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Photo Gallery
Here's a photo gallery
of our California trip
Students
Abbey Adams
Kyle Breyer
Craig Christensen
Lisa Craig
Chris Fairchild
Zach Frishman
Shelby Seibold
Sarah Whitson
Robby Willer
Kirbi Yelorda
Staff
Chris Christensen
Cindy Christensen
Dennis Donovan
Jason Donovan
Melanie Donovan
Sylvia Donovan
Dave Fairchild
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Marine Biology Field Trip
Seven seniors and three juniors spent six days in sunny California during Midland's spring break in March. Led by Science teacher Jason Donovan, they spent many hours studying various ecosystems along the Pacific coast, journaling their findings, and increasing their knowledge of the ocean and its inhabitants.
Southwest Airlines very kindly seated our group together on the flights, and allowed us to board early. On one of the flights, the team was adopted by Carrlyn, a flight attendant who had attended Pittsburg State. She showered the kids with plastic bags of pretzels and peanuts, plus all the drink refills we could want, then followed it up by having an announcement made over the intercom welcoming us group on board.
We were picked up at the San Jose airport by Melanie Donovan and Mr. Donovan's parents (Dennis & Sylvia), who drove down from Pacific Union College earlier in the week with two large vans for our use during the trip. Among other things, the vans brought enough food to keep our staff and 10 hungry teenagers happy and well-fed for almost a week. Can't say enough about the help and support Mr. Donovan's parents provided, as they took over the job of cooking for the entire crew!
 Our first full day was spent at Point Lobos, a state reserve featuring everything from harbor seals and sea otters to crabs, spanish moss, and pelicans. We hiked around the entire park, covering about six miles with a stop in the middle for lunch. During lunch, the students watched an otter floating in the cove, enjoying the sunshine with her baby. As Chris wrote in his journal, "otters wrap kelp around their bodies to anchor them in one spot so that when they wake up from their afternoon siesta, they are in the same spot that they fell asleep in." The views of Monterey Bay were stunning, the bright blue water contrasting with sprays of white spray against the rocks. Robby commented that the "magnificent coastline, combined with the destructive waves, made for an unforgetable experience."
 Headed back to Monterey Bay Academy, we stopped for an hour or two of tide pooling. Throwing on our boots (pink with white polka dots - really?) we waded through the salt water and over seaweed-covered rocks, studying the pools of water left behind as the tide went out. Besides the many types of seaweed, the students found bright-orange bat stars, chitons, mussels, green sea anemones, turban shells, and spiny sea urchins.
 Day two was spent at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, arguably one of the best aquariums in the United States. Located in the same buildings used for processing tons of sardines in the 1940s, MBA contains hundreds of exhibits, thousands of marine animals, and millions of gallons of water. The Outer Bay tank alone holds over a million gallons of sea water, and is home to hammerhead sharks, 500-pound tuna fish, barracuda, ocean sunfish, and pelagic rays. The glass window into this tank is 13 inches thick and almost 1000 square feet in size, one of the largest "windows" in the world.
Favorite exhibts of the students included the seahorses, jellies, sea otters, and leaping blennies. The latter is a fish which one of the students described as "amazing creatures that uses their specialized gills to gather moisture off the rocks that allows them to breathe above water." It was amusing watching these little fish chase each other from rock to rock around their exhibit.
We did some additional tidepooling on Sunday afternoon; several of the kids found a long stretch of bullwhip kelp that they used as a jump rope. Additional links on this topic:
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Midland Adventist Academy
