Monterey Bay Aquarium: Science Under Sail

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	September 20 -27, 2009
	Brigid Ganahl, senior naturalist
	It’s definitely fall, with increasing breezes and a chill in the air—a great way to end the 2009 Sailing Adventures season!
	Passengers on Baylis On September 20 we had our “Thank You Sail” for staff and volunteers. Both sails were raised and off we went—a beautiful day, great companions and enough wind to make it exciting. We couldn’t have a Sailing Adventures program without our loyal volunteers—some have been with us since the program began five seasons ago. They’re the folks who check you in upon arrival, stow your gear and share their wonderful stories about life on the bay and happenings at the Aquarium. We celebrated another successful and fun-filled season and have already begun plans for 2010. While doing a final clean-up and inventory of the boat, the naturalists and crew reflected on another amazing season—the people we met, the stories we shared and the never-ending excitement of just being out on the bay and seeing the variety of life in front of us. The Baylis left the safety of Monterey Harbor just hours after our final sail to avoid a fast-approaching weather front, and headed up to San Francisco to tag the great white sharks near the Farallon Islands. Please join us in May 2010 when our new season begins. I can’t wait to see what next year brings! In the meantime, I hope to see you at the Aquarium, maybe even at a Seashore Sleepover, which is my other passion besides Sailing Adventures. Come spend the night in front of your favorite exhibit and enjoy the Aquarium with other lucky campers.

	September 19, 2009
	Mary Barrett, naturalist
	This was probably the best trip of the summer! It was a gorgeous, sunny, clear day as we left the dock to explore Monterey Bay with a group of eager passengers.
	Fish and sunflower star We were overwhelmed with what we found in the drift kelp and particularly in the kelp holdfast. It seemed like there was enough animal diversity to set up an entire aquarium! Passengers found snails of all sorts, beautiful nudibranchs in a variety of brilliant colors, tiny brittle stars trying to hide in the holdfast, miniature sea urchins, melibes, a baby eel, three varieties of kelp fish, isopods, skeleton shrimp, mysids and three baby sunflower sea stars! You could see the tiny new arms sprouting from the stars. A leatherback turtle stopped by to say hello while it fed on zillions of jellies (sea nettles, purple stripe, moon, and egg yolk, among others). I’ve never seen a leatherback turtle in the wild and was completely awed. It was perhaps seven feet long. We could easily see it (though it was travelling rapidly) and hear it breathe. Leatherbacks will travel thousands of miles for food. Then we brought up a huge sunflower sea star with the benthic sampler, which helped the passengers understand why we had been so excited to see the baby sunflowers in the kelp holdfast. It all made sense. On our way back we saw loads of leaping common dolphins. What an incredible trip!

	August 26-30, 2009
	Marika Martin, naturalist
	Monterey enjoyed a bit of a heat wave this week, with temperatures up in the 70s. Clear skies and good winds made for a great week of sailing.
	Southern sea otter As the season nears its end, we’re still delighted with an abundance of life in Monterey Bay. At the surface we have southern sea otters, California sea lions and harbor seals. A nice treat for crew and passengers was the sighting of a Minke whale. This species is the smallest of the baleen whales and comes to the bay to feed on schooling fish and zooplankton (animal plankton). And there are tons of zooplankton in the water right now, as we’ve seen with our plankton tows. At the beginning of our season we were seeing a lot of diatoms and microscopic plants, but now their numbers have dwindled. Maybe it has something to do with all the copepods we’re seeing. Copepods are little one-eyed crustaceans that can eat over 300,000 diatoms in one day! Now copepods aren’t the only plankton flourishing in Monterey Bay. There’s been a bloom of jellies! Yes, jellies are plankton because they can’t swim against the current. Plus, jellyfish bring my favorite fish into these waters, the ocean sunfish (Mola mola)! The ocean sunfish is the largest of all bony fish, sometimes weighing 5,000 pounds. The one we spotted wasn’t quite this big, but was amazing nonetheless. One thing that threatens these beautiful and bizarre animals is marine debris, specifically plastic bags. The ocean sunfish can’t distinguish between a plastic bag and a jellyfish, which is one of its main food sources. The Derek M. Baylis and the Monterey Bay Aquarium are working together to help inspire conservation of our oceans and help animals in the wild. You can help by using a re-useable shopping bag.

