Beam Reach

Hellllllo!  This is my first post (kudos to Scott for setting me up!).  In little under a month I will be returning to San Juan Island as a Naturalist for San Juan Safaris (SJS).  I’m very excited.  In the mean time, I have papers to write and finals to take!  It’s always great reaching the end of spring semester, especially with 75-80 degree weather to remind you that you’re almost finished!  Anywhoo.  I just wanted to give this thing a whirl…..more to come! Over and out,Nicole   

Sailing dinghy sighted at Friday Harbor Labs!

Row boats have graced the docks of the Friday Harbor Labs for many decades. To me, they have always offered a heart-warming counterpoint to the academic intensity of the Labs. After a day spent inside studying the oceans’ creatures with pipettes, microscopes, and computers, the row boat fleet beckons to the simple scientist, offering a chance to reconnect physically with the sea, marine history, and maritime language. An added appeal of the row boats is the possibility of making it to town or around the Harbor under your own power.

This spring, thanks to the good fortune and generosity of Beam Reach instructor Jason Wood, a wind-powered vessel supplemented the maritime scene down on the FHL docks. Jason inherited a sailing dinghy this winter from a neighbor on the west side of the Island. With a little rust-busting assistance from instructor Val Veirs, the mighty (little) Ciprid was deployed for the first time this spring as a sail training vessel.

So, Beam Reach students now have two ways to experience sustainable transport technologies and to train for navigating our 42′ sailing research vessel, the Gato Verde. I’m pleased these intrepid vessels are available to strengthen our curriculum early in each program.

A Friday Harbor Phenomenon

I am amazed and refreshed not to find a McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy’s, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, or even a Subway on any of the San Juan Islands. I know for sure because I checked on google maps. I was wondering what makes the town itself look so…pure? (I can’t think of a better word) and the absence of those “golden arches” really makes a difference. While I am a big fan of a lot of fast foods, especially Wendy’s mandarin chicken salad and taco bell chalupas and most subway concoctions, I didn’t even notice they were missing until I thought about it just now after reading parts of “The Omnivore’s Dilemma”by Michael Pollan. I suggest it to anyone who is or has ever been curious about food.

J Pod part II

       Much of this week has been spent closing in on our research proposals which were originally due this morning. However, the whales had their own ideas about how things would go this week. After getting a call about whales off of San Juan again. We quickly got our stuff together, packed some quick lunches from the dining hall and ran to meet the Western Prince at the dock to go on a whale watch. Since there was not enough room in the car for five students and two instructors, Ryan and I went by bike.

On a side note riding to and from town is in my opinon the best way to get there. Although it might be easier at times to row, riding is much more enjoyable working your way through the hilly roads into town. Coming back much of the road is downhill which makes for a great ride. Also, I’ve always enjoyed getting around by bike when and where possible.  But I’m getting a little side tracked…back to the whales.

After a seemingly short ride out of the harbor and around the island to where the whales were we finally got there. We were not alone. There was another whale watch boat getting there as we did and more soon showed up. There was also a research boat studing the whales. When the whales are sighted word travels fast and it seems like so many people drop what they are doing to see the whales if they can. Once again it was J Pod, which is the same group as last time. There were certainly noticable differences between sightings. The first time we saw them they were travelling slowly in a very widely spread out group. This time they were slowly milling back and forth in a much closer group.

Seeing them from the water was a great experience for us. It allowed us to get familiar seeing them from a boat for one. Also, it gave us an idea of how close 100 yards from the whales is. Since we need to stay 100 yards or more away at all times due to the whale wise regulations it was important for us to get that concept in our heads. Even from 100 yards you can still get a very impressive view of these creatures. The one slightly disappointing thing about the sighting was the lack of vocals. Twice a hydrophone was dropped of the boat, but it both cases we heard only silence from the whales.

Although J Pod was certainly the highlight of the trip, there was more to come. On the way back we saw porpoises, harbor seals, stellar sea lions, a bald eagle, and oystercatchers. All in all it was a pretty good day. As for our research proposals, they were still waiting for us when we returned. Due to the change in plans our instructors were kind enough to push the deadline to Thursday morning. Now all of us are hard at work finishing them up before the end of the day. Speaking of which I need to get back to mine now that I have spent enough time telling everyone about our exciting second encounter with the whales.

Proposals and rocky shorelines

Going into the second week I think some of us are a little nervous about our initial research proposals which are due Wednesday morning. The good news is most of us our narrowing in on our topics. I still have some uncertainty on mine, however I am leaning towards the vocalizations made during socializing in southern residents. Now I just need to see if I can narrow it down to specifics and define the behaviors I am looking at.

