Journals 2006/2007

Mark Harris
Layton High School, Layton, UT

"Stenella Abundance Research Project (STAR)" July 23, 2006 - August 14, 2006

Journal Index: July 23 - 24 - 25 - 26 - 27 - 28 - 29        30 - 31 August 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9            10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 Additional Resources

July 25, 2006
San Diego is Killing Me

Another walk to the Southwest Fisheries building in hot, humid San Diego, the weather just doesn't seem to let up. People here are griping about the humidity, all fans are sold out. I just take a cold shower before bed and hope it lasts until I fall asleep.

Today's training was heavy on marine mammal identification. Sperm whales, beaked whales, spinner dolphins, spotted dolphins, and sea turtles were all discussed. The afternoon portion of the training involved population estimation. We were shown slides and asked to estimate each population of dolphins. I did pretty good, my experience grid counting ducks with my classes did help me be somewhat close to the real figures.

We can move onto the ship tomorrow. The ship is located at Point Loma, which is about 30 minutes from UCSD. My curious nature does have me wondering, what did I get into this time? Three weeks at sea - whoa - I think the reality of this trip is just starting to sink in.