Vancouver Island and Botanical Beach

May 15, Saturday
The zoobots along with Megan and one TA loaded into two FHL vans with all our camping gear and rode the ferry to Sidney which is on Vancouver Island. We then drove about 2 ½ hours to Pacheedaht campground which is on an Indian reservation at the end of Port San Juan. Port San Juan is located along the Strait of Juan de Fuca on the southwest side of Vancouver Island. Tents were set up, firewood gathered from the enormous amount of driftwood on the beach, and we all settled in for a relaxing evening.

Three Views at Pacheedaht Campground

May 16, Sunday

After a short drive and half mile hike we walked onto the rocky shores of Botanical Beach. As I stepped out of the forest and viewed the beach for the first time I let out a fairly loud “Woh” Megan turned and looked at me with a big grin on her face. Botanical Beach is probably the most awesome beach I’ve visited. It’s clear why an effort is made to come here. One of the reasons for coming here is to view a wave exposed outer coastal community.

Geology of the high intertidal is particularly interesting. It is mostly sandstone containing scattered river rocks which tend to be round. As waves erode the sandstone some of the river rocks pop out leaving a smooth, round hemisphere. Marine animals start growing in this sheltered area and, after long periods of time, their actions increase erosion in the hole. The result is a large number of symmetrical pools that may be quite deep.

Megan and Zoobots in "Amphitheater"

The mid and low intertidal has a very different character. It tends to be rugged and covered with algae, muscles, or other invertebrates. In the picture below I’m on a natural bridge

Standing on a Natural Bridge

By the way, the red vests all of us are wearing are so the park rangers will know that we are from UW and may pick something up – something people are generally not supposed to do. After a marvelous morning exploring Botanical Beach we returned to the amphitheater for lunch and a group photo.

Zoobot Group Photo in Amphitheater

For the afternoon Megan took us on a hike down the beach for some exercise and fun. At one stop she instructed us on “rocky beach bowling.” In this sport you take one of the round rocks and attempt to roll it into a small tide pool perhaps 40 feet away.

Bev Bowling - Note the Rock in the Air by Loren's Knee

Ball About to Roll into a Hole

Back at camp everyone relaxed and made supper. Megan went off on her own to grade the zoobot’s final exam. I slipped on the telephoto and took this picture of her which I liked so much I just had to include it in my journal.

Megan Grading Exams

May 17, Monday

Fortunately the long range weather forecast had been wrong and we were not greeted with nasty weather this morning. Today’s trip was to a rocky shore adjacent to Botanical Beach called Botany Bay. This shore is comprised of much harder rock and has a wonderful assortment of algae. Charley had driven over last night and was a big help with identification of species we had not previously seen – as well as ones we had seen but whose name we couldn’t remember.

Charley, Megan, Zoobots at Botany Bay

Split Blade Kelp, Laminaria setchellii

Goose Barnacles, Pollicipes polymerus

After finishing our examination of Botany Bay, there was still quite a bit of low tide time available. Megan took us to another nearby location called Mill Bay. It was not as spectacular as Botanical Beach or Botany Bay. It was, however, nice and offered a look at a more sheltered area along the outer coast. After studying the beach, we took another group photo then many took a nap in the warm sunshine before heading back to camp.

Zoobots at Mill Bay, Port San Juan

Zoobot Tents at Pacheedaht Campground

Someone went wondering over by the Gordon River which is beside the campground and noticed both an elk and a black bear across the river in what appeared to be a marshy area. Eventually a second bear came into view. Soon most of the zoobots were watching the animals. One of the bears invaded the elk’s personal space and got charged. The bear ran off as fast as it could. Unfortunately, the animals were too far away even for my 200 mm lens.

In the evening the rain finally started just as we were about to fix supper. That didn’t stop us from having another campfire and making s’mores.

May 18, Tuesday

The rain quit about bed time last night but then started up again about 4:00 in the morning and continued while we made breakfast and broke camp. Most of us stayed dry inside the tents; however, the tents and tarps got soaked. We kept joking about staying another day because there was so much food and we were having so much fun. Good thing Megan didn’t take us up on the joke.

The trip back to FHL was uneventful. Once there the biggest task was to wash and dry out all of the tents and tarps.