Monashka Bay
We hiked through more spruce and stopped for lunch on a cliff overlooking Monashka Bay.
Figure 1: Our picnic lunch overlooking Monashka Bay.
Here cliffs overlook the beach in much the same way as they do back at SIO. I am used to seeing an animal or two, western gulls, brown pelicans, ground squirrels, and the occasional whale and dolphin sightings. However, I am not used to seeing all of these types of animals at once during the same lunch from a single vantage point.
Figure 2: These mussels are just one of the types of organisms found in abundance in the tide pools of Kodiak Island.
Between four of us that day, we saw a humpback whale, a seal, a sea otter, and many birds. Nature continued to show off for us after lunch at the end of the trail down to the tide pools. The tide pools were full of the usual characters: anemones, sea stars, limpets, mussels, and crabs. This was the Alaska full of sea life that I had expected.
Figure 3: Sightseers explore the tide pools.
Even though the Alaskan waters looked fully stocked on that day, I read later that the fishing industry in Kodiak has experienced a repeating cycle of declining fisheries. Go to the article in the Activites column to learn more.
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A C T I V I T I E S• Activity 2.4a
Tidepool Organisms
Can you identify organisms that are typically found in tidepools? Click on the image to go to the activity.
Photograph: George W. Robinson, California Academy of Sciences
• Links
Lunar cycles in tide pools in the Pacific North West - PBS article
Fishing industry in Kodiak Island, Alaska
• Activity 2.4b
Plankton sample
Take a look at a few microscopic organisms that make up plankton.
Plankton sample
• Links
In the Wake of the Spill
National Geographic Magazine article from the March 1999 issue, 10 years after the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
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