Kailey - Tidepooling and getting muddy.

    
     Lately I find myself spending a fair amount of time with my data which isn't exciting at all to read about so until it is I will skip recanting my excel adventures and stick to the more exciting adventures.
      Tuesday Crista and I went out again with the abalone crew, the weather was beautiful and spending the morning on the water was fabulous. 

The Fauna

    It was an exciting day as Anne and Annie had finished their required dives with Nate as an instructor and were diving just the two of them.

Divers below.

     After Annie and Anne descended to the abalone site Nate dropped Crista and I off on Allen Island to tidepool and explore the intertidal areas.   It was exciting to jump from the bow to the rocks and then back again when our time was over, contrary to the voices in my head neither Crista or I ended up in the water. 

Practicing over/unders in a tiny tidepool.

Run little guy!

A singular gooseneck barnacle we found,

   It was really nice to explore a beach so untouched by humans.  We only discovered two signs of humanity, a piece of pvc wedged way back in the rocks and a small inflatable boat that had washed up, which we rescued.  We had a great time exploring and watching the hordes of isopods flee from our approach.

The trestle is a popular local bike trail, the Tommy Thompson Trail.

      Wednesday was our last day of fieldwork at the end of the trestle that we had been working on.  Dr. Dinnel and I were joined by Anne, Annie, Nam, and Dickson a tireless volunteer.

Data sample areas as seen in muddy footprints.

We rounded out our data, collecting from shallower areas as well as a rock patch, mud flat and broken barge structure that all sit on the north side of the trestle.

Nam, Anne, Dickson and myself survey the barge site.

Olympia oysters settled on a rock in the rock pile.

Egg capsules, most likely of the invasive Japanese oyster drill.

     We made short work of our day with so many experienced volunteers.  Though we have gotten good at counting substrate and identifying Olympia oysters we still all seem to get pretty muddy by the end of the day.
     Thursday found Dr. Dinnel, Dickson, a few other volunteers and myself at the opposite end of the trestle.

The west end of the trestle and Tommy Thompson Trail.

     The western end of the trestle site where we sampled runs along rocks after the end of the pilings.  Though we sampled both substrate and Olympia oysters as we have been we sampled in the zone between the total mud and the rocky shore.  One group sampled either side of the trail from the end of the pilings every twenty feet for approximately 2000 feet.

Our side of the trail.

The quadrat, pole and bucket of science.

Intrepid volunteers.

Dickson insisted I needed a picture for my mom.

     In the evening it was time for discover scuba at the local pool with Nate Schwarck.  We were pretty evenly split between certified divers and brand new folks.  Those of us 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.  It was also a joy to see all the smiling faces of the new divers.   After three hours split between swimming, playing on the awesome water slide and SCUBA diving we all slept well and soon after our return to Shannon Point.
   Friday I spent the day at WWU at transitions attempting to get registered and getting my student ID.  Thank goodness two of my friends from WCC were there as well and we were able to share our frustrations at being last to register and not being able to get classes.   I have a plan and hope.