NOYO CENTER’S INAUGURAL SCAVENGER HUNT A SUCCESS
FORT BRAGG » So you’ve lived on the North Coast for a while have you? And you fancy you know a lot about the area’s history, botany and wildlife? Well then, can you tell me what a pneumatocyst is? Or distinguish between a feather boa and a Turkish towel? Or tick off the main anatomical differences between a harbor seal and a California sea lion?
Well, if you’re like me and a bunch of other local folks who participated in the Noyo Center for Marine Science’s Sept. 18 throughSept. 27first annual Scavenger Hunt, you probably learned there’s a lot you don’t know. During that ten- day period the folks who participated either as individuals or as “pods” of friends and family, armed with a list of questions that were both challenging and fun, scouredsites that ranged from Seaside Beach to the north and Big River to the south, with several interesting stops in and around Fort Bragg.
Not everyone finished the whole list, but it’s fair to say that everyone who participated had fun and learned something new. Lots of us went out several times during the contest period, exploring a new beach for an hour or two, or hustling up and down Fort Bragg’s alleys in search of a mural, or scouring the signs along the Coastal Trail for the meaning of “kamalel poma” or at the Big River estuary for an indication of how far the tide runs up the river. (Answer: an astonishing 8.5miles!) Sometimes you’d think you knew something, but didn’t.
Like lots of others, I was sure the Lost Fisherman statue was the one behind the Subway at the Boatyard Shopping Center but, nope, it was a different one, down on the harbor off S. Harbor Drive. It didn’t matter, the quest wasn’t about knowing, it was about learning. It was also about being outside and soaking up all the treasures, even the