As for the local area I am loving it more and more. This weekend a bunch of us went into town to check out the whale museum which was really well done and had a really nice exhibit set up on acoustics so that we could quiz ourselves on specific orca calls. Then Sunday I went over to Orcas island with some other people from the lab and poked around on the beaches there for a while. Digging around in the rocky inter-tidal zone to see what can be found can be really interesting. Although sandy beaches are really nice, rocky shorelines offer a lot more fun in my opinion. Below is a little something I did while killing time on the beach last week.

Just Luffing

So far, I’ve seen a pod of killer whales, multiple harbor seals, harbor porpoises, and columbian black-tailed dear, a river otter, and the two foxes that just trotted through my field of vision as i sit here at my laptop in my dorm room, which looks out to the waters of Friday Harbor. As an Arkansan, this is pretty exciting (we don’t often see many of those species back home). The kicker is that this is only day five of my two month stay here in the San Juans.

On the first day, we went to Lime Kiln State Park and played around with hydrophones as well as with our intial questions about killer whales. Furthermore, I was deemed seaworthy as a level 1 rower…

On day two, I discovered my preference for riding a bike into town. Me and my classmates tried out our non-existent rowing skills and made it across the harbor into Friday Harbor in a matter of half an hour. There we were greeted by Popeye the harbor seal, something of a celebrity in the marina. Our trip home went much more smoothly, and we made it back in half the time it took to get there initially. However, I’m still sold on using the bikes to get to town because you only have to worry about propelling yourself and not three other people.

On day three, our class time was interrupted by news of J pod’s arrival. Anxious to get a first glimpse at our study subjects (including accompanying whale-watching vessels) we high-tailed it to Lime Kiln and spent two hours watching and listening to the killer whales as they passed by and out of sight.

Today I got my first taste of sailing and, as noted in my biographic section, it’s sure to be my new favorite thing to do. I can say for certain that it beats rowing.

So that’s just a highlighted version of my first week here in Washington. There is way more that I could say, so I’ll be doing my best to add stuff as it comes this week…

more soon…

J Pod Welcomes us to Washington

      So we just finished an intense first week at Beam Reach. Our first day way was spent touring the labs and taking in the view from scenic Lime Kiln State Park on the west side of San Juan Island. Our second day became even more exciting as we got our first sighting of Orcas. J Pod was along the west side and we were able to get over there in time to see them from a distance of about 1/2 a mile or so. Even at that distance we were able to clearly hear their blows when they came to the surface. It was an exciting way for the whales to welcome us to washington.

Since then we’ve been doing a lot of work with the math and physics of sound and learning about the differences between sound in the air and sound in the water. As someone who hasn’t been in a physics or math course in a while it was very good for me to relearn all these important concepts. I’m sure they will ocme in very handy in the coming weeks.

Today we also got an introduction to sailing and underwater acoustics off of the back dock. Using a little dingy we each sailed out and back. We also used an underwater speaker to play sounds underwater and record them to practice sound analysis this weekend. During the playback a seal popped up near the dock perhaps curious to see what these new sounds were. All in all it was a good way to wrap up the final week of work here.

One thing I love is the atmosphere of the small island community. As someone who has spent most of his life on Cape Cod I would like to consider myself a small town islander but in reality the development of the Cape in recent years has caused it to move away from that small town feeling. Only Nantucket and the Vineyard still come close. However, here in Friday Harbor everyone is friendly and there is a feeling of trust. Nothing around the lab is locked and the town is equally  picturesque. As for the scenery, it can’t be beat. With rocky shorlines coming downing to meet the chilly blue waters of the Pacific Northwest its easy to feel at home on the island. In the distance mountains loom adding to the overall effect. I’m greatly looking forward to the coming weeks.

Another exciting thing about living here is the wildlife. As I write this two foxes just ran across the grass in front of my window. In addition to that I’ve seen quite a few black tailed deer along the way and a bald eagle on the way to Lime Kiln our first day. Looking out over the water it is not uncommon to see a seal looking back at you. One seal in particular might come say hello when rowing into town. His name is Popeye due to the fact he is blind in one of his eyes. Our first time rowing into town he came right up to the dock as we tied up our boat and said hello before swimming off again. This weekend I am looking forward to doing some trail running through the woods near the lab.

As for my specific research project I haven’t quite narrowed it down yet. I first wanted to do something with the effect of sonar on orcas but realized that logistically might pose some difficulties. I was also interested in differences in calls between specific age groups but localizing the calls to a specific whale of known age could prove difficult. It seems like every time I come across a new paper I come up with more possibilities and it fuels my motivation. Hopefully this weekend I will be able to narrow it down more. In the mean time I still have some papers I am interested in reading.

a succesful tack!

