodness for Eric.
    After a weekend of thinking about it I believe I have a plan for fall quarter and I will waitlist a bunch of classes and I should get at least one of them.  I have a plan and hope.

Final trestle counts from a new direction and bubble making

West end of the trestle and Tommy Thompson Trail.

     Thursday found Dr. Dinnel, Dickson, a few other volunteers and myself at the opposite end of the trestle on the west side of Padilla Bay. 

     The end of the trestle site where we sampled runs along rocks after the end of the pilings, apparently the rocks were actually just placed over the existing pilings so they are still there leachig creosote into the bay.   We sampled both substrate and Olympia oysters as we have been  on the other end of the trestle using the same tools and procedures.  Instead of our usual sample pattern we sampled in the zone between the total mud and the rocky shore.  One group of three sampled either side of the trail from the end of the pilings every twenty feet for approximately 2000 feet.

Our side of the trail for sampling.

The quadrat, pole and bucket of science.

     Because we only took one sample in each location down the length of the trail it went much more quickly.  Also there was often less substrate though in some areas there were living Pacific oysters of amazing size.  Dr. Dinnel said they are probably 12-15 year old.  Just one would make a whole pot of oyster bisque!  I wouldn't eat them from this bay even though on the surface the west end looked less polluted than the east end.  The native Olympia oysters are fighters though, we often found them settled on living Pacific oysters.

Intrepid volunteers.

Dickson said my mom needed a good picture.

     In the evening it was time for discover scuba at the local pool with Nate Schwarck the dive safety officer at Shannon Point, and boat captain and and...... Even those with certification jumped at the chance to dive even if it was at the public pool.  We were pretty evenly split between certified divers and brand new folks who participated in discover scuba.  Those of us who are already certified buddied up and did skill review and had a blast.  I partnered with Umi and it was nice to go back over all those skills that you don't necessarily practice after you get your certification.  e even went as far as to remove all gear on the bottom, swim to the surface at pool side then free swim back down and replace all of our gear.  It was a joy to see all the smiling faces of the new divers, Kalia especially seemed to enjoy herself.   After three hours split between swimming, playing on the awesome water slide and scuba diving we were all exhausted and hit our beds shortly after returning to Shannon Point around 11.  This was the first time I utilized getting my WWU certification to drive the passenger vans and it was good to be able to help.  I was so excited I forgot my camera and am bummed about that, then the other waterproof camera stopped working so there aren't many pictures of the evening.  Anacortes has a really nice public pool by the way.

Back to the mud ie more field work! (7/18)

  

     Tides were low and it was time to head back to the trestle and finish up sampling in this area.  We had Annie, Anne, Nam and of course Dickson the tireless volunteer.  We finished up the shallower portions of our sampling areas well as a rock patch, a broken barge structure and mud flat all on the north side of the trestle. 

Olympia oysters settled on the a rock in the rock patch area.

     It was nice to find a fair amount of oysters settled in the rock pile among many other types of sea creatures.  Marine scientists can be a bit like children at times delighting in the simplest things such as turning over rocks and watching shore crabs scatter.  Of course we know to replace the rock as we found them but not until after some exploration of what lives on and under it.

Brave shore crab thought he had a chance against Nam.

Egg capsules, most likely invasive oyster drills.

     It was a muddy day that passed quickly as everyone knew what they were doing and we didn't get chased in by the tide.  It was fun watching everyone working to not get stuck in the mud and enjoying the weather.

Anne, Nam, Dickson and myself survey the barge structure

Muddy footprints outline our sample pattern.

    By the end of the day you could practically track our movements in the muddy footprints we left behind wherever we went.  Annie had nearly perfected her cross country skiing technique applied to mud flats and scooted around like an expert.

Dr. Dinnel and I at the end of the day.

Tide pooling (7/17)

     Today Crista and I went out again with Nate, Annie and Anne on an abalone survey.  While waiting to depart Shannon Point I chatted with Shad for a bit.  He is working with Dr. Bingham on anemones.  His outdoor tank has various levels of light and he carefully measures and places anemones then sees how far they move over time. 

Shad placing his light filtering system over the anemone tank.

One challenge Shad faces is how to count movement when the anemones split as they are apt to do.   How does he account for that in his findings of how far they have moved?

The bottom anemone is in the process of splitting. 

     Today was special for Anne and Annie as this was their first dive without Nate.  For the American Academy of Underwater Sciences (AAUS) scientific diving certification they were required to make a certain amount of dives with Nate which they had completed.  (I will be working towards this certification myself soon, the first step is my advanced open water course and rescue diver.)

Dive flags in the sun.

Divers below.

      After the ladies descended Nate dropped Crista and I off on the shore to tidepool and explore the intertidal zone.  Of course it is very rocky and there is no dock so he pulled amazingly close to rocks and we jumped for it.  We both managed to make it without falling in.  We had a blast exploring a beach so untouched by human hands, we found only some pvc wedged in rocks and a small inflatable boat that we saved.

Practicing in a small tidepool.

Isopods cuddle in a crack in the rock.

Isopods are somewhat prehistoric looking,

This little guy was hiding in the tide pool under algae I moved.

Gooseneck barnacle.

After the divers ascended and climbed back on the boat they came and picked us up off the rocks.  Again we took a leap of faith into the helping hands of our fellow students are were not disappointed.

The Fauna.

Happy divers.

Lazy Friday (7/13)

It was a lazy day Friday, there was some data work and then I headed up to Bellingham.  The most memorable part of the day for me was the amazing thunder and lightening storm that we got in the evening.  Eric and I drove down to the park at the end of Roeder Ave and just sat and watched.

     I didn't have my actual camera with me so I did the best I could with my phone.  Of all the pics I took not one actually captured lightening and I decided to just let go of technology and enjoy the experience.   Though these photos are pretty similar I like the way they capture the transition from dark and stormy to bright and sunny.

Abalone and turkey

Dive flags in the misty breeze.

     This morning Crista and I were lucky enough to join the abalone restoration team on the Zoea for a site survey.  It was a foggy grey day but that didn't deter the intrepid divers Nate, Anne and Annie, they surveyed a spot previously planted with juvenile abalone.  Not only did they find, count and measure abalone that had been out-planted but came across some of such a size that they must be wild.  A wonderful and encouraging find, a spot so well chosen even the wild abalone agree.

Nate, Anne and Ann preparing to descend.

Crista the photographer getting her photo snapped for once.

  They did two dives and completed their survey for the site.  Crista, Jay and I chatted in the dry warm cabin bravely awaiting their return.  You couldn't pry the smiles off Annie and Anne's faces when they returned.

Anne all smiles after the first dive.

Annie found a tagged out-plant that didn't make it.

     Though the sun kept threatening to show up it only really came out a few minutes from the marina.  It is always breathtaking to watch the fog burn off the water and reveal all it has been hiding.  During our journey we were briefly joined by both a seal and a few porpoises at different times.

The weather cleared on our way back to the marina.

     Anne is also researching diet options for juvenile abalone and her "babies" just came in to the lab yesterday.  I stopped by the lab to check them out and was surprised just how tiny they are, just a few mm.

Anne's baby abalone. (It is red, the green on the bottom is algae.)

     This evening nearly everyone got together and had Thanksgiving in July.  It all came together very well, we feasted like royalty and laughed a lot.  It was a really wonderful evening with people I am really grateful to have had a chance to meet and get to know.

Umi captured the group nicely.

Anne graciously mauled the bird for us.

Chad and Umi debating some point or another.