Bumping Our Way to Bamfield

26 September 2015Neha T, Allard ‘16;

This past weekend, fifteen students embarked on a great adventure. Travelling deep into the troughs of the island, these brave souls sought only one thing: to improve their knowledge of biology. Led by their fearless commander, Mr. McCarthy, and our chaperone Ms. Suderman, the AP Bio12 class travelled to the Bamfield Marine Science Centre. The journey to Bamfield is not an easy one. Driving on endlessly bumpy roads with only one break taken at an oasis otherwise known as Tim Horton’s, with your cell service slowly fading away, this expedition can break even the strongest of people. Tis a good thing that those in AP Bio AP are the cream of the crop—we made it through. True, we did suffer a brief lapse into insanity—after four and some hours driving, some individuals on the bus became infatuated with a water bottle, which was slowly inching its way down the length of the vehicle. They even began to cheer it as it reached the end (a garbage bag). However, even this passed and eventually we arrived at our destination. After a brief stop at the dorms to drop off our luggage and a quick tour of the facilities, we were launched into our exploration of marine science. Split into two groups, one went off on a boat ride to excavate samples from the bottom of the ocean—it was quite interesting to see what lived on the bottom of the ocean floor. The other group went to perform basic experiments, such as determining the salinity and temperature of water at various depths. After doing these experiments this group was also supposed to cast a net and examine some plankton. However, as we began to reel the net in, we realized something—we had lost it! Shout out to Petra J, Mack ‘16. After that little oversight and a brief scan of the water to hopefully recover the net, we circled back to shore and swore each other to secrecy (sorry guys). For anyone travelling to Bamfield next year, here’s something to look forward too: THE FOOD IS AMAZING. After thoroughly enjoying our dinner, we set off on our next excursion: a beach walk in the dark. Armed with flashlights and headlamps, we collected seaweed for tomorrow’s experiments and witnessed firsthand how vicious crabs can be. Then we participated in something that was the highlight of my trip—we were able to witness the bioluminescence of plankton in the water. While that statement probably doesn’t sound too exciting, think of this: it’s pitch black and you dip your hand into the water and the water glows where you touch it. It really opened our eyes to all the life around us that is invisible to the naked eye. It was incredible. Finally, after all that excitement, we went back to our dorms and got a good night’s sleep. The next day it was raining. And I don’t just mean some light sprinkles that mist your face. No, I mean torrents of rain, enough to drown the amount of homework we would all have due by the time we got back to Brentwood. Thankfully, all of our work that day was in the labs. We examined many forms of marine life such as plankton and did an in-class experiment on seaweed. Another interesting thing we did was make sand dollars embryos! That night (our last) we had a bonfire. Armed with chocolate, marshmellows and graham crackers we went to the beach. As soon as we arrived it became to rain. We were worried that the rain would prevent us from having a fire and be able to roast marshmallows but we needn’t have been (thanks to Will S and his ODP skills). We ate smores and just generally had a good time. Finally Sunday arrived—our last day at Bamfield. It was pouring again but by then we were used to it. We hopped on a boat and travelled to the other side on the inlet. Then we walked for around twenty minutes and arrived at a beach. This would be our final Bamfield experiment. We all designed and performed our own experiments, presenting them right there on the beach, using the sand to draw graphs. We made our way back to the centre, ate a quick lunch, and then off we went. Once again we were on the bumpy roads travelling back to Brentwood (however this time the ever-enterprising Mr. McCarthy took us on an especially bumpy shortcut shaving one hour off the driving time). So that was Bamfield. For anyone who will be taking the trip next year, here’s some advice: have an open mind—you’ll have fun! Also, bring rain gear, you will get wet. Neha T, Allard ‘16

Where Students Choose To Be