Getting started

We spent all weekend doing a lot of planning for our experiments and we're finally getting started! We've decided to use the small, bushy algae, Dictyota, for our kelp plots because we've found that it houses a lot of larger invertebrates that we'd be able to identify after the experiment. We collected enough Dictyota today for 7 plots to go out tomorrow and we're planning to get them out in the morning. Small bunches will be placed on a mesh screen and secured to the bottom with rocks to observe which species colonize in 18 days.

We also got approval from Dr. Gordon today for our physiology project to continue forward, but are finding that we don't have enough time to balance both for right now. We're planning on putting our algae plots out and then really get going on our algal preference experiment. We collected 5 wavy turban snails (Lithopoma undosa) during our dive yesterday and they're huge. They have so much algae already on them that the other snails spend all day sitting on their shells eating.

We've been seeing so many small island foxes while eating dinner and such, they're too cute not to share. Smaller than a house cat, these little foxes are so cool to watch run around and get scared by the feral cats. 

Island Fox (Urocyon littoralis)

We also took a team Valkayeri hike over halfway to Two Harbors yesterday and stumbled upon some really cool views. Valerie and Kaylee decided to dig into the cactus fruits, I just got spiked by them. It was awesome seeing out of the cove and looking back at the mainland, not missing it one bit! Although it was cloudy on Saturday for the Orionid meteor shower, we were able to hike up the hill behind the dorms and watch some meteors last night with a few other people. It was so clear and we could see so many stars it was so refreshing to be out in nature with other people who love and appreciate it. Keeping our heads up for the long work days coming up but when you're scuba diving and setting up your own research projects can you even call it work? I like to think not. Thanks for reading y'all!

Bird Rock in front of Ship Rock from above the Wrigley Cove. If you know anything about birds you know why Bird Rock is white!

Left to Right: Two Harbors moorings, Fourth of July cove, Cherry Cove, and Lion's Head at the point. Right inside Lion's Head is where we placed our markers for our plots today and they'll be going out on Wednesday.