Huntsman 2008
I have never been more proud to call myself a Bell HS student.
Over the past 4 years, I’ve done some stereotypical Bell stuff, and it all seemed… decent. Getting to the NCSSAA Rugby Finals was amazing, as has been competing in all of the Math Contests, dressing up as a giant Bruin Bear, and getting PD Days when OCCSB kids didn’t. None of it, however, compared to showing off my Huntsman photos.
I mean, I’m talking with some friends, and Bell’s getting laughed at. From what they were telling me, we “Bell people” have messed up priorities. “Why else” they asked upon my return from Huntsman, “would you go out to New Brunswick, to do homework? Why would you miss a week of school, only to go out and act like marine biologists? What did you see? Plankton? Possibly an amoeeeba?”
Then, I showed them the pictures. Heh.
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October 2008, Mr. Ruttan and Mrs. Green told us, marked Bell’s seventh year planning a trip to St. Andrew’s, New Brunswick.
A joint excursion with South Carleton HS, 22 Bell kids and 18 South kids took up residence in Andrews House, part of the Huntsman Marine Science Centre.
The first thing I remember about the trip was waking up upon arrival in NB at 6 AM… falling back asleep at HMSC… and waking up at 8 AM. Much better. I struggled to remember the names of the South kids I met on the bus ride there (so many Burger King crowns… don’t even ask), so to save myself, I walked out onto our room’s balcony and looked at our surroundings. Laid before us all was a gorgeous Atlantic Ocean landscape as far as the eye could see, clear blue skies that would thankfully never appear to darken, and 5 days. After some cereal and some socializing (which, as tired people know, truly go hand in hand), the 40 of us set out on an adventure, and here are some of the highlights.
Seeing it be our first day there, what was the first thing we did? Bust out some science. Wasting no time, we set off by boat, we travelled into the waters around St. Andrew’s to look for signs of aquatic life vital to the marine ecosystem. Ironically, the first species we collected WERE plankton, both zooplankton (F. Animalia) and phytoplankton (F. Plantae). This was followed by an ocean drag, wherein a basket was tossed over the side of the boat, scraped along the bottom of the sea floor, and its catch brought back to the deck. All the Phylums were there, from Sea Sponges (Porfiera) to Sea Stars and Sea Urchins (Echinodermata) to Sea Spiders (Arthropoda) to Clams… Sea Clams, if you will (Mollusca). This was followed by a tour of the HMSC Aquarium, filled with many of the same species, in addition to Clyde, the 27 lb lobster, and Unidentified Shark Jaws. (Fun Fact: If you put a Sea Star atop a Bivalve, a fairly epic battle will ensue.) Later, we debated over Aquaculture (aka Fish Farming) and its contribution to New Brunswick.
The second day there, we spent part of the morning with the plankton we had caught, viewing them at a microscopic level and distinguishing between diatoms, dinoflagellates and copepods. The rest of the morning was spent analyzing samples we had collected from the drag, sketching various parts and getting hands on with the variously furry, spiny and slimy creatures. The highlight of the hands-on bit had to have been Matt from South’s “experimental inquiry”. Now, the science kid in all of us needs to prove a hypothesis every now and then, but for Matt, it was whether a rock crab’s pinch could actually hurt you. Conclusion arrived at? Oh yeah. It further took 7 minutes and a teacher before proper blood circulation to his index finger completely came back. For the afternoon, it was off to Indian Point, where the tidal pools brought us a vast number of scuttling creatures in shallow water. Sand dollars and ridiculously tiny sea stars abounded. Decked out in rubber boots, the fun was in overturning rocks and catching starfish and crabs with your bare hands… before you were stranded out to sea by a fast-moving incoming tide.
View Photo Spread #1
The third day had to have been the most climactic of them all. If you have ever been in one of Mr. Ruttan’s Bio classes, you’ve heard of Grand Manan Island at length. Once day three rolls around, it all makes sense why. Our day started off with porpoises and whales off of the horizon, and while fairly distant from the boat, it was only a sign of things to come. Once on the island, a short bus ride took us to the whale-watching boat, and we headed off to straddle the border between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Now, when we were told that there are only 300 members of the North Atlantic Right Whale species still around… it upped just how EPIC IT WAS when they appeared mere metres away from our boat. Greeting us with a distinctive V-shape blow, we witnessed as they surfaced all around the boat, flicking their tails and generally posing beneath a clear blue sky… only to disappear, but even then, only for a short while. Whale mating sessions, we would come to find out, tend to attract multiple partners… the three sessions we witnessed while on our expedition served to bring us the sights of a few dozen of them. Cameras in hand, we snapped and we snapped. (I’m afraid to say that, yes, we were the ones who brought Facebook to a standstill for an entire weekend. Sorry about that.) That night was spent hearing from those who track the whale populations for scientific research, venturing off on the coastline, watching a sunset and stargazing at length.
Days four and five seemed to pass like a blur. The next morning, we searched for seaweed along the coast, and made up dichotomous keys to classify them. Then, we set off to buy some as part of another Fun Fact: Dulce seaweed, it actually turns out, tastes fantastic when microwaved, and makes up a good part of the Grand Manan economy along with fishing and tourism. While waiting for the ferry to come and pick us up, we took the opportunity to hike up to the lighthouse at Swallow’s Tail, journeying all along the cliffs and posing for photo-ops until we saw the ferry approach. Once we got back to HMSC, we worked on several labs and did some more sketching, before setting off to downtown St. Andrew’s on a scavenger hunt. A “Bell Ringer”, a fantastic Lobster dinner, and a 14-hour bus ride later, we were all back in Ottawa.
Especially at the end, it all seemed to pass by so quickly. Too quickly.
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If you’re a Grade 11 student, or a Grade 10 or 9 student, sign up. I’m telling you this right now, for your own benefit, go and hunt down either Mr. Ruttan or Mrs. Green in advance, as the spots on the trip fill up fast. Though a good several weeks since I got back, I can’t stop but think about all that I experienced while I was there, and just how fast everything seemed to fly by, especially towards the end. I still keep in touch with all those kids I met from South, and I look forward to Bio with the Bell kids next semester. Whether Bell kids – and South kids for that matter – actually have their priorities in place, I know not. Maybe I could have done something else with 5 days, but I can’t think of anything more worthwhile. What I do know is that Huntsman was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of deal, and I’m definitely glad that I went. The photos I took, and you’ll have seen a fair few of them on the opposite pages to this article by the grace of Stephanie Lum, are a small record of all the wonder and memories I’ll forever keep from the Fall 2008 Huntsman Trip.
And I know that I’m not the only one.
View Photo Spread #2
