Farewell All!

Tomorrow I will be venturing out to Spectacle Island but it will most definitely not be as fun as it would have been with my favorite group of field wrecking crew. The following phrase has been beaten to death over the past 3 weeks but this was most definitely the most hands on course I've ever taken at BU. I wish that more courses were like this.

I took "Coastal Sciences" and hated every day of it. We spent every 3 hour session in the class room with our textbooks and observing slides and listening to our teacher tell us how FUN and breathtaking it was out in the field. We'd joke about going on field trips but she would merely tell us that "if we really wanted to, we'd do it." While that is true, its sometimes good to be forced to do things. Your parents never said to you "if you really want clean teeth, you should brush them." I know this isn't a great example but you need to see what you're studying to truly appreciate it. In Earth Sciences we did just that.
We rode on boats, went on whale watches, and even ate the fish we had a community meeting about saving. I would most definitely recommend this class to anyone looking to fill any kind of credit requirement even if it were a free one. I've lived in Boston my entire life and had no idea of the natural activity that existed in what is literally my back yard.

Whale Watching and Wincing

Before setting sail, we had a group picture taken on the dock. Ironically I had a huge smile on my face of genuine excitement. Little did I know, I was in for a day of partially crippling seasickness. I hadn't been on a whale watch since I was a 5 or 6 but I remember having a great time despite some mild seasickness. Motion sickness runs in my family. I believe this is largely psychological as my father became violently ill on "It's a Small World," which is in it's own right, not even a boat ride. To this day he claims he "got" on of the animatronic children... I dont believe it but he stands by this proclamation because after all, who are we without our principals.
We boarded the Aurora and was informed of it's eco friendly water jets that powered the vessel. Boba said that the Boston Whale Watching Catamarans are the cleanest running catamarans in the country. Anway,,, roughly an hour into the excursion after standing on the bow of the boat, I decided to look around the ship I'd be spending the next 3 hours on. When I got to the second level of the boat I peeked into the cabin for a moment and saw that a girl had lost her lunch on the floor. I empathized as I've experienced sea sickness before but as soon as I caught a whiff of the mess she left I instantly remembered being seasick as a child and my brain went to a familiar place. Moments later I too was sitting with my head between my legs on the outside dock with my eyes closed. Luckily people on my level were reacting loudly with excited gasps. Luckily I regained my composure to witness the majestic creatures of the ocean.
I found a strange sort of solace when Boba mentioned that whales often travel in twos. Is it for companionship? protection? In any case, Duncan was nice enough to grace us with his presence for a short while. I don't know how gender neutral the name "Duncan" is. It seems about as gender neutral as "Melissa." It was disheartening knowing that the population of these creatures is dramatically decreasing. I can't wholeheartedly say that I'd be devastated if I found out whales became extinct but at the same token I'd be surprised if we stood by and let this happen. What is killing whales is oil spills and pollution but at this point, can we help either case?
I was surprised to discover that when the whale watchers go out on tours they don't use sonar when trying to find humpback or any kind of whales. They had a hot dog cooker but no sonar. The woman at the snack bar spoke candidly said that today's trip was about a 7 or 8. This was a fair compromise as many whales were seen by all.

Striped Bass Blog

Upon waking up from a seasick coma, I enjoyed a small yet tasty sample of Striped Bass. As I mentioned before I'm very particular about the way I cook seafood and am careful not to over-season as the fish itself as most of the good flavor is in the flesh itself. I simply thawed the cut and put it in a frying pan with some olive oil, salt, pepper, a dash of soy sauce and Mrs. Dash. If you're feeling that there's a spice missing from your shelf and the void is unfillable, treat yourself some Mrs. Dash.
I'm on the commercial side of our debate and this morsel made it even easier to stand by my position to kill as many of these things as safely as possible. As a future fisherman I was delighted to learn that preparing a fish is somewhat simple. After our class midterm, we made our way to 808 Comm Ave where we explored the culinary classrooms. Seeing these classrooms made me wish I took a cooking course in stead the Millenary course I took in the fall of last year. Hats do not taste as good.
As it turns out, all it take to prepare a striped bass is a few ingredients, and more importantly a proper set of gutting knives. I remember being on the cape and watching a bass cutting competition. 3 men had to gut as many fish as they could in 10 minutes. I remember being mortified at 10 years old at what I was seeing so I don't recall the BEST record, but the memory of flying entrails stays with me to this day. If I remember correctly, Bruce said that he caught the fish by placing several bugs on a fishing line to make the fish believe that they were stalking copapods. This seems to make more sense than using the cliched worm which is blatantly outside of the striper's ecosystem.

Better Late than Never?

Hi all,
My name is Dave Vadala. I'm a sociology major and I've lived north of Boston for the majority of my life. If all goes to plan this will be the second to last class I ever take at BU, at least for a little while. I suppose its also conditional on whether or not my career path finds me. I know that sounds strange but I've had a number of jobs and call it immaturity but I can't picture myself doing any of those things for the rest of my life on a 40 hour a week basis. Currently I work part time at Barnes and Noble and always keep my eyes open for paid case studies or performing gigs around Boston. No I don't street perform... yet. I spend a majority of my time with friends, reading, going to movies/concerts, and writing.

My experiences on the "water" include summers at Revere Beach, Life Guarding at a YMCA pool, and skim boarding on Pompano Beach in Ft. Lauderdale. I've never fished but it's on my list of things to do before the summer ends. I'm a big seafood guy and have endless debates with my friends on how seafood should be prepared.