	August 17-25, 2009
	Shawna Peak, naturalist
	Summers in Monterey differ from those elsewhere since we typically lack sunshine for three months. These past few weeks have been the exception to that rule! Passengers experienced abundant warmth and a scant marine layer—which usually lingers until late September.
	Kelp crab A trip on the Derek M. Baylis opens up a spectacular world of colorful plant and animal life. Creatures that lurk in the vast seas are beautiful and ugly, gentle and ferocious, all at the same time—like aliens from science fiction. Such strange and cryptic organisms happened to show up recently in our plankton tows, benthic samplers and drift kelp pulls. Our drift kelp pulls revealed baby snails, kelp crabs and isopods. Our plankton net had abundant phytoplankton (plant plankton) in the form of diatoms and dinoflagellates. Though they’re microscopic and technically classified as "plankton" (unable to swim against the current), these little organisms can swim 11 body lengths per second. The fastest human swimmer can cover a mere two body lengths per second! Our benthic sampler turned up a passenger favorite on several occasions: the mammoth-size sunflower sea star! This starfish is the biggest of them all, with over 15,000 little tube feet, and has such a huge appetite that it can actually devour sea urchins whole! As for the ever-popular marine mammals, we see “oceans” of those on the Derek M. Baylis each day. Leaving the harbor, passengers are greeted first by gaggles of sea lions. We hear them barking at each other on the rocks and see the laughable view of them draping all over each other and cavorting. We also see quite a few harbor seals—quiet, cute critters that don’t wish to share their particular rock with anybody else. "Don't touch my flipper" seems to be the motto of this hilarious, yet very efficient hunter. Finally, we can’t forget the dolphins! Passengers were treated to several pods of playful Risso's dolphins, the second largest dolphin in the area.

	August 12–16, 2009
	Christine O’Neil, naturalist
	Beautiful, beautiful weather! Monterey has had lots of sunshine these last few weeks. There has also been some great sailing wind, so all of our trips have been simply gorgeous. We’re right in the middle of our summer upwelling season, as evidenced by the strong winds. This upwelling means more great marine critter sightings—and maybe even some views of marine mammals!
	Moon jellies The recent bloom of jellies in the bay has continued, affording us with sightings of thousands of sea nettles (Chrysaora fuscescens), egg yolk jellies (Phacellophora camtschatica), and moon jellies (Aurelia labiata). A large group of jellies is called a “smack,” so whenever we talk about jellies on board we joke that we are smack-talking! Jellies aren’t the only sign of increased life in the bay. We’ve also been seeing large pods of Risso’s dolphins. These are the second largest dolphins that come to the bay (the largest is the orca). Risso’s dolphins usually come inside the bay to feast on the squid that are abundant in this area. It seems that they also like to have a bit of fun—we saw lots of breaching, fluke (tail) slapping, and other fun jumps and slaps. The dolphins were probably celebrating the banning of polystyrene from Monterey! We were certainly celebrating this event as well. The city of Monterey voted in February to ban polystyrene (Styrofoam) take-out containers. This ban went into effect this Sunday, August 16. Since we constantly collect and record any garbage we see in the bay on our sailing trips, we are all overjoyed that the city has taken this step to help prevent Styrofoam from ending up in the ocean. Styrofoam, like plastic, does not biodegrade, and is therefore a lasting threat to animals that might ingest it. Hopefully this means we will see less garbage in the bay!