Today we practiced sailing on Jason’s little dingy the Cyprid, as well as testing out how to use the hydrophones and underwater speaker. There was a seagull listening near by, and when he heard the S1 call from the speaker on deck I heard him start to cawk at it- Seabird and Orca communication!

It was so much fun! It really is the best way to sail- and Dominique and I were able to successfully tack on our voyage- which faced perils such as the massive ferry heading full speed towards us (from 1/2 mile away)- but thanks to our tacking techniques we were able to dodge just in the nick of time!

Lindsay and I also poked an anemone off the side of the dock- it sucked our finger and we got Ryan to touch it too! What a wonderful way to end the week! 

FINALLY!

Well, Friday Harbor is gorgeous-similar to Bar Harbor, though, as many people have eluded to, the mountains here are truly impressive and rather dwarf the entire northeast. Being so close to the water here on campus is also a huge perk-certainly one that I could never take for granted. The campus is apparently home to lots of different creatures which unabashedly wander past Laura, Lindsay, and my duplex-like river otters! Despite their local reputation, I find them adorable.

The program itself has proven to be well worth the loans and the scrambling for extra money so far. First of all because we saw orcas from J-pod on the second day here!!! That event pretty much cleared up any qualms I may have had-ever. Second, the opportunity to examine orcas from a new perspective-acoustics-is very exciting. Thus far I have observed whales and their behaviors at the surface, and as exciting as that has been, I’ve only been privy to an extremely small percent of their lives; a weighty “but what happens now” questioning has always persisted in the back of my mind as the whales dove out of sight. This experience allows for the opportunity to scratch the surface of that question via acoustics…which are more complicated than I had hoped by the way. My complete lack of prior experience in this area of marine science has left me slightly intimidated to be perfectly honest, but also excited to gain a new perspective and hopefully acquire new as well as improved skills.
The next step is to establish my research question. While I have many, feasibility has become quite the issue. I am most motivated to examine a topic whose results can have management implications, as southern residents are endangered, or at least serve as a starting point for others more invested in killer whale conservation. Essentially…I want to shed some light on an aspect of killer whale life history which can be used, ideally to establish management regulations somewhere in the near future. While this may be naive and too far-reaching for a 10-week study by a beginner acoustician, I can’t see my motivations straying much.
Finally, I’m excited for this program as it has great potential to answer many “life questions”, you know, provide some of that clarity stuff-if anything prove where my expertise lie, or not as the case may be, as well as let me check off a bunch of things on my list of “things to do before I die.”

island hopping

I have finally made it to the third corner of the country, to another island. I have bounced from Mount Desert Island to Lido Key and now to San Juan Island, so I now consider myself an official island hopper. I like it.

It’s been only a week since I’ve been here, but I already love it. I can’t wait to explore more of the island and what the lab has to offer- rocky coasts are for me. It’s also quite odd how this place reminds me so much of Maine yets fascinates me with its new things at the very same time. The town is laid back, friendly, and kept unlocked just like bar harbor, there are small mountain “hills”, farms, and the lighthouse, and the labs are very much like the COA campus, from the dining hall, the trails, the dock, the library porch, the rope swing and hidden benches, the random labs you can get lost in looking at all the cool things, to the overall “camp” like feeling – and everyone seems to love being here.

But I even love the differences more- the Olympic mountains off in the horizon, the giant bull kelp along shore, the row boats (I LOVE the roat boats), the blooming cherry trees, the river otters and blacked tailed deer roaming all over the lab campus, and the fact that everyone runs to the west side when they hear the orca calls on the radio- something I already got to experience. I also know this is a place I’ll love when I see all the marine biology dorks get together and get excited about seaweed and marine slugs – I want to know all the species of everything on this island!!

It’s also refreshing to get back into class mode since last fall- even though I am scratching my head over all the math and physics of acoustics – I feel I really am going to learn something out of all this, and be able to use it in the future- at the moment now it comes down to deciding on what question to research for my project- I’ve got it narrowed down pretty well at the moment, but more reading to do first.

And thinking that it would be at least a month until I saw orcas, lo and behold we saw J pod on April Fool’s day! (no joke). We just happened to check out the streamlining hydrophones on the website due to Dominique’s insistence 🙂 and after hearing them we went as quick as we could to the West side and Lime Kiln- Val told me, why don’t you check out by that boat in your binoculars- and sure enough I spotted my first Orca! we saw a good number of J pod individuals about 1/2 a mile away- this is only the beginning too!

here’s a picture of our first sighting- kind of far away but I was just excited!! and we could listen to them too while we heard them