Harborwalkin'

     This week my group and I had the harbor walk and we went to Coughlin Park in Winthrop to learn about beach profiling. On the harbor walk, we met with a Park Ranger named Laura and the MIT intern Yosef to learn about tunicates and algae. The fun thing about Coughlin park was that I got to spend the day with my buddy Ruben who’s in a different group while learning beach profiling. Brian taught us how to use this high-tech GPS system to get points on a map every couple of feet on the beach. We met with a student from UMASS Boston working at the Stone Living Lab, she taught us using a string, a pole, and a tall measuring stick. You had to find a base point and keep looking at that same baseline point and keep moving the poles forward while the string stays tight the entire time. The high-tech GPS was way easier to use but learning how to use both was more helpful and interesting than I thought it would be. 

    The harbor walk was also fun. Laura from the National Parks Service, explained the tunicates very well and she also handed us a booklet that showed all the tunicates and algae that we might find. I saw a lot of sheath tunicates and a few red algae but I didn’t see much else of any of the other ones. It was a good trip overall and I got to see a lot of cool boats too.