	May 16–25, 2009
	Mary Barrett, naturalist
	A warm and sunny Mother’s Day weekend marked the beginning of the 2009 summer Sailing Adventures program.
	Sea Stars Passengers were treated to three black-footed albatross gliding over Monterey Bay. These birds nest mainly in Hawaii, but migrate great distances and can be seen off the Pacific Coast. We also saw western grebes, Brandt’s and pelagic cormorants, pigeon guillemots with their striking red legs and feet, Pacific loons, brown pelicans and the ever-present western gulls! We enjoyed the antics of the few California sea lions remaining in Monterey during the spring and early summer. Monterey Bay hosts only male sea lions in our cold waters, and most males have headed south to the Channel Islands and beyond to mate. We were thrilled to observe two mother sea otters with their pups, which appeared dry and comfortable lying on mom’s tummy! Passengers (and crew!) were amazed to see a baby harbor seal staring up at us on the starboard side of the Derek M Baylis. This is birthing time for the harbor seals. The next weekend was unseasonably warm. In our kelp pull we found kelp-colored isopods, skeleton shrimp, ribbons of melibe eggs and bryozoans attached to the kelp blades. Our plankton tow was rich with copepods, beautiful diatoms, dinoflagellates and larvaceans. We took a closer look at these incredible animals under the video microscope and talked about plankton’s importance as members of the “bottom of the food web.” Interesting! The benthic sampler, which the passengers helped bring aboard, held colorful and beautiful bat stars. We enjoyed viewing the sunflower sea star, pycnopodia, which uses over 15,000 tube feet to move and capture prey. Its prey is swallowed whole and digested internally! Sailing is one of the best parts of the program. The Baylis, all 65 feet of her, is an amazingly easy boat to operate and our passengers help hoist the sail and drive. This is one of the smoothest boat rides one could imagine. If you are a sailor, or just a novice, you’ll enjoy the chance to pilot this magnificent and beautiful boat through the waters of Monterey Bay! The most important lesson from our time on the Baylis is that we all can do something to help the oceans, such as making sure they are free from contaminants. As part of the Aquarium’s mission to inspire conservation of the oceans, we collect and categorize marine debris that we see on our cruises, enabling us to create a map of where this debris occurs. It’s pretty cool to sail, find critters and realize how we can help them—and all of us! It’s EASY and it’s FUN! Come join us!

	July 23–27, 2008
	Christine O’Neil, naturalist
	This week we finally had some sunshine. There was a lot of fog too, but the sun kept peeking through the clouds. The swells were bigger this week than they have been this season, but everybody on board enjoyed the ride.
	We were graced with quite an array of wildlife this week. The giant kelp (Macrocystis) we pulled on board was covered with encrusting colonial animals called bryozoans. In addition, we found lots of small crustaceans such as isopods and amphipods, as well as jewel top snails (Calliostoma annulatum) and the hooded sea slug called melibe (mell-uh-bee). This was our first sighting of what is my personal favorite sea slug. Melibes have a distinct hood structure for capturing food, and give off the scent of watermelon to deter potential predators. Our benthic sampler was also very successful this week, bringing up decorator crabs, bat stars, and giant sunflower sea stars. Our bat star count was consistently in the twenties this week. The stars came in a myriad of colors. My favorites were pale pink and speckled tan ones, but we also had bright purple, orange, and red ones. Our sunflower stars were also gorgeous; these sea stars can have upwards of twenty-four arms and are some of the fastest and most voracious benthic creatures. Wrapping up our marine life sightings were large mammals. In addition to usual sea otters, sea lions, and harbor seals, the Baylis was graced with sightings of a common dolphin mother and her calf, bottlenose dolphins, a minke whale, some humpback whales, and even some Risso’s dolphins. We’ve been seeing lots of birds as well. A high level of surface and diving activity indicates there is a lot of food in the bay now like small fish and squid. We hope the good sightings continue!

