Exploring the Puget Sound Marine Life with Luan Roberts

Luan Roberts sat down with GCP to share her knowledge and love of tide pooling. She has been in the PNW and exploring for the last 5 years and hopes she can inspire others to get out and tide pool too! You can find her on Instagram: @luanimal and her website: https://www.naturelookings.com/

01:21 – Justin and Scott kick off the show missing Jeff, Luan introduces herself, and Justin gives props to the Union Club for GCP’s ability to record in person. They talk about their last recording at the Union Club, Luan explains her love of sea slugs, and how she gets her great shots of them. She talks about how disrupting tide pooling can be to the wildlife’s environment, and how she came across PNW’s beautiful marine landscape.

11:22 – Luan talks about the specialness of the Tacoma Marina, the different types of sea slugs that are there, and shares when the best time to go see them is. Justin talks about the movie My Octopus Teacher, Luan talks about the places she was surprised about seeing the sea slugs at, the stationary creatures that are at the places she visits, and Luan talks about the terrible things sea slugs can do to each other.

21:15 – Luan talks about what got her interested in the marine life when she moved to Seattle, her first discovery of the tide pool, and things that have helped her foster her hobby. She talks about how she has made her connections in the community, the actual size of the creatures, and the types of defense measures the nudibranchs have. She talks about the marine themed tattoo she is getting, Justin asks a Coaster Question, and shares how Coaster Questions got started.

32:09 – Luan talks about things she’s ran across that seemed out of this world, her dream place she’d love to explore, and Justin talks about his past snorkeling experience. He talks about his horrid sunburn, Luan explains the purpose of the herring nets at Narrows Marina, and how exploration makes a perfect pandemic hobby. Justin talks about the old docs and buildings in the Rustin Way area, Scott talks about the PNW tree octopus, and Justin shares where listeners can find Luan online.

Thanks Luan for sharing your love of sea slugs!

• Boathouse 19 at Tacoma Narrows Marina
• Narrows Marina — Narrows Marina strives to be the optimal destination on the South Sound, where we offer high quality products and services provided by friendly and knowledgeable staff.
• Urban Wilderness | Nature Lookings — Wildlife observations & inquiry around the urban wilderness of Puget Sound and beyond.
• Luan Roberts (@luanimal) on Instagram — I'll show you where the wild things are
• My Octopus Teacher on Netflix — A filmmaker forges an unusual friendship with an octopus living in a South African kelp forest, learning as the animal shares the mysteries of her world.
• Bryan Kachel Tattoos
• Pacific Northwest tree octopus — The Pacific Northwest tree octopus is an Internet hoax created in 1998 by a humor writer under the pseudonym Lyle Zapato.