Wow, I have been a terrible blogger recently. My apologies. It’s time to catch up!

So much has been happening over on Catalina… Time has been flying by! Our fall school year program runs mid-August thru late November. Then, we have 6 weeks off over the holidays to travel or visit family. I split my time between SC and NC with family and friends. In early January the Davidson clan embarked on a skiing adventure in Colorado!

I found Sasquatch on the slopes of Breckenridge, CO!

3 out of 4 of the Davidson clan.

I was lucky enough to meet up with a college friend (and fellow underwater hockey player) for a day of skiing.

We hit every peak in Breck in one day. Legs = jell-o.

Snow clouds blowing in on the top of Peak 7.

After an epic week of shredding the Rockies with the fam, I headed back to Catalina Island for the spring season which just ended last week. The spring season was somehow even more amazing than the fall! We had a lot of incredible life in an around our camp, including a mother grey whale and her calf in out bay – unfortunately I didn’t get any pictures of them, but here’s some I did capture:

This is Mike Bison, Toyon Bay’s resident bison. Though traditionally called buffalo, their scientific name is Bison bison. They are the largest land mammal in North America, with adults typically over 1000 lbs. They can run faster and further than a race horse. Bison were introduced to the island for a silent film in the early 1920’s, and the herd is now managed by the Catalina Island Conservancy to stay at approximately 150 individuals.

A pod of Pacific White-sided dolphins swam right under our boat!

Those dorsal fins are from Risso’s dolphins, which are usually shy. This pod was unusually curious and cruised right through a kayak with students (Trevor, a CIMI instructor, is pictured).

This baby harbor seal wandered onto our beach to take a nap! My apologies for the poor quality – I didn’t want to get to close and disturb it!

Maybe I’m a huge nerd, but the Catalina Walking Sticks are pretty incredible! These are an endemic species, which means they’re found only on Catalina and nowhere else in the world! Catalina Island has over 60 endemic plant and animal species.

Speaking of animals, when I return to CIMI in the fall, I will not only be teaching but also be working as an aquarist! This means I’ll be teaching school groups most of the time, but will rotate shifts with other aquarists to care for the animals in our exhibits. I have lots of tank scrubbing, siphoning, and animal food prep ahead of me, but it’s going to be incredible working directly with such amazing creatures!

This is one of my personal favorite creatures from our aquariums – the Mantis Shrimp (click the link – you won’t regret it)!

Mantis shrimp are divided into two categories: Spearers (left) or smashers (right). They can throw these terrifying arms out at speeds as fast as a bullet from a gun when attacking prey or defending themselves. The friction between their arms and the water at this high speed causes the water around them to boil (a process known as supercavitation) and they hit their prey with a sonic boom before they hit it with their arms themselves. Photo credit

In the fall, my friend and coworker, Jorie, introduced me to Geocaching. In a nutshell, it’s a global treasure hunt where you try to find “caches” hidden in plain sight. You can find them using a handheld GPS or a smartphone. And I am hooked. Completely. And they are EVERYWHERE! Now, of course, a treasure hunt is nothing without some adventure, am I right?

This bison skull is part of a geocache on the Hermit Gulch trail on Catalina!

THIS geocache was one of the most unique and challenging ones I’ve done – Jorie and I army crawled to the back of this muddy and incredibly spidery cave. Totally worth it.

On a trip to San Diego, I found my 100th geocache! I’m almost up to 200, just a few months later. I told you it’s addicting!

We had a lot of other incredible adventures this spring… Here’s the season in photographs:Looking back at the peak of Red Mountain (officially Whitley’s Peak), a beautiful and somewhat sketchy hike. Toyon Bay is at the bottom of the canyon to the right.The CIMI crew takes Red Mountain by storm. (Britt doesn’t always look like that – we use the charcoal from burned out trees as “face paint” with our students)Chasing the sunrise over the Pacific Sunrise progression during my hike up the ridgeline to Avalon.A college friend, David, came to visit! My first visitor to the island! Hooray!Wildflowers bloomed after a little much-needed rain. Catalina is still in an extreme drought.My parents came to visit the island – and we had some adventures on other islands too!Danny and I tried to be fashionistas for our time-travel themed squid dissection. I think we pulled it off. A friend invited me to go flying with a local pilot, Scott, above Catalina Island! What an incredible experience.Avalon, the tourist mecca of Catalina, from above. Home sweet home! Toyon Bay from above.Cactus overlooking Shark Harbor, a popular spot for surfing on the backside of the island. Hiking up East Mountain. Avalon is in the background. The “wine stop” near Blackjack Mtn. on Catalina. We hiked up for sunset, but my pictures of the sunset just don’t do it justice.We finished off the season with an all-staff make-your-own-sushi night! Featuring yellowtail caught by my coworkers and locally caught tuna. Lesson learned: I do not make pretty sushi.So, that pretty much sums it up! I’m currently all the way up in the beautiful state of Washington for the first time! I’m traveling through Seattle up to San Juan Island. Then, later this week I’ll be heading to Ketchikan, Alaska, where I’ll be working as a snorkel tour guide for the summer! Now that I have a good internet connection, I am hearby promising to stay on top of this blog for the summer. Hold me to it! These fins are ready to wander north!