Teacher at Sea: May 22, 2004 Log

Tide Guage Benchmarks

Curtis Watkins, NOAA Teacher at Sea

Benchmark used for leveling tide guage.

We started the day with Ken and Mark finishing the survey work in the morning. They were able to tie the primary marker in with the tide level gauge within tolerances and this involved at least 7 benchmarks of which one was a new benchmark. The new benchmark had been installed by another agency (state maybe) which saved a lot of time, effort and materials. This new benchmark is to replace a marker being buried by construction. The afternoon was taken up doing the dive portion of the calibration. I have never seen anybody jump off a pier which is at lest twenty feet above sea level into COLD water. At least they had dry suites on. They found the tube to be clear and inspection good. While they were finishing the dives, a fishing vessel was offloading halibut, another was waiting to be offloaded, the U.S. Coast Guard buoy tender Maple came into dock, and a plane flew over head. The harbor is a very busy place to be working.

Collecting data for a new tidal benchmark.

Before leaving the Cascade Inn, Cheria Morina, one of the owners, was interviewed and she really emphasized the employment opportunities found in Sitka in both the tourism and the fishing industries. Finding workers with a good work ethic seems to be an issue. The weather has been incredible with temperatures in the 70s and partly cloudy to clear skies.

After leaving Ken and Mark at the tide level station, Jennifer and I went to Totem Park to interview Tasha Kaiser who shared with us information about the different organisms in this area. It was a bit limited on the beach due to the high tide. People have been so helpful during our visit. Geaff, the biologist, had responded to our request, but was off doing some training. We were not able to scratch the surface of the amazing life, history and culture that is still alive on this small island in Alaska.