tessa10

Ater packing and saying our goodbyes the journey the next day was pretty uneventful. We were all thinking of where we were going to next. Of course Miki had a little present and a special note for every one of us. Liz, Roland and I ate at the Quarterdeck Marina, and got on the little plane back to Vancouver. I had arranged to stay in a hostel recommended by Colin, at a place called Jericho Beach. This definitely has to be the best hostel in Vancouver. The dorms are big, but are thoughtfully divided into sections of four beds. The place is spotless, the staff friendly and helpful. There is a huge kitchen and a separate cafe, serving simple, cheap meals and beer and wine. The beach is a few minutes walk away. It is a ... read more

The floathouse was much bigger than I expected. There was Crystal's family home, and several small chalets for paying guests. The one we stayed in had room to sleep 6 as well as a kitchen, living room and bathroom. The nearby fishing lodges are also floathouses,and when they are closed in the winter they are brought down to Dawson's Landing to be looked after by Crystal's family. The surrounding area is no longer logged. Until recently some patches were logged and the logs were flown out by helicopter. The morning sunrise at Dawson's Landing was other wordly, as you can see from the photographs. I woke up proclaiming that I had been speaking american in my dreams, and didn't understand why my US colleagues found this funny. According to them I still sounded the same when ... read more

Tasks for the day were allocated by Will. There was sound mapping with Jen- this involved kayaking to various parts of the bay and using a recorder under the water, mapping the sounds made in this rocky environment. One volunteer would mark the waypoint using GPS. Another pair would test the water salinity to see if this made any difference to the sound. Jen had also spent time in a sandy bay, where whales had been spotted doing the same thing. The idea was to try to discover if whales used echo location to find food, as no one knows how grey whales find food at present. Another group went frogging with Megan. They would go to the area inhabited by the rare red legged frogs, catch them and measure them, recording the numbers found in ... read more

Jackie,, Rob and Dave had brought the boat 'Stardust' to collect the volunteer team. Will, the lead scientist is Canadian, but lives and works in Bath, England. Consequently, some of his engineering students had agreed to spend the summer helping with the research.( Rob and Dave). Jackie was also British, and was studying in Wales. She had contacted Will in order to research the mysid poulation as part of the project. Stardust is not a fast boat, but apparently reliable. The weather was beautiful for the crossing of three hours to Xusela, the name of our camp, which would be home for a week. On the way we could bask in the sun, look at the strange guillemot type birds, and keep an eye out for whales. We did see two humpbacks from a distance which ... read more

I set off in the rain on the harbour trail. The trail was bordered by wild red berries- ripe and sweet, a real treat. The fact that the bears appreciated this was quickly confirmed by the large amounts of bear poo, with evidence of berry seed, which I saw at regular intervals. Being on my own in these woods was maybe not such a good idea. I continued...blue heron and night heron were feeding in the estuary, along with other waders. The woods were dense, with trees I cannot name. In a clearing the squawking of a young eagle on its nest was the only noise- for such big birds they really are cry babies. Eventually the sun broke through, and as I headed back to Port Hardy I spotted Colin in an internet cafe. Undeterred ... read more