Watching the Eelgrass Grow: Our Equipment

As we get started, the Island County Beach Watchers eelgrass project depends on two volunteer captains and their boats. This adds the necessary dimensions of portability and adaptability to our set up. Our captains and our techies had stepped up and devised mounting and deploying solutions for both vessels.

Our equipment has arrived and has been set up on Beach Watcher Ken's boat. We took it out for a shake down cruise on June 25th. As expected, there were minor technical difficulties - our first involved not being able to see indicator lights on the electronics in the bright sunlight. (Our techies, being Northwesterners, had never before encountered this particular difficulty.)

Launching Ken's boat Ken brings the equipment laden, but not yet organized boat to shore so that Neal and I can climb aboard.

The GPS/Transducer Pole is one of the items that must be fit to both boats. For Ken's, Gregg devised a mount - at bottom right - and a cruciform fin that fits into the mount. Neal and Ken are installing the pole.

While the three of us in the boat had a go at getting everything set up and running, the second string was relaxing on the shore of Holmes Harbor waiting their turn. One of the perks of being a Beach Watcher is the amount of time spent on the beach enjoying great weather.