KACHEMAK BAY ALASKA COASTAL STUDIES CENTER

Folks,
Well after a week away in southern Alaska Rob and I are back, exhausted (me) but happy. I did not do any of the planning so the exhaustion is basically that I am more out of shape than I thought, trekking up icy paths and sleeping in yurts.

Here is a link to some of the things we did. Easier than me recounting every little detail which I have already forgotten some of the details. After driving to Anchorage with 2 vanloads of students and adults, we got up the next morning like at 4am. and drove some more to Homer Alaska. Look it up on the map.

http://www.akcoastalstudies.org/school-programs/36-kachemak-bay-onboard-oceanography.html

arriving at the Peterson Field Station on floating raft powered by us, with ropes and pullies!

The first stop was at PETERSON BAY FIELD STATION which belongs to the Alaska Coastal Studies Center. This is a haven tucked into the Kachemak Bay National Park. We took the 6 hours Oceanography study which highlights oysters and how they have been affected by ocean tide changes and global warming. The kids had a good time, measuring and looking at sea water through a microscope. Rob got rather bored but enjoyed the boat ride and meeting all the kids (2 schools were involved) so it was pretty tight on the boat!

After the oceanography study, we rode over on a water taxi courtesy of the Rainbow Connections service. We spent the first couple of hours carefully making our way around the slippery rocks, shooting photos and video, while listening to the guides talk about what was being found. 

The kids reconvened for a final tally of creatures and a short lesson. Then, it was time for clean up. At our guides suggestion, we vacated the station and went for a hike on a trail that looped around to a lake and back.

LOST AND FOUND LAKE A 2HR. TREK.

We were getting  about 15 hours of sunlight a day. However, it is still only hitting the mid-40’s in temperature. In places where there are a lot of trees, that means there is still a good deal of snow.

Roughly half of our journey to the lake involved stepping though knee-deep or deeper snow. This snow was anxious to melt, so we punched through with every step, filling knee-high boots with ice, making the worst sno-cones ever. After a grueling 1.5 miles, we reached the lake. It was pretty. It was still mostly covered in ice. They call it the LOST AND FOUND LAKE.

There were times around THE PIT, toasting marshmallows and making s'mores. Some sang and others just talked. Rob and I went to bed early after getting up at 4am the previous day. He did OK however did not like the yurt as much as he thot he wld so in the middle of the night he came to my yurt...haha!

ROB HAD FUN LOOKING FOR SEA STARS

CHRISTMAS SEA ANEMONIE

sunflower star

Rob has fun identifying diff. critters

a small leather star

SOME OF THE STAFF

 inside the yurt

AROUND THE PIT FOR SWAPPING STORIES, RECOUP AND S'MORES!

barnacles and concles

a True star...I think

 we returned to the field station in time to help load up the dock with gear, and then hopped on board the Rainbow Connection for our ride back to Homer.

THANKS AGSD, AND ESPECIALLY

TISH AND PAULA FOR MAKING THIS AWESOME EVENT 

POSSIBLE!