By Alanna Lago

Special to the Sounder

On June 3 and 4, the seventh and eighth-graders from Orcas Middle School went on an overnight field trip to Sucia Island. The outing was an educational and fun adventure.

On the afternoon of June 3, students rode the Sucia Island ferry to Fossil Bay where they unloaded their backpacks and set up camp. The kids changed into their swimsuits and jumped into the numbingly-cold waters. They rolled logs into the bay and used them as “racing boats.”

Some students played capture the flag or collected rocks on the shore, while others climbed cliffs and explored the woods nearby.

There was an opportunity to learn about fossils in the area. Three or four students stumbled upon a trilobite fossil, which is an arthraprod active in the ocean about 542 millions years ago. They also found some seashell fossils and triangular rocks, which looked like arrowheads much to the excitement of two seventh graders. Unfortunately teachers told them they were close, but not quite arrowheads. Teachers explained that Sucia means dirty or foul water to warn sailors of the dangerous rocks by the water side cliffs.

They ate hot dogs and roasted potatoes and marshmallows over a fire with bamboo skewers.

A few kids filmed a “horror movie” with their iPod from the beach to the camp to the cliffs. The movie was about students stuck on Sucia with a monster. They also told ghost stories outside underneath the breathtaking stretch of stars.

On June 4, middle schoolers explored the China Caves said to be named after Chinese illegal immigrants rumored to be hidden there before being smuggled to the mainland for work.

Middle schoolers then participated in a scavenger hunt of different varieties of plants in the forest such as the Douglas fir, and the Yew tree.

“It was a great bonding exercise,” said one teacher.