Field Trip

Wednesday we went down to the MBL dock and went out on a boat into Vineyard Sound to do a bottom trawl and a plankton trawl. Under the guidance of Bob the biologist, we dropped the heavy bottom trawl net into the water and motored on at about two knots for a few minutes before raising it back up. Bob intentionally suggested that it might be too hard for the women to pull back in, so of course it ended up being only women who did. When we got it on deck I was shocked at how much was in it—a hundred or so sea urchins, a couple dozen spider crabs and lady crabs, a handful of starfish and brittle stars, and couple sea cucumbers and hermit crabs. The crabs weren't too happy with us. We examined a few, tossed some back in the water, and kept most for the research tanks (no one got injured).

It was a great boat ride. We learned how to take ranges by watching for when two buoys pass one directly in front of the other as we go by. And we got some nice views of Woods Hole and the east side of the Cape. When we got back we went over to the MBL lab and took a tour from Ed. He was one of those folks who absolutely loves what they do, and loves to talk about it even more. He let us hold a squid, a sack of squid eggs, a lobster, several horseshoe crabs, and live clams. Then went to the large squid tank and watched the males chase around and fight for the females. When the tour was over we went upstairs where a neuroscientist to whom we have subsequently as Einstein (on account of his hair) showed us several different types of zooplankton (mainly copepods) with the projector microscope. Apparently ours was the first class to go on this field trip, and it was really fun.

Last night a bunch of us went to the Woods Hole contradance. There were a lot of beginners, but it was still a blast. Everyone in our group stayed pretty high energy the whole time, and I managed to teach a couple of the guys to swing and waltz. The band, which I believe was the Woods Hole Folk Music Society, was amazing. They played a lot of tunes I don't know and the main fiddler was great.

And today was the first real day of summer. It was sunny and beautiful, and I now have a lovely sunburn owing to me being outside for literally the whole day. We had breakfast sitting outside at Cape Cod Bagel Co. It wasn't Absolute, but they were pretty good. Then I did some work outside at the picnic tables back on campus. Then we went out to the beach and went swimming along the crystal clear water of the sand bar, where I realized how much I love being salty. Then we migrated to Coffee Obsession in the village and sat out on the deck doing some more studying, followed by some gymnastics and antics on the grass on the water. It was wonderful.

An update for those who were concerned: Oscar got a bigger bowl! We've been trying to take care of him as best as our google searches tell us how. But apparently you're supposed to have 10 gallons of water per goldfish...