Day 23

5 minutes from the BBSR is the causeway linking St David's to St. George's; below that causeway is a stretch of intertidal mud flats, and under rocks and buried in sand on those mud flats are a hella lotta worms. These we collected, by the bucketful. We only had to wade this time instead of snorkeling but it was just as bad in terms of the cold, and towards the end we were all shivering by the shore cursing at the truck for being late.

I never thought I'd be excited by a platyhelminthes or polychaete, but it was kind of fun cracking open the rocks to get at the creatures inside them, sort of a Halloween-esque equivalent of an Easter Egg hunt. We were hoping to get a 15cm long Sipunucula, but no dice - the biggest specimens we managed were only about 8-9cm long. Anyway, now that the oohing and aahing is over, we get to memorize another tome full of phylum/order/species names. Good times.


The Colby kids have left.


Also: the plan goes apace.