	July 15–20, 2008
	Christine O’Neil, naturalist
	The water has been hot, hot, hot! Our temperature readings have been in the low- to mid-60s, which is pretty balmy for Monterey Bay. I’m sure the divers are loving the warmer water, and the critters seem to be enjoying it too. It’s been pretty windy as well. This will cause upwelling of colder, more nutrient-rich water, which will increase the abundance of life in the Bay.
	Kelp crab This week we had the Young Women in Science group on board. It was great to see such interest and enthusiasm from the next generation. They were all very interested in keeping our oceans healthy so that they can enjoy them when they grow up. We looked at drift kelp, and pulled on board a sample that included the root-like structure called a holdfast that anchors the kelp to the rocky ocean floor. In the holdfast we found purple sea urchins, brittle stars, blob-like creatures called tunicates, and even a sea cucumber! We also found a couple of kelp crabs in the kelp itself. They were hard to spot at first because they are the same color as the kelp—some pretty effective camouflage. Our plankton tow was teeming with animals (zooplankton). We saw rotifers, copepods, larvaceans, dinoflagellates, and even some urchin larvae. The plant plankton (phytoplankton) has been a little less abundant, but we are still seeing a lot of diatoms. It's always neat to see the cycles that the plankton goes through—oscillating between phyto- and zooplankton blooms. It is amazing to think there is all this life in the ocean that you cannot even see with your naked eyes!

	July 2–6, 2008
	Christine O’Neil, naturalist
	This week’s weather was typical of Monterey in the summer, with lots of fog and cool weather. The sailing was great, however, with very small seas and just enough wind to have a wonderful sail. We had our 4th of July special sail this week as well. We were worried there would be too much fog to see the firework, but it was beautiful! The fireworks were amazing and all the passengers really enjoyed it.
	A pair of common dolphins has been staying in the Bay for the past week or so now. It is a mother and calf pair, and they are really fun to watch. They are very inquisitive and enjoy coming right up to the boat to swim alongside it and jump out of the water. They are very acrobatic with great aerial displays—tail slaps and back flips galore! Our plankton tows have also been pretty exciting this week. We are experiencing a huge bloom of phytoplankton (plants) and seeing some incredible diatom structures. When we put the plankton under the microscope, we’re finding beautiful chain diatoms spiraling and spiking in wonderful patterns. It’s pretty amazing to see these microscopic plants use silica to create such unique shapes. We can probably expect to see an increase in animal plankton in the next couple of weeks as there is such an abundance of plants for them to eat.

	August 27-September 3, 2007
	Samantha Wishnak, naturalist
	This week, in between Monterey Bay's ubiquitous fog banks we managed to have a few hours of sunny skies! Even though the fog may create a backdrop of gray, it does mean the bay is healthy. When "upwelling" from the deep brings cold, nutrient-rich water to the surface and encounters warm summer air, that surface water is evaporated into our much-loved fog.
	*Mola mola* Dolphins extraordinaire this week! Almost every day our sail was graced by the presence of a different species: pacific white-sided, rissos, and common dolphin were just a few! Of course, many "dolphin sightings" turned out to be playful California sea lions, diving and "porpoising" through the waves, chasing schools of fish. Nearer to shore, we also observed several "rafts" of sea lions floating lazily with one flipper raised. These sea lions weren't waving at us though, they were getting some sun, or "thermo-regulating". Another ocean critter that can regulate its body temperature using the sun's rays is the aptly named ocean sunfish (Mola Mola), which we've recently seen at the surface sunbathing or leaping out of the water to dislodge parasites. These strange looking fish like to dine on jellies, and have been known to grow up to 5000 lbs!

	August 13-19, 2007
	Casey Garcia, naturalist
	The theme of this week's trips was beautiful weather and great sails. On August 14th we experienced big swells, and our passengers loved the ride ("This is better than a roller coaster!").
	What rich waters we have been observing this week! One of the big highlights was exploring a dense holdfast, a root-looking structure which keeps kelp attached to rocks on the seafloor. This giant kelp (Macrocystis) holdfast was uprooted, however, and in it we found hydroids (a colony of tiny sea anemone-like polyps) and fish fry (baby fish)! One of the fish fry we identified as a kelp greenling, one of my personal favorite fish inhabiting the beautiful kelp forests of Monterey Bay. Along the kelp's blades, several jellies were found including the endemic sticky foot jelly. We were also able to bring aboard some feather boa kelp (Egregia) upon which several small limpets were grazing steadily. The bay seemed to teem with new life this week as we not only observed fish fry from the kelp, but also crab and melibe (hooded sea slug) larvae from our plankton tow! We were fortunate to find these juveniles, as most of our tow was thick with dinoflagellates coloring the plankton sample deep red. And another incredible juvenile sighting to report aboard the Baylis: a baby harbor porpoise! The amazing observations continued as we pulled up our benthic sampler, full of bright bat stars and a completely decorated decorator crab. This female crab was covered in red algae, skeleton shrimp, and even a pink-red strawberry anemone.

