Trip Highlights

We were back in Coos Bay last week, doing some eelgrass monitoring, and setting up for a macroalgae addition/exclusion experiment. Here are some photo highlights amidst many early morning tides and boat excursions to snorkel the sites. The Gatehouse: this is the cute little cabin I have rented for August in Charleston. Our lab truck (Big Red) looks like it dwarfs the cabin in this picture, but it really is quite roomey, and with a loft to boot. Sunset from the Gatehouse: offering spectacular views of Coos Bay proper, and refreshing sounds of lapping waves (and the fish processing plant around the corner and U of Oregon students heading to the beach fire).
Danger Point "poking": A fun activity, "poking" in the eelgrass sense of the word involves jabbing a hyperdermic needles (or alternatives: pencil #2, crab arm) into the sheath of the eelgrass in order to set a mark for use in future growth measurements. Unfortunately "poking" may be quite hazardous, especially at Danger Point, where unconsolidated sediment makes for tricky movement and slippery shoots that are easy to pull out of the sediment, not to mention the chance of infection after the occasional self-poke. Macroalgae Treatments: The Gatehouse also offers Turkish Towel (aka Chondracanthus exasperatus) spa treatments after hard days in the field. This drift algae likes to float into the marine eelgrass sites that I'm monitoring, but can be caught fresh while snorkelling the local kelp bed. Producing a nice lather, the Towel was used by Jer (shown here) as an alternative to the more commonly used cleanser, soap.
Until next week's report from experiment week in Coos Bay, bon soir!

P.S. we also managed to grab some eelgrass and mud from Yaquina Bay for the tank experiment at Hatfield, and catch an amazing Rufus Wainwright concert in Portland. I've been sleeping since then in an effort to release my mind from an eternal dazed state.