Day 23 - Rainy Days and Mondays...

...don't get us down when the tide is low - I mean, really low!  The low tide this morning was -2.2'.  Woot!  That's enough to make a marine biologist's heart sing.  We weren't about to waste it.

Elysa and Mackenzie left before breakfast to collect data for a project they've been wanting to get to.  They want to know about the genetic ratio of blue to brown shelled mussels at a site we visited earlier on the trip, and they finally found time to look into it.

Jessica and Bailey left right after breakfast to collect data for their plankton study.

Most of the rest of us headed off to Bastendorf Beach.  Before you start thinking we were going to have "a day at the beach" you should know that a front blew in over the weekend making this day gray, wet, and windy.  There were small; craft advisories out, and sustained winds of at least 35mph.  Still, the outing was a MAJOR success...just ask Dallas and Daniel.

 "A Day at the the Beach"

-2.2' low tide, Bastendorf Beach, Oregon

Dallas and Daniel, "The Octopus Hunters"

Dallas spotted another octopus in a tide pool, and they would not be denied.  They ended up removing the rocks (er...boulders) from a rock pool and then used a bucket to empty the pool so they could find the octopus.

It is now the class pet.  It has since been named "Roxanne"...don't ask me why, but I think both of those guys went to bed with grins still on their faces.

Dallas and "Roxanne"

The octopus is about 18" long, and is fun.  It will be taken back to its tide pool in a few days.

Blake and I, in the meantime, went down to South Cove to catch the low tide there.  We didn't find any octopus there, but even with the wind and rain it was a good outing.

This is what our day looked like.  Even so, when the tide is low, you go.  Blake told me that this is work, but that it's really fun so it's not like work at all.  

We spent a couple of hours after lunch in a lecture about polar marine systems, mainly Antarctica, and we wrapped up the class day with a 7pm class meeting where students shared some of the reading they've been doing for their projects - this is for their Readings in Biology credit.

And that's a wrap!  

Stay tuned for more adventures of the BYU-Idaho Marine Biology Field Experience.