Anyway I hope this post finds you all well and you're not like me where you're in the position of doing your whole report in one night and procrastinating by reading blog posts.

See you guys tomorrow on the bright!!

The Barking Crab on a Somewhat Sunny Day

Today I spent my day on the dock at the Barking Crab. It was approximately noon when I got down there and the tide had just gone out. The first thing I noticed upon walking down the steel ramp was the pier's pillars wallpapered in barnacles. I couldn't begin to guess what kind as there are over 1200 species of barnacles, regardless it was the first animal I could check off of my list. The next thing I noticed was the lack of clarity in the water. The Barking Crab is located by several factories, skyscrapers, hotels, a major road and major boat traffic congesting the surrounding harbor. I feel like I may have been able to see perhaps a foot under the grimy water. This jarred the memory of Bruce telling us that the water in this area was full of nutrients.

I spent most of my time on my stomach and a lot of time whipping my head back at those enjoying their meal from the top dock. I was by myself so had the impulse to look back every so often and yell "its for a class!" Under the dock was a veritable smorgasbord of plants of all kinds. Rockweed, seaweed, green algae, sea lettuce, and kelps of all kinds. (Ok just one kind of kelp that was red and rather tough looking) but I spotted what I thought was a minnow fish. Someone I talked to told me that it was likely a "chub fish," and that minnows were a tropical fish. I also noticed many blue mussels with an orange almost styrofoam texture. I wasn't quite sure what to make of it. Had it decayed, or was this some kind of foreign bacteria? I also saw a duck. It was a greyish black color so I pondered if it was originally born that way.

I thought I was going to have a hard time finding plants and animals in the city but perhaps the pollution worked to my advantage? I remember yesterday when we were discussing the Hitchhiker's guide that most of the species that I found were the products of ships emptying their bailers or the various types of ship barnacles inspiring new life in new areas. I wasn't lucky enough to see a starfish but I was lucky enough that it didn't rain =)

George's Island and Lovells Island

Upon our arrival on George's Island we began exploring Fort Warren. What a place. The pentagonal fort took 10 years to finish and stands today a fairly impressive structure. Complete with barracks, store houses, bakeries, jail cells, and even fields for recreation, Georges Island was no doubt a crucial fort in maintaining security in Boston Harbor. We were very causally exploring the fort but I couldn't help but wonder the agony prisoners experienced in the dark halls we were so casually laughing through. I shudder to think what this fort was like during a treacherous Boston winter.

Once we entered the courtyard we were regaled of the tale of the Lady in Black. (not the black lady.) Mrs. Lanier received a letter from her husband saying that he was imprisoned on fort Warren. Her gut impulse was to somehow get to this island and rescue him. She arrived on the island and started whistling the first verse to her wedding theme because everyone knows that it's infinitely easier to whistle and wait for a reciprocating second verse as opposed to just calling out the name of the confederate soldier. Regardless, they eventually found each other and because it's easier to enter a secret entrance and not leave it just as easily Mrs. Lanier brought a pick axe. Unfortunately weeks into their tunnel digging the couple was found. Since the pistol Mrs. Lannier had was so old, the pistol misfired and killed her husband. What an embarrassing end to what could have been a great pub tale. Mrs. Lannier's only request was that she be buried in women's clothing. Due to either the lack of women on the island or the priority of the request all they could find were black robes. Mrs Lannier was hung/shot by firing squad?? And supposedly haunts the island to this day. Georges Island brought us tales of whimsy and wonder and some equally great views of Hull.

The next stop was Lovell’s island. We were greeted by a park ranger who gave us an overview of the island. During his lectured I noticed a pamphlet that listed all of the animal finds that were common to Lovell Island. Overall, it didn’t help much but this it was a great tool for later going online and seeing if there were creatures I did see and had missed.

Upon making it down to the beach we were greeted by a colony of crabs. It didn’t take long before a brief crab fighting octagon took place near the rack line in a tidal pool. It was interesting seeing how the crabs acted without their shells. They would often try to retreat to other shells but despite all of the shells being identical they knew exactly which shells were occupied and which shells weren’t. It was traumatic in some ways seeing that helpless green crab being mauled by that seagull but come on! You think he would have gotten the hint. There weren’t any other green crabs down there and they’re not the most quick animal on the beach. It makes me wonder if more come out at night when they can not be as easily seen by predators from the sky.

One of the more interesting animals I didn’t expect to find was a sponge. It looked like it had been on the shore for a while because the inside of it seemed dried up and it was wrapped in different kinds of seaweed. Unfortunately I couldn’t find his pineapple home. …Sorry…

I was taken by great surprise when we found the large population of snails. One tree in particular was a host to over 10 snails (probably more.) The snails were less shy than the periwinkles we found on the beach. I assumed this is because in the scheme of things between the ocean violently crashing on them all the time is likely to make them a little self conscious of their size while the snails go relatively unnoticed and can stay in the same spot for hours unless they’re taken captive by fun loving perverse college students.

Intro To Earth Sciences

I must admit that when someone had brought up the Coriolis effect, I was very much in their camp concerning why water drains the way it does in a sink. I remember believing this because I remember being 'taught" this the seventh grade. Why would I question that at the time? I suppose my teacher was not a credible source.

It was really humbling seeing East Boston from the ferry. I used to live on Maverick Street a whole year without realizing that I lived practically feet away from the Airport. I had no idea that East Boston was so small. Despite it being one of the hottest days of the year, the ferry ride was a great tour the second time around. I wish my commute afforded me the opportunity to take the ferry every day but right now it's just not in the cards.