Lime Kiln Sunset

So there was some sort of event happening out at Lime Kiln at sunset today. So I said, what the heck, let's go and went. There were no whales but there were free tours of the light house and a gorgeous sunset. I only brought my cell phone camera, but was able to create some very interesting settings using my rose-tinted glasses (I have real ones, I swear!)

Lime Kiln Naturalists

The main highlight of today was the multiple field trips--and the surprise visitors! To start off the day, we went down to Lime Kiln State Park to learn about the history of the lighthouse as well as about Orcas from specialist Bob Otis! A fellow Wisconsinite, Bob Otis comes from Ripon College and has studied the Orcas here for longer than I've been alive!

So, during the lecture I learned that Orcas are cool. This was not a surprise. I learned some new stuff, but most of it was stuff that I already knew. I am learning (however slowly)!

After that, we had a lecture on geology. I had no idea that you could get so much interesting history from the rocks here! Apparently, the San Juan Islands (or at least the land that would become the San Juans) started out as part of Baja and the South Pacific. Also, there were a TON of glaciers here.

After the lecture we went off on a geology field trip.

Look at the basalt

Very nice basalt

 But then, who did we see but...

And then the entire field trip went off the rails. Of course, it's us, isn't it?

Only one problem: we couldn't identify who we were seeing.

It was a huge mystery. We heard that it was the L-22s, but they were missing Mega!

But then we started looking at the female's fins

They were super pointy--too pointy to be Residents

 And then we realized--these were the transients (the T-30s, to be exact (but we didn't find that out till much later))!

And they had their little one-year old with them!

The baby's in the middle. What a cutie!

We continued on with our field trip, however, making tracks from Lime Kiln to South Beach (and American Camp). After it ended, there was a notice--the L-22s were headed down towards the island and could be there in a couple of hours?

Intern Michael (my fellow education intern) offered to drive a couple of us non-car people out to Lime Kiln to wait. And wait we did--over four hours!

We were joined by Michael's parents and sister, who were visiting the island. They were also accompanied by dinner. They are a kind and noble people, Michael's family--super generous as well (and I'm not just saying this because my stomach was filled)!

The Lime Kiln Lighthouse

And then we saw them, highlighted against the rays of the dying sun. Unfortunately, this is the only picture that isn't completely blurred that I managed to capture.

But it was the L-22s~!

Orca Sing

Not only did I work the morning shift at the gift shop today, but I also went to Orca Sing. What is Orca Sing? It's a festival where a couple of bands play at Lime Kiln State Park--and luckily for us, the whales were out during the show! That hasn't happened for over three years!

 

There were two whales, a male and a female. You can tell the male by his long, straight fin and the female by her more curved (and shorter) fin.

The male

The female

Soundwatch was out as well!

It's likely that these two whales are somewhat related--mother and child, grandmother and grandson, or sister and brother.

And there was Oliver, as well!

Kelp!

Thar She Blows!

Well, after a long absence of over five days, the whales have returned! L pod was sighted today off the coast of Lime Kiln. While I had today off, Cindy has just gotten new foster kittens and they were at the museum, so I headed over. During that time, we heard over the broadcasted hydrophones--the whales were near!

We all packed into the car and drove to Lime Kiln where we saw L pod coasting along. I did not have my camera with me, but I saw a bitty baby!

Splashing into the museum

Rather than slowly easing into the job on the first day, I decided to make a splash! Well, it wasn’t really my decision, but I’m glad it was done. After manning the touch table in the morning (more on that later), Carrie and I headed down to Lime Kiln State Park where the second graders of San Juan Island were having a field trip. There were several stations, and I only help manned two, but it was really interesting to see the programming, and also learn as well!

For the programming, we focused on how boat engines interfere with orca communication by grouping the kids into “Orcas” and “boats” and then creating different settings, such as Orcas with no boats, Orcas with noisy boats, and Orcas with polite boats. It helped the kids realize the difference and need for the protection and laws associated with whale watching.

My focus in life is museum education; basically teaching kids about what’s in the museum and doing fun activities along with it. I have little to no background in marine animals, marine biology, or marine anything, and so I’m taking this opportunity to work at the Whale Museum as a challenge. Right now, I’ve got about three or four books on marine mammals and identification guides for San Juan Island on my nightstand and I skim parts of them before bed. I’m used to knowing what I’m looking at, be it out the window, on my walk, or out the car, so I’ve been rather rattled by only being able to identify poplars and the fact that ‘that tree is a conifer’ and the like. I really need to bone up on this information. And that’s not even including my dearth of knowledge on whales.

As Mom said, it’s going to be a steep learning curve for me, but I’m positive I can make it. And sometime soon it will be I giving the lectures on baleen whales vs. toothed whales and what exactly a pinniped is in the upstairs of the Whale Museum. Soon it will be me…

Welcome to Friday Harbor

So after a harrowing 27-28 hours of travel, I finally made it to Friday Harbor. I will refrain from telling you the harrowing tale of sleeping in a strange airport, the unnatural taste of strong coffee, and a leaking shampoo bottle, but know that I really am not fond of airports. Next time I'm getting a non-stop flight!

Everyone I've talked to about this trip has mentioned how much the scenery is astounding, breath-taking and a variety of other positive verbs. I am very sorry to admit that rather than look at the scenery all around me, I was out like a light the entire ride to the ferry.

So, I hopped on the ferry and what did I see but cormorants! I'm not sure if I mentioned it in my previous travel blog about Japan, but when I went to Uji, I got to see the fishing cormorants used in ceremonies. These were certainly much freer that the ones before!

So, the ferry was taken and soon we arrived at Friday Harbor, the place I'm working this summer! We were met by Cindy, my boss, and taken to our new home where we met our landlord and got groceries. But who is this 'we,' you ask. There is actually another intern called Kate who is working in another program but staying at the same house. It was practically serendipity that we met--we didn't know each other but we met at the airport and were on the same ferry! After the house, we quick stopped by the whale museum to take a look at what was in store for us. I'll go into detail in a later post, but what I've seen is STUPENDOUS!

And look at that marvelous sign!

Then Cindy got a call -- the whales were moving inward towards the shore! We jumped into the car and raced towards Lime Kiln point. There, we waited with bated breath...and waited...and waited.

While waiting, I took pictures

And then we saw them! They were in resting mode, which means that they had half their brains turned off and so were periodically bobbing up and down to get air, but weren't really active. It was amazing. Kate and I had only been on the island for under two hours and we had already seen whales. It was spectacular!

Unfortunately, my battery had died, so there are none of my photos of whales. I may grab some from the others who were photographing as well and add them in. But it was amazing.