Day 8 - Back to South Cove

There was a -0.8' low tide this morning (Sat 5/11) and we didn't want to waste it, so we headed back to South Cove, Cape Arago, where the students did an field exercise on tide pools.  They surveyed tide pools at different elevations and of different sizes and volumes to see if there were any differences in their temperature and pH.  I wish we had a portable dissolved oxygen meter, but alas, this is not a perfect world...but it was near perfect today.

Low tide was at close to 8am so students could "sleep in" and still go to breakfast at the scheduled time of 7am.  They (and I) were thrilled about that.

It was a super-fantastic day at South Cove.  The sun burned through the clouds about the same time we arrived, so we had a sunny day and calm seas.  We spent three glorious hours there...working and poking around.

First, the work...The class started looking for tide pools low in the intertidal zone and worked their way up.  The class was divided into two groups today, and each group surveyed 10 tide pools.

 A tide pool survey team moves off.  Doesn't it just do your heart good to see a group of BYU-Idaho students doing things like this?  I feel all warm inside :-)

Patrick and Ty in search of tide pools with hermit crabs...the right kind of hermit crabs, that is.

 L-R: Kristin, Bailey, Tony, Daniel, Blake working a tide pool.

Jessica and Daniel measure the vertical elevation of a tide pool.  

Before long, here comes Dallas with a lucky find.  It's dead, but it's cool - a small Giant Pacific Octopus.

We ran into a biology professor from the local community college, and he told us that he'd been observing a few gray whales just outside of the kelp bed off of the point.  By the time we got there, they were gone.

And looked...but no luck - maybe fishing boats (not shown) scared them off...sigh.

By the end of our time there, some class members were getting pretty steamy in their waders and other gear, so they waded in to lose some heat.  Here's Tony cooling down.

Time to go, but not before a little posing on the beach.

L-R: Jessica, Lindsey, Bailey, Mackenzie, Elysa, Blake, Dallas, Daniel, Kristin, and Tony (in the background.)

And so it was time to go.  I have to admit that I didn't really want to leave, but we needed to get back for lunch.

Even photographs really fail to capture the beauty of Oregon's south coast.
(c) 2013 Alan Holyoak

While the class was working I realized that I'd been working the class pretty hard, so I gave the class the rest of Saturday off.

Before we left Dallas returned from an exploration of the south shore of South Cove with a score.  He found a red sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus fransiscanus.  As he was showing it around he said, "Don't worry, I took a picture of it in its natural habitat before I ripped it off the rock."

We made one quick stop on the way home at a scenic overlook of Simpson's Reef.  That was fun because there is a small colony of sea lions there.

 Rookery beach at Simpson's Reef, Oregon

After lunch the class did everything from make runs into town to laundry to napping to research.  We all needed an afternoon off.  I didn't know how much we needed it until we took the time off.

This evening after dinner three students showed up at my cottage door.  A Blake discovered a harbor seal pup on the beach just a few minutes walk from the lab.  It's possible that it could be stranded, so after checking it out (visually from afar) I called the Oregon Marine Mammal network.  The recording stated that there is no recovery system in place for seals or sea lions, and that state policy is to let nature take its course.

Here are L-R: Mackenzie, Elysa, Lindsey, Patrick, Daniel,  and Lindsey with the small pup on the beach.

This is the youngest harbor seal pup I've ever seen.  We all hope that it is just resting, 

This is one cutie, but no matter how cute a marine mammal might be, all marine mammals are protected, and harassing them (including getting too close) is violation of a federal law.  Keep your distance.

Some class members stayed on the beach for quite a while watching the seal and the sunset.  It was an amazing sunset this evening.  And week one of the BYU-Idaho Marine Biology Field Experience is a wrap.

Good work everyone!