	July 31-August 5, 2007
	Samantha Wishnak, naturalist
	We have been seeing many familiar faces—a family came back twice in the same week for our Science Under Sail trip, and several couples have joined us for a daytime, more science-filled adventure after loving the Evening Breezes!
	This week we found some extraordinary creatures on our drift kelp! One day we had seven sticky-foot jellies, five juvenile melibes, and several khellets whelks, in addition to the very common encrusting bryozoans. Sticky-foot jellies are only found in Monterey Bay, and have specially adapted tentacles to enable them to hold tight to kelp—no wonder we found so many! We also had a very rich plankton tow full of bright red dinoflagellates, larvaceans, and rotifers, and even managed to net ourselves a gorgeous moon jelly to observe close-up in our onboard tank! Recently, we have also seen many common dolphin playing, leaping out of the water, and even swimming right underneath our boat!

	July 17, 2007
	Mary B. Wetzel, passenger
	WOW! It was amazing! We had never sailed before so that alone was an awesome adventure, but getting to talk and learn from the crew and see all the wonderful ocean-life God created was even more special. We saw sea otters, seals, star fish, many fish, jellies (tons of sea nettles), learned more about kelp and plankton. I have to say I didn't really appreciate kelp until I learned more about it. This was a great adventure for our whole family and many thanks to Captain Dave and the great staff who was so very interesting. The boat was kept unbelievably clean and having a chance to help with the sails and steer the boat was great! We definitely would do this again-besides we were blessed with the most perfect day of our entire stay in California-the weather was absolutely perfect!

	May 11-27, 2007
	Brigid Ganahl, naturalist
	Mother's Day Weekend was such fun! We had three generations on board; mother, daughter and granddaughter. We are continuing to have very rich plankton tows. Lots of upwelling this spring! The northwesterly winds are pushing the warmer surface water away and the colder water is coming up from below—providing more food for a variety of creatures, including the humpback whales which have arrived! Memorial Day Weekend was a great success—many happy passengers from a variety of countries.
	Moon jellies are being spotted! We set a record for bat stars in the benthic sampler—29! We also brought up the largest decorator crab; it was covered with red algae. What a great camouflage artist. A mother humpback whale was slapping the water with her tail—communicating with her calf. Another mother, a sea otter, was taking care of 2 pups; one very small and the other much larger. Our best treat was a horned puffin. We have been seeing it on a regular basis for a few weeks. It is a juvenile—no breeding plumage. They are usually found from Washington to Alaska. We don't know why this one is so far from home, but, we surely love observing its behavior.

	April 29-May 6, 2007
	Brigid Ganahl, naturalist
	Gooseberry jellies What a way to begin our 2007 season! Enthusiastic Stanford students were in abundance. It started out overcast and turned into a beautiful sunny day. A great time was had by all! Our plankton tow was so rich—you couldn't even see through the water. A gooseberry jelly was floating on top. We returned the jelly to the bay and looked at the plankton though our video microscope. On another cruise one of our passengers was an 83 year old woman who had spent 5 years in Alaska as a commercial fisher. She had some great stories to tell! Two of our Evening Breezes passengers were returnees—they had such a wonderful experience on a Science Under Sail trip last season that they decided to try an evening cruise. They were all smiles! We are looking forward to this weekend and our special Mother's Day trips. In June, we will follow-up with Father's Day sails.
	By-the-wind sailors We saw thousands of by-the-wind sailors (jellies) on top of the swells. They glittered like diamonds. One even blew up on deck; we passed it around for all to see, then, sent it on its way. A humpback whale breached four times and caught the attention of everyone. The benthic sampler produced 5 kellets welks, 24 bat stars and 1 knobby sea star. We saw several sea stars, with their stomachs out, enjoying a tasty morsel. A highlight of our last sail was the attempted rescue of a sea lion that was sitting atop a buoy inside the breakwater. There was a constricting fishing line wrapped around its neck. Several people were in the water wearing red ball caps, so that they could spot one another. They were very slowly and carefully surrounding the animal with a net. This was the first time that we had seen this kind of rescue. Usually, they corral the animal on land. We left them alone so they would have a better chance to surround the animal without further disturbance. We certainly hope it was a successful rescue!

