Sea slugs cast a spell on me…and it all began with fake news. Well, semi-fake. Okay, it was actually two photographs, and the one that cast the spell wasn’t exactly fake, but it wasn’t of “the” sea slug. It was a vibrantly-colored red-tipped, black and white version of the same sea slug species taken underwater in all its …
Tag Archives: Deception Pass State Park
Deception Pass State Park Hiking Hacks
Get in the know before you go: Deception Pass Park Foundation hosts the downloadable map as an alternative to purchasing one at the main entrance for about two dollars. Since there are three distinct areas (Bowman Bay, Cornet Bay and Goose Rock), consider printing them out before you arrive. The map’s key contains numbers, but …
Lab Girl, The Lorax, The Hidden Life of Trees, and Me
I used to think of trees as majestic, oxygen-producing shade-providers. Not anymore. Reading Peter Wohlleben’s The Hidden Life of Trees and Hope Jahren’s Lab Girl transformed my view about these slow-growing humanoids. Now when I make my daily visit to the woods, it’s with a mindset of concern of a level that only freeway rubberneckers can understand. I …
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Beach Combing at Bowman Bay
Making my way over and between barnacled, blunt-edged rocks and boulders along the north shore of Bowman Bay, quiet clickings increase in proportion to my pace. Shore crabs in a dozen different colors drop from the rocks on which they rest as I pass by, then scurry to safety. It’s one of several super-low-tide days in …
What’s SUP?
The second day of summer 2017 was the best one ever for a couple of stand up paddle boarders lucky enough to book a tour with Jennifer and Shawn McFarland of Sound Yoga and SUP. Moments after the leader suggested the group stand down and move towards the shore for a break, a pod of five …
Dock Crabbing At Cornet Bay Is About To Become One-Third Less Fun
“The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever,” said Jacque Cousteau. Spellbound seagoers who patronize Cornet Bay have the RCFB to thank for awarding a $1,664,000 grant to the Washington State Parks & Recreation Commission to fund a pier replacement project, which should improve their boating, or at least mooring experience at …
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The Science of the Clams
The intruder made a beeline for the shore, slowed and placed her hands in the frigid water. I watched, hoping she wouldn’t notice something I coveted and wanted to keep quiet: an unusual sea squirt species. She rinsed her hands, shook them off, turned and walked away. My secret was safe. Three years ago, in …
Syzygy, Tides and Jonathan White
My arms ached as I pulled back and down on the boom, windsurfing towards an island on one of the last tacks I had the energy to make to avoid the embarrassment of a rescue. I zigzagged shoreward. The wind on my sail brought me closer, but the tide pulled me away. A fall would …
If I Only Had a Brain
Scarecrow and Tin Man didn’t know how good they had it. According to the National Science Foundation, “With few exceptions, jellyfish are brainless, bloodless, boneless and heartless, and have only the most elementary nervous systems.” Every Whidbey and Fidalgo islander has likely encountered a rusty-maroon eight-lobed blob lying along the shore: Cyanea capillata or Lion’s Mane jellyfish. …
Ten Books Islanders Ought to Read
Exploring Deception Pass by Jack Hartt This week, Jack Hartt’s new book Exploring Deception Pass was published. A recent Whidbey News Times Article by Ron Newberry on the subject (State park manager shares tales and insight) suggests, “When one of Washington’s most breathtaking state parks is part of your everyday life for 12 years, you tend to …
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