Sea lions, seals and orcas, oh my!

First year marine scientists had a wonderful experience at Race Rocks on Friday 23 September. We went to explore this amazing ecosystem and to observe marine mammals and birds.

We brought Felix Butschek (yr 36, Austria) along:

More details to follow on his visit later…

We did see (and hear and smell!) many, many sea lions:

Observing a California sea lion

Damage done to sea lion by a cookie cutter shark

We were also lucky to observe five Northern elephant seals:

Northern elephant seal

Elephant seal parade

Elephant seals and the jetty

As an added bonus one group of students also saw orcas:

Spyhopping orca

Orca in the distance

Whale watching

Orcas followed us to the mouth of Pedder Bay

For more photos see Flickr album here. And for Anne’s summary of the day and some better orca photos, see the Race Rocks blog.

Where are they now? – Erickson

…is in the mouth of a sperm whale!

Erickson (PC 36, USA) is currently attending College of the Atlantic (COA) where he has had the opportunity to do some very unique necropsies. A 50 foot / 15 m long adult sperm whale, a 20 foot / 6 m long humpback whale calf and recently a 6 foot / 2 m long male leatherback turtle.

Erickson is the one in the white suit and yellow hard hat to the left of the large vertebral column above.

Next term he is participating in a SEA semester program called “Sustainability in Polynesian Island Cultures and Ecosystems” during which he will spend a month in Woods Hole, Massachusetts then seven weeks on a schooner, sailing from Tahiti to Hawai’i.

While at Pearson College, Erickson was a very keen Marine Science student and diver and he was instrumental in the necropsy and articulation of the California sea lion skeleton that is currently hanging in the floating lab.

Where are they now? – Danielle and Felix

Felix (PC36, Austria) and Danielle (PC37, The Netherlands) recently began their first year of studies at the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) in Oban, Scotland. This is one of the campuses of the University of the Highlands and Islands and it is located on the west coast of Scotland.

Danielle (above in front of the SAMS academic building) and Felix were both students in Marine Science and very active divers. We look forward to hearing about their marine adventures in Scotland and beyond!

***UPDATE: Here’s a link to Danielle’s blog chronicling her adventures:

http://danielledejonge.blog.com/