	September 2, 2006
	Sagrario Martinez, passenger
	This was a first for two of my best friends and myself. Besides the breathtaking natural wonders of the bay, the crew provided a fulfilling and almost life reassuring experience. The trip also brought back memories of a college science course in Mexico's Sea of Cortez. Sooo much more fun than books and the lab!
	The next day our group headed to Point Lobos for a day hike and, following "Tiny's" advice, picked up several pieces of trash left behind by some visitors. I feel like I can't stop picking up trash from every place I go now! There is so much to do for Nature. After all, it keeps us all alive!

July 31-August 6, 2006

Simone Mortan, naturalist

Some of the young people from the New School enjoyed kicking back at the bow of the boat.

Great passengers this week. Some came all the way from Egypt! Also, a teacher and several students from the New School, an alternative high school in Watsonville, CA. First time ever on board a boat for many of these young people, so they were very enthusiastic. Helped raise sail and took turns driving the boat. And they were fascinated by the animals we saw.

We love sailing with people from near and far. Everyone goes away with greater knowledge and respect for our beautiful ocean and the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.

From a Passenger
"This was such a great program. They were all so great and patient with everyone on board. We can't wait to do it again the next time we come to Monterey! I wanted to share one of the photos I took that day!"
-Cindy Bell, passenger, Plano, Texas

Water temperatures continue to be above normal, into the low 60s. Still, our plankton tow samples were very thick and almost brick red. A look under the microscope showed us millions of tiny algae called dinoflagellates. These can cause something called a "red tide"—a dangerous phenomenon when the algae are the kind that lead to domoic acid poisoning, aka shellfish poisoning. Fortunately, although our samples were red, we did not see those toxic species of dinoflagellates.

Passengers help set the plankton net to collect our sample.

Our plankton sample was full of microscopic animals and "red tide" algae.

July 17-23, 2006

Brigid Ganahl, naturalist

What a week! Lots of dolphins, at least 200 at one sighting. Risso's, Pacific white-sided and right-whale. They even showed us their tails! We kept tacking back and forth to get a better look. Saw 2 blue whales in so close you could also see them from the deck of the aquarium!

A lesson in knot-tying was such fun!

Saw a sea otter with her little pup right next to the Baylis. When the mom dove for food, the baby was very vocal—calling out Eee! Eee! Eee!—till the mom returned with a treat. Happy reunion!

We brought a gelatinous creature called a "salp" on board. You could see the nerves through the jelly-like substance. Rounding out our finds: a newly molted cancer crab with a soft shell, opalescent nudibranchs, a cluster of fish eggs, kelp fish, jewel-top snails, brittle stars, hydroids, melibes and some very rich plankton tows.

Everyone's invited to take a turn driving the boat. This young passenger is getting a lesson from our captain.

Magnifier boxes filled with seawater give our passengers a closer view of some of the critters we find.

July 10-16, 2006

Frances Karg, naturalist

Fabulous trips this week. Nice weather and interesting passengers. Even made it to Moss Landing for the MBARI Open House. Docked next to the Point Lobos (an MBARI research vessel). It dwarfed the Baylis. But we had over 300 guests come on board for a tour. Many said they'd be back for a Science Under Sail trip soon.

