Assignment 07 – Costal Course at Randoya

From Monday 31st of May till Wednesday 2nd of June we had the Costal Course at Randoya. Usually the trip takes places together with the Norwegian outdoor students – but due to the current Covid-19 situation the Internationals and the Norwegians stayed separated. Therefore we were on the Island from Monday till Wednesday and the Norwegians from Wednesday till Friday. Thats why we had a usually five-day course in three days. Therefore we were divided into four groups. I was in a group with Toni, Thomas, Antje, Debi and Elena. The days were all structured the same: We had one lecture/activity in the morning from 10.00-12.30 and one in the afternoon from 14.00-16.30 within our small groups. In the evening we had free time to cook, do some extra activities, such as kayaking or fishing and to play games. I really liked the structure of the days, as it provided an efficient way of learning in those small groups of six people. By rotating through the sessions every group could take part in each lecture/activity.

We stayed at an old military base called Randoya fort on the island Ostre Randoya. It’s a 20 minutes’ drive just outside of Kristiansand. Nowadays the base is mainly used for school classes or other groups, such as us, to stay at and do Outdoor Learning Activities. To get to Randoya we had to use a small ferry boat from Kongshavn brygge on Monday morning. 16 volunteers of our class went to the island with the kayaks and the other eight (including me) with a boat and the luggage. There were four buildings belonging to the base: Three sleeping houses, one for the teachers and two for us students, a kitchen and dining building and a new building with toilets and showers. There also was a small beach and a big outdoor area with tables we could use to eat, play games, etc. A cave, one of the remains from the military base, was used to store equipment, such as kayaks, canoes and fishing utensils.  I stayed in a room together with Toni but we planned to stay outside for the two night.
The weather was quite good. Besides the sea fog in the mornings till midday we had around 15 degrees, sun and moderate wind. Only the last day the wind and the clouds increased. 

After unloading the boat, unpacking and and setting in it was already time for the afternoon lecture. My group had motorboats with Kjetil, which was very interesting. In the beginning we had a small lecture about sea maps where we learned how to orientate, the meaning of the different signs in a sea map and some interesting facts about lighthouses. I really liked this session. After that we had to prepare the three motorboats and fix the motor. That took us around 50 minutes. Once the motorboats where ready to go, Kjetil explained us how to start and stop the motor, how to steer and to control the speed. I was in a boat with Antje, she was the first one driving the boat. We got some time to practice between the islands in front of Ostre Randoya. In the beginning it was a completely new thing for me to steer and give the right amount of speed at the same time. But I improved a lot. I practiced a couple of times landing on a jetty (the jetty was another boat). After that we went back to the military base. In the evening we had a lecture about the cultural history of the island with Kjetil. He passed us around the military buildings on the island and showed us the subsurface bunker. That was the most interesting and impressive part because there they made their strategical plans during the Cold War. They had big maps on the walls and a telegraph systems. Randoya was seen as a defensive island with canons pointing in all directions, trying to defend Norway from offenders that were coming over the sea. For the night we found an amazing sleeping spot close to the sea and enjoyed the beautiful sunset.

The next morning we had a biology lesson with Svein, which was very interesting for me as a biology student. We got a catcher and an underwater binocular to see the things under water like using diving goggles (that was so cool!!). We went into the shallow water in the bay and collected everything we found in boxes to identify things later and talk about what we found. It was a very educational biology session. I learned that you can identify the gender of crabs by lifting up their tales. Males have two penises there while females have two holes. The penises of the males are following the leg-line, as they have been evolutionally transformed from legs into penises. If crabs grow and get too big for their shell they throw them off and have a new and bigger one underneath. We found two different types of Oysters, the Common/Norwegian one and the Pacific Oyster. Compared to the Common Oyster, the Pacific Oyster has very sharp edges. Svein told us that Norwegians don’t like this type of Oyster for several reasons. First because of the sharp edges, where you can easily cut yourself and second because it’s very dominant and chases the Common Oyster away. We also cooked slugs, different mussels (common mussels and cockles) and shrimps we found and ate them. I just tried the common mussel and the shrimp because I don’t like the slugs and other kinds