plant/animal reference) to get a bigger picture
Mike's crew |
On the morning of July 2, 2008 (opening day for crab season), 13 Camano Island BeachWatchers (and Bill) gathered for the annual beach monitoring. Due to the fog, and consequent lack of a visible horizon, Beth drove to the office and obtained the water tube sighting device. After an initial learning process, the device was put to use, and worked remarkably well. Perhaps due to opening day, we had quite a few curious onlookers, including some members of the Fire Dept., who had helped rescue a stranded boat, and a bald eagle perched on the yacht club dock.
The first 50 feet from the starting point revealed surprisingly sparse animal life; just a few spiders. Thereafter, the beach lived up to its reputation as one full of interesting sea life, including amphipods, four types of barnacle, lots of seaweed, chitons, clams, crab, gunnel fish, isopods, limpets, mussels, nudibranchs, seastars, shrimp, snails, worms,, and seagrass. Due to the low tide of -3.8 at 10:47 a.m., the end of the line was 170' from the start. All had a great time, and a small feast at Capt. Mike's afterwards. Thanks to Mike for this report.