The seven-armed bat star we found had two madreporites (water filters). They're the two light-colored round spots.
	Passenger shows off the seven-armed bat star just before releasing it back into the bay.

A pod of Risso's dolphins was spotted throughout the week, often just off the side of the boat. It was thrilling to see the distinct markings on their backs left by squid, some of their favorite prey. We took in a large mound of giant kelp, and passengers went on a treasure hunt, coming up with skeleton shrimp, nudibranchs, isopods and hydroids. We even pulled up a sample of bull kelp so large it was hard to lift out of the water. Our benthic sampler rewarded us with two especially interesting finds: a sunflower star and a bat star with seven arms (instead of five) and two madreporites (instead of one). These are "mother pores" that function as water filters. We also spotted many sooty shearwaters—seabirds with a migration path that literally circles the oceans during the course of a year.

	July 3-9, 2006
	Mark Chynoweth, naturalist
	Another great week aboard the Baylis! Visitors from across the country. It was great to hear their unique perspectives on Monterey Bay and how even those who live inland can help with ocean conservation.
	Sea otter pups are very close to their moms. Slightly cooler water temperatures resulted in some great plankton tows loaded with organisms to look at through the video microscope. Although we haven't experienced typical upwelling patterns this summer, there is still plenty of wildlife to observe. Juvenile sea lions are sprawled over each other on the Coast Guard pier, and we've seen several otters with pups. A highlight of the week was pulling up a sunflower star in the benthic sampler, a sea star that can have up to 24 arms!

Decorator crabs cover themselves with seaweed to blend into their habitat.

The greenish-brown color of the plankton net tells us we'll have lots of diatoms and plankton to look at under the microscope.

	June 26-July 2, 2006
	Brigid Ganahl, naturalist
	Summer is off to a great start! Our first few cruises were full of Californians. Then we added Alaska, Michigan, Arizona, Vermont—the list goes on and on! There was even a surprise birthday cruise.
	We saw some Vallentinia adherens jellies—only found in Pacific Grove—and also spotted harbor porpoises and humpback whales. The first sighting of a blue whale in the bay this season has us keeping our eyes peeled. In spite of warm water temperatures, we have been collecting some rich plankton samples. A very large decorator crab in the benthic sampler looked like a rock—great camouflage!

	June 17-23, 2006
	Kadee Barrett, naturalist
	Amazing week for drift kelp. Our best finds: some nudibranchs—small, colorful marine slugs—and a baby octopus!
	Our marine mammal sightings included humpback whales, bottlenose dolphins and a mother otter with her pup. Sand star found in our benthic sampler. After observing it, we put it back in the water. Small octopus found in the floating holdfast of some drift kelp.

	May 13-14, 2006
	Simone Mortan, naturalist
	Nearly full boats—and lots of moms!—for Mother's Day weekend. Abnormally warm water for spring both days, with a surface temperature of 61 degrees on Sunday. At this time of year, we would expect surface temperatures in the mid to low 50's. Our unusual readings are a warning sign that we're not getting the typical spring upwelling of cold nutrient-rich water that is so important to the productivity of Monterey Bay.
	Kelp crab When we pulled a bit of drift kelp into the boat, we found a beautiful kelp crab that had just molted into a new shell. Video microscope Predictably in such warm water, we collected a relatively sparse sample of microscopic organisms in the plankton net. But we still found some interesting samples to look at under the video microscope: diatoms, or tiny algae, and copepods—tiny crustaceans that are the most abundant animals on our planet.

	March 24, 2006
	Simone Mortan, naturalist
	Our first trip of the 2006 season! Middlebury College alumni on board. March weather has been stormy, but conditions great today, with just a few clouds.
	Plankton through a microscope We pulled up a large sunflower star from our benthic sampling device (a trap set on the seafloor). In a 5-minute tow with a super-fine net, we captured quite a bit of plankton (minuscule plants and animals) to observe through our video microscope. Gray whales Besides the usual sea lions, harbor seals and sea otters, we sighted a small pod of Risso's dolphins and several gray whales. The whales were off Pt. Pinos—we even got to see one breaching.

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