SeaCamp!!!

I've been waiting for SeaCamp for 3 YEARS and it just happened!! Last Friday-Sunday I was in San Diego with a bunch of my friends. The counselors were sooo nice. So here's what happened while we were there....



Friday:

I woke up at 6:00 and got my suitcase/beach bag. I had breakfast and my mom drove me to the school. I saw a bunch of my friends there and we waited excitedly for the bus. Finally, the bus got here and I said goodbye and got on. I sat next to Lindsey the first half of the ride (they figured out the seating at home) and then we stopped in Barstow for lunch. After that, I sat next to Loren and we drove some more until we got to the aquarium we were going to. We looked around and did a scavenger hunt....took some pictures.....messed around a little....stuff like that. When we were all done there we got on the bus and drove to SEACAMP!!! When we got there we went into our dorms, found bunks and put our stuff down. Then we ate dinner outside (BBQ) and got ready for our first class. My group (group A) went to the invertebrate lab first. We licked things, held things, and learned a lot. At the end of the class we got to dissect a squid!! After that we drew ink mustaches on our faces with the squid ink :) Then we went to bed.

Saturday:

We woke up. Ate breakfast. Then my group headed straight for the fish lab. We learned about lots of fish, and we looked around and did another scavenger hunt. We got to go into the "Staff Only" room and pet a Horn Shark!! We went back into the lab and dissected a fish....(very gross). Then we got in the SeaCamp vans and drove to Mission Point Bay, where we would be snorkeling. First we ate lunch, and then we got wetsuits on. Group A split into 2 groups (I know, more groups!) One would be snorkeling first and the other would be seining first. We chose snorkeling and we got on our masks, hoods, snorkels, etc. Soon we went snorkeling in the bay. We saw some fish, snails, Sea Sponge, but my favorite was a Brittle Star. They are really cool. After that we went to the beach to do seining, where we got a net and tried to get fish. We only got a couple, though. We went back to camp, took quick showers, and went on a boat. We saw Sea Lions and Sea Otters in the water. About halfway through the trip we threw a net down to follow us and see what we got. The first time we didn't catch a lot, and it was hard to see with the big crowd of kids. We only caught like 3 lobsters and some fish. The second time, I was smart to line up first because I was able to see some really cool things we caught!! We caught some more lobsters (of course) but then we caught 2 stingrays!! One was dead, though. But the coolest thing we caught that night was....an octopus!! I can't believe we caught an octopus. They took it back to SeaCamp to keep in the lab for the other groups. So then we went back to get off the boat. But right as we were getting off, we saw a dolphin!! (One of my favorite animals). It was very cool. Then of course we went back to camp and went to bed. (After seeing SeaWorld's fireworks from the SeaCamp gate!)

Sunday:

We woke up and packed the things we would need for the day/some of the stuff in our suitcase. We ate breakfast and we went to La Jolla Beach (La-Hoy-A) for boogie boarding. I was kinda scared because there were stingrays our there, but boogie boarding turned out to be my favorite part. It was super fun. Then we had lunch, and went tidepooling where we found a very gross fish head (it was big, too.) that had it's eye poked out, which is how we held it, we poked a stick through it's eye, and it's skeleton was still attached, and then the tail was too. So it was a normal fish, but it was missing an eye and a....middle. After that we went back, finished packing, and got on the bus, where I sat by Loren, because we both slept the first half. When I woke up we were about an hour away from Barstow where we would eat dinner, so I just watched the movie until we got there. I went with the group that was going to Subway, and it was gooooood. We were the first group back to the bus, so we had to wait for the kids from Panda Express and In-N-Out groups to get back, which took 45 minutes, cause all the Panda Express kids wanted milkshakes. Eventually we got on the bus and went home. Sea Camp was so much FUN!!!

So, I know this was a long post, but I really wanted to tell what I did at SeaCamp. I hope all my friends who went had a great time, too!