Waking up at 5:00 in the morning is usually a very difficult task. In Oregon however, it’s not hard to get out of bed when you know there’s a whole day of adventure ahead of you. We suited up in our waders and headed to Middle Cove. When I say that we had a hard time getting down the path into the cove, I am definitely understating some things. We basically slid down the path and eventually made it to the bottom, although many of us were very muddy. We searched the tidepools for some time, searching for chitons, limpets, dorids, and other seemingly made-up organisms. We set down a transect and formed groups to inspect different areas with quadrats. Our group observed a lot of different snails and seaweed. I then had to find porcelain crabs because I’m doing my own individual experiment. They’re small, flat crabs with a big attitude and beady little eyes. They were hiding under almost all of the rocks, so I, with a lot of help with my peers, was able to gather a good amount of data for my experiment.
After we were finished with our transects and looking for organisms, we had a choice: we could either go back up the slippery, muddy path or climb through the rocks into the nearby South Cove. We decided to split off into two groups and I joined the rock climbers. We hopped from rock to rock with ease and used some complicated maneuvers to get everyone up and around the corner into South Cove, where we were greeted by a beautiful beach surrounded by trees and high cliffs. All of these impressive qualities were soon soiled by the winding uphill trail before us. We used the last of our energy to power up the hill, eventually meeting up with the other group that took the traumatizing muddy path. It was a pretty quiet ride back to the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology after that, mainly because we were all completely drained of all energy. But that’s what coffee is for! The rest of the day was a blast simply because this is a great group of people who are always down to goof around. We went to the local store (which is one of the only ones around in this town) and bought a lot of snacks and tried on some weird sunglasses, which caused the cashier to give us some looks of concern and disappointment. I haven’t laughed so hard since I saw my GPA for the semester! I am having the time of my life here and can’t wait to see what shenanigans we get into next!