Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Puget Sound's Invisible Shoreline

I went to John William's The Invisible Shoreline video tour Saturday night at the Poulsbo Marine Science Center. I have not been to the Science Center in a while. I forgot how fascinating it is to get a peak at the underwater creatures. We got to see crabs delicately dining on a clam dinner. I could relate having just come from one myself. The center is housing a huge octopus in the large tank in the foyer. He (I found out how to tell it is a he) was extremely active . . .ballooning up and thrashing around the tank. He even did a few head butts on the window. Niki, MSC volunteer, told us this boisterous activity wasn't typical and wondered if it was time to release him to find his soul-mate in the depths.

The tiny auditorium at the center was packed. Obviously there is interest in our Puget Sound life. It was a free event sponsored by one of our KEEP/ECONet grants. John showed clips of underwater videos shot by him and his diving buddies. Amazing stuff going on down there. Sea Slugs are definitely much more attractive than the terrestrial kind. We were amused by a hitchhiking worm protecting his host by giving a sea star a painful pinch. John slipped in episodes of education in between clips: teaching about wave action, differences in tidal zones and that, indeed, Puget Sound health starts with picking up dog poop.

Looking around, I did recognize a few folks as members of the "choir". But the viewing definitely drew from a larger population. To reach even more new audiences . . .maybe he needs to show his footage on the wide screens in bars. I did learn that John has his own TV show on BKAT. For more information, visit: http://SEA-Inside.org.

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