Day 9: Oh! Seals! *Insert Desmund Voice Here*

Good evening Reader! I feel like I'm entering this post at a reasonable hour tonight (unlike yesterday). This is a good thing since I am EXHAUSTED! I mean after the rock climbing yesterday and the being outside basically all day I'm just super tired. We're up early again tomorrow morning so I'll be going to bed fairly shortly. But there was some pretty awesome stuff that happened today that I really need to post about and besides, if I didn't post an entry tonight I have a feeling I would receive several angry/disgruntled Facebook messages. (Jess, Karina, you know who you are.)

This morning we got up and left at 7:00am which was amazing because it was basically our version of sleeping in. We all got into the boat and headed out to Wizard Islet. Wizard is pretty much some rocks in the middle of the ocean but I guess that qualifies it as an islet. Either way as we were pulling up to beach the boat we noticed several amazingly adorable and oh so cuddly looking seals! I was so excited! One of my goals for this trip was to see some seals and there they were perched on the rocks. They were just way too cute for words! I immediately went into Desmund voice mode (which for those of you who know me is this odd kind of semi British semi baby talk type of voice). I obviously wanted to get as close as I could to the amazing creatures but there's a general rule around here that we can't go within 100 metres of marine mammals. I was a little disappointed by this but it turns out the seals hung around the rocks the whole time we were out at Wizard so I got to watch them all day! The cutest seal was the chubbiest one who couldn't seem to get back onto the rocks. It definitely reminded me of Desmund trying to get up onto the couch/bed and failing miserably. (For those who don't know, Desmund is one of my dogs back home.) 

We hung out at Wizard until about noon. During this time we did more collections of inverts and we also learned how to measure the different intertidal zones. The beach at Wizard was just incredible! At high tide it basically looked like a beach you would find in Hawaii with white sand and clear beautiful waters!  It rained for the first time today (I know right, it's only rained once since I've been out here) but it only lasted for about an hour. After that it was clear skies and warm warm sun!

Tomorrow is the first snorkelling excursion of the program and I'm getting pretty excited. To say that I'm not nervous would be lying but that doesn't mean I can't be pumped as well. We're going snorkelling inside the Bamfield inlet so I know there won't be anything crazy jumping out at me from the depths. Also my TA said that the water will be fairly shallow (so again nothing crazy will be jumping out at me from the depths). Cold water snorkelling is supposedly incredible so naturally I'm excited to go but I'm definitely not ready to deal with wet suits. Argh they are SUCH a pain. 

As for my general well being, I feel good. I think I'm definitely getting back into shape (thank you rock climbing) and I'm making friends. More importantly I'm gaining such valuable experience that I could never gain back home! I'm seeing new animals and learning so many new things! I know I've already done this but I'd really like to give a shout out to my amazing prof and TA. They are incredibly knowledgeable and they obviously love what they do. This experience would not be the same without them. I would also like to thank my family who keep things in perspective for me whenever I feel the need to complain. Just having the chance to chat with my mom tonight på norsk was enough to lift my spirits! Thanks again everyone! I miss and love you all!