A last note from David:

So, for this volunteer, our marine-mammal work ends much as it began, on Otter Patrol, taking copious data and enjoying binocular views of otters playing, grooming, resting, and feeding on crabs, clams, “undetermined,” and creatures called – wait for it – fat innkeeper worms. The latter are long, red, rubbery bottom-dwellers that the otters dig out of their tunnels. Stretched full-length between an otter’s teeth and paws, a worm looks like a sausage on steroids, or an escapee from a cheapie horror movie. (See Larry’s wonderful photo.) It gets even more amusing (or, if you prefer, disgusting) to realize that the otter is apparently interested only in the worm’s insides, which it pulls out after biting off one end.

Our brief but intense education here – I’m leaving with a wealth of new knowledge and a range of mental images and photos ranging from a fat innkeeper worm meeting its fate to a humpback whale sliding with impossible grace beneath the surface –
has been a rare pleasure. My thanks to Peter, Anna and Sean for so generously and thoughtfully sharing their energies, expertise and dedication, for their good humor, and for making the work enjoyable. My thanks, too, to my fellow volunteers, Bill, Donna, Eugene, Hiroko and Larry – for their own contributions, their engaging companionship, the laughs, the conversation, and for sharing their passionate concern for salvaging what’s left of our natural world.