Marine science field trip, 3 nights and 4 days
What it actually looks like
What the children do
A residential marine biology field trip on the BMSC campus. The published price includes accommodation, meals, instructional programming, laboratory and classroom facilities, and educational materials, and the site describes it as an estimated cost per person starting at $994. Final pricing is based on group size, accommodation requirements, season, and selected educational activities, and transport to and from Bamfield is not included. Bookings must be in multiples of 12 people to meet Transport Canada vessel capacity rules. The extra day makes room for longer activities such as the three to four hour intertidal trip to Brady's Beach, the Eagle Bay rocky shore, the experimental marine biology lab and the four hour Kiixin village tour led by a Huu-ay-aht guide, which carries an extra cost.
They settle into a dorm room and then work as a small field crew for four days. In the labs they identify live invertebrates and seaweeds, keep a journal, and set up their own experiments with animals from the tanks. Outside they take water measurements from a skiff in Grappler Inlet, dredge the sea floor from the Alta, pick through tide pools at low tide on Brady's Beach and Eagle Bay, walk the old growth rainforest trail in boots, and go down to the dock after dark to look for bioluminescence.
Good to know
Meals are cooked on site and eaten in a peanut free dining hall that handles most dietary needs, everyone sleeps in campus dorms, and there are washrooms and showers on each floor. How many adults have to come, whether chaperones pay the same, step free access and where a bus parks are not written down, and the price is quoted per group, so ask for a written quote before you apply.
Getting there
100 Pachena Rd, Bamfield, British Columbia, Canada, V0R 1B0