At Festivals I withdraw from daily life and immerse myself in something different and stimulating. 

Throughout the year Sitka gives me several chances to take such a staycation immersing myself in chamber music or jazz.  But in November a long weekend festival allows me to immerse myself in marine science, a field outside my wheelhouse, but intimately related to where I choose to live.

It delights me that a town of 8,800 can fill a 400 seat auditorium for a science symposium.  Sitka Whalefest is more than a community immersion in science.  It’s a study of the ways we learn and interact.

Whalefest adds an “A” into STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.)  The “A” stands for “Art.”  

STEM + A = STEAM.  

STEAM – putting science into a community context.

Whalefest’s Centerpiece is a Science Symposium, with 9 lectures on marine science.  But more than that they show how science intersects with traditional knowledge.  The through theme of this year’s festival was “Entwined.”  Much of the festival was about how Western science is entwined with local and Indigenous knowledge and how science informs and is informed by art.

“Entwined” is an exercise in “One Health,” how the health of animals, the environment and humans are all related.  One lecture presented a case study on the balance between sea urchins, abalone, sea otters, and kelp.  The science informed by traditional knowledge.  

There was also a lecture on how pathogens found in a community’s wastewater tracks pathogens found in game animals, urban animals (mice and voles), and domestic dogs.

And entwined was also meant literally, with two lectures on how whales and other sea mammals get entangled with fishing gear and how that affects their survival.

There was a student art show based on maritime themes…

…performances with music on maritime themes.

…a marketplace where craftspeople display and sell their work and where non-profits promote their work.

The festival has classes and seminars for high school and college credit.  There is maritime trivia for adults and an “Ocean Bowel” contest for students.  You could sign up to participate in necropsy and attend a maritime film festival. For younger kids there was an activity area where kids could match whales in a game of concentration or try to unentangle a whale.

Aside from the lectures, the wildlife cruise with the participating scientists is a highlight.  Usually, we have two, but the Sunday cruise was canceled because of a storm coming in. 

I took some video of the whales. For some reason those of you who get this as an email do not get the videos but if you click on it in your browser you will.

And one dive with a deep breath beforehand.

In January we will be in Hawaii and will be looking for some of these whales. We can identify them by their flukes.