2013 Sea Camp Tuesday
With All-hallows eve a week away,
fog blanketed Fiesta Island with an embrace that repelled the sun’s rays and
cast the Sea Camp compound in perpetual gloom.
After the high energy and sunshine of our first day at La Jolla Shores, the
atmosphere mimicked the sleepiness that seeped from the campers and spread
through the soul of Mission Bay. Even
the wafting sent of hash browns and eggs in the air couldn’t pry the clinging
sleep from the eyes of the most enthusiastic Sea Camper. Eventually, grumbling tummies and full
bladders alerted everyone that the second day of Sea Camp had arrived.
Despite the depressing setting,
bellies full of the best breakfast foods soon spurred our hearts to pound our
brains into action. On the docket today
is hag fish slime, shark skin, and fish dissection at fish lab in the morning
and the promise of snorkeling /seining at Mission point in the afternoon. Among the various fish studied in the fish
lab is the adorable hag fish. This
endearingly cute creature lives in the deepest depths of the ocean and has a
unique way of preserving and protecting their favorite foods in Davey Jones’s
locker, it slimes it with mucus.
Yum! No joke, these things will
coat the carcass of a dead whale on the ocean floor with mucus slime so thick
that no sent can escape. Now this slime
has many other fascinating uses, for instance Nikko showed us how effective it
is as a hair gel. Nothing says yes I
will go to prom with you like a head full of hag fish slime. On a side not and even more shocking, we had
a Slavens Sea Camp first at last night’s invertebrates lab. Isabella actually ate one of the dissection squid. I am willing to eat almost anything, but
there is no way that I am getting one of those things down. Props to Isabella! OK, back to today’s work. The other cool learning experience is the mackerel
dissection. Future scientists had fun
ripping the heart out “like an Aztec sacrifice” and opening the stomach to see
what the warden gave the fish for their last meal.
Speaking of food, it’s off to
mission point for lunch so we donned our newly purchased navy blue Sea Camp
hoodies and our swim trunks and piled
into the vans for the fifteen van drive, I mean rave, to the spot where the
ocean meets Misson Bay, Mission Point. By
the way, did you know that all San Diego radio stations are “all about that
base, ‘bout that base, ‘bout that base, no treble”? Every 4 minutes or so.
After a quick lunch of
sandwiches, cookies, and sprout ball it was time for snorkeling.
Mission point is the ideal
location for introducing snorkeling because it provides relatively calm area
that still has the biodiversity of the local Pacific waters. Many species of fish and invertebrates use
these protected waters as a nursery for their young so there is plentiful
marine life that can be seen by simply floating along the surface of the
water. We again squeezed into our 8mm
thick neoprene skin with the addition of hooded vests to guard against the
inevitable chill of the 73 degree salt water that would soon engulf us and
fins, masks, and snorkels. That’s right,
you read it right, 73 degrees! I have never been here with such warm
water. I love the ‘new’ pacific, but it
comes at a cost. The downright hot water
has caused the normally plentiful marine life to find cooler water. In addition to the warm water, there is a
high swell advisory so the visibility is next to zero which is less than
satisfying for snorkeling. Since you
couldn’t see more than inch or two I was left to day dream about snorkeling in
years past, cue the harp music and wavy picture…
This year we discovered the largest black sea hares I have ever
seen. The sea hare is the largest
species of slug in the world growing to the size of a basketball and weighing
up to 35 pounds. The sea hare has been
given its name from its two rhinophores that
slightly resemble the ears of a rabbit; to be honest one would need to blind to
mistake them for a rabbit. They are so
ugly that they are cute. Cute enough for
Riley M. (ok, this is a memory, but let’s place the class of 2015 in the
vision) to attempt to smuggle one out of the water in her wetsuit for a new
family pet. As you can imagine, a 35
pound ball of slug slime has no natural predators. We discovered not one but two of these titans
of the slug world canoodling under a rocky ledge. We could practically hear Barry White playing
in the background. We also were treated
to Rebecca’s new head ware, a knobby blue sea star as well and a keyhole limpet. The key whole limpet is always a favorite of
snorkeling treasure hunters because licking its underside gives the licker
seven years of good luck. I licked my
first limpet seven years ago and I have gotten to go to Sea Camp ever since. Coincidence?
I don’t think so. In addition to bestowing years of good
fortune, this invertebrate has the ability to change its taste according to
season according to the Sea Camp staff.
Being so close to Thanksgiving, Cameron (he really did get the 7 yars of
good luck) and I clearly tasted pumpkin pie with a hint of sweet potato. Yum!
We also saw snails, sea urchin, and fish galore including one
territorial garibaldi that chased Codi all the way back to shore for seining.
Seining is an ancient way of catching
fish where two people stretch a net between them while a line of people slowly
march towards the net. Startled fish flee
the oncoming hoard of stomping feet and swim straight into the net. Due to high tide, we were less successful than
in years past in netting fish, but we still discovered the longest male pipe fish
I have ever seen. You may ask, Mr.
Framke, how do you know it was Male?
Well, pipe fish are relatives of the sea horse and like sea horses, the
male carries the young. Don’t tell my
wife, she’ll think I’m just a big wimp.
Our group also caught a kelp crab, some kelp crawlers, and a top smelt.
The only thing left to do is the
mammal lab tonight and packing for the boat trip tomorrow. Good night from San Diego,
No comments:
Post a Comment