MBFE Weds 5/8/2019 - Back to South Cove, Cape Arago State Park

Tuesday afternoon we spent a couple of hours discussion strategies intertidal marine organisms have for dealing with water flow forces, as well as desiccation stresses, etc.  And today we had the best low tide so far (-1.0' MLLW) and fantastic weather so we headed to South Cove, Cape Arago State Park, where I cut the group loose to look for examples of the strategies we discussed the previous day. 

It was still cloudy when we arrived around 8am, but within an hour the fog and clouds burned off and we had an absolutely lovely, sunny, warm and calm day.  Students were not assigned to research teams, but they are always expected to use the buddy system while at the shore - just for safety.

Here Hunter, Collin, Chey and Liv head out toward the rocky shore.

It didn't take long for Victoria to make a lucky find, though the crab got her back with a nasty pinch to the thumb.  Victoria handled it with grace and a smile.  And, of course, other class members wanted to meet this crab as well...

 

Chey...

Liv...

Collin...

It's always fun to me to watch the MBFE students develop friendships and meld into a working team during the field experience.  Some friendships that start here can last a lifetime.

Here are Hunter, Michelle, Maddy and Jen clowning around with a bull kelp.

Anne, Caleb and Sam explore the lower intertidal zone.

And here Collin, Jen, Victoria, Maddy and Emma share a discovery.

After spending a couple of productive hours at South Cove, we decide to strike out on an adventure and work our way around the point between South Cove and Middle Cove.  

This requires not a small amount of scrambling over rocks and pools.  It was fun though.

We made it to Middle Cove.  Interestingly, South Cove is a protected rocky shore, while Middle Cove is an exposed rocky shore, and so has different things to offer.

These are the kinds of experiences that the MBFE students remember for the rest of their lives.

Normally, we have lecture in the afternoon after a morning like this, but the weather was simply fantastic, so I released the students to enjoy the sunny, warm weather on the Oregon coast (a relatively rare thing).  I later learned I would have had to cancel class anyway because there was a scheduled power outage at the lab that I knew nothing about.  Serendipity!

Not to worry, I have a full day planned for tomorrow.