creatures and critters volume 3.

just got back from quite the weekend of camping! wow- I never knew I was so wilderness savvy! we had to hike into the camping spot which was about a 2 hour hike with all our packs, food, sleeping bags, tents etc.  considering I'm not a very good camper under normal circumstances, I have to say I was slightly worried.

we arrived at the most beautiful beach(of course my camera battery was dead, which I realized once we arrived. why does this always happen to me?!) but I will get some pics from some of the other students soon.  we hiked along the beach to get to a spot near a stream that we were using as our water source.  after setting up tents and tarps we got to work collecting firewood from around the area and water from the stream.  camping is so much work!! we treated the water with tablets and finally, 4 hours later, we were able to drink it! as long as you didn't pay attention to the brownish colour and the floaties, it tasted just fine! some little munchkins stole our chocolate out of the food bin(to keep the bears away) but eventually brought it back to us and apologized after ashley kindly and in a joking manner threatened to eat their dog. haha. all in all, it was a great, tiring but still great, experience.  I can definitely check that off my bucket list- I have never hiked into a campsite before! also, I have never:
*made myself a little pit toilet in the bush.  complete with a twig toilet paper holder and twig holder for my flashlight
*applied fucus(intertidal algae) mucus to my face as sunscreen.. desperate times call for desperate measures!
*gone 24 hours without washing my hands- wow, I have never been so thankful for hand sanitizer.
*actually camped right ON the beach and saw whales from our campsite on two occasions! (and sealions too.)


anyway, here are some recent critters we have in the lab...

cool crab!!

abalone- these things are awesome!

moon snail- also awesome and massive!

huge nudibranch!

and one last photo for yah..

snorkel lovin'- one of my flippers sank to the bottom of the sea :(

hope everyone had a great weekend!!
--m