Sam’s Blog

Today was amazing! Action packed and very busy. After breakfast we all met at the docks where we were split into groups and loaded onto two boats that took us to look at marine wildlife. My group started at the lake near the head of the island, which is actually where bodies of fresh and salt water mix. We took temperatures of the water and measured the salinity to see how it changes along the length of the lake. We also took some samples of plankton – we’ll be using them in the lab tomorrow!

From there we went on a fun cruise on the outside of the island to look at some sea lions. They were adorable and some of the class decided they looked like sea sausages as they flopped around on the rocks. They appeared fairly tame but they made a lot of noise when we called out to them!

That was only the first half of the day: after lunch we took a walk on the beach of north Bamfield. There were sea creatures in little tide pools everywhere and since it was nearly low tide we actually got to see all of them in their natural habitat. We also got to look at the “blow hole” of the island, which is the point where the ocean waves hit a cliff and comes shooting up like a whale’s blow hole. It was a really rocky journey to get there but looking down into the area that all the water was funneled into and spewed up was really fun.

Overall I think my legs got a really good workout today with all the walking – it was worth it though! It’ll be really interesting to see what we find in the plankton samples.

-          Sam

Sam is a grade 11 student at City School at King George Secondary in Vancouver’s West End. She and three of her schoolmates are able to take part in an exciting adventure to the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre on the west coast of Vancouver Island due to the support of the Hollyburn Helps fund. This is her third blog entry from the trip.