DECEMBER 22 NIGHT BEACH EXPLORATION
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Beach Naturalists are needed for the next public beach exploration here on Bainbridge Island. We will be exploring the beach at the BI ferry terminal. The Thursday event takes advantage of a -2.6 tide and we will be on the beach from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Parking is available on Brien or Bjune, near the Senior Community Center. Walk through Waterfront Park and cross the Ravine Creek on the wooden footbridge. Follow the public beach access trail alongside the condos. This beach is relatively easy walking, although a hiking stick provides extra stability.
As always, dress warmly and be prepared to wade into the water in order to explore fully this amazing beach. And remember your flashlight -- the stronger your light, the more you will see. Please call or email Maradel if you can attend: 842-5133. |
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| BEACH NEWS |
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Come out, come out, wherever you are! Get out there on the beach and discover all the amazing critters that we don't see during the summer days on the beaches.
 We had a great turnout at our post-Thanksgiving beach exploration of Point White Pier beach. A total of nine beach naturalists came to the event, and shared their knowledge with an eager public that numbered about 27 people, including several kids. A van came over from the Seattle Aquarium, and augmented the insights of our local beach naturalists with four experienced members from the Aquarium.
The weather was absolutely perfect for this night -- Port Orchard Bay was glassy smooth, no wind, not very cold. We heard sea lions at one point, and coyotes howling a bit later. There were some interesting changes in the sea life on this beach compared to our last visit in late summer. Ochre stars were very scarce, and sunflower stars carpeted the bottom. We observed lots of crabs, and were treated to a somewhat cannibalist feast by several kelp crabs eating a graceful crab of the same size which one of the kelp crabs had carried across the sand to a group of crabs around the bottom of a piling.
You may have read the police blotter in the Bainbridge Islander about suspicious activity under the BI ferry dock late at night on November 26. If you guessed that might have been beach naturalists, you would be correct! Even though the low tide was very late that night, two of your colleagues were excitedly discovering an amazing variety and quantity of nudibranchs, when they were interrupted by a yell from above, and a demand to go meet the police officer on his way across the beach to see them. After an explanation, a rather bemused COBI officer concluded that they were just having fun, and sent the naturalists back down to the beach.
In subsequent discussions with the Washington State Ferry system security people, we have been told that we can continue to explore this productive beach and our use of the beach should not again cause consternation for the ferry system.
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