Earthwatch-Teacher Fellowship on Catalina Island: First day

My fellow teachers

Hi folks! It’s been a busy day! Got up at the crack of dawn, went down to the marina and witnessed a beautiful sunrise. Jumped on Miss Chistie, our boat, and enjoyed an hour and a half ride in calm seas. Catalina Island is beautiful, the light and clouds made for a spectacular day. We got a tour of the facilities and then headed out to the intertidal zone to monitor and count intertidal organisms. Or more specifically, we were looking for sea stars and abalone. Sea stars in recent years have been struck with wasting disease and abalones with withering foot disease because of warming oceans, so scientists are counting them to see how they’re doing. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any. However, we were also counting other organisms, and did find acorn barnacles, chitons, and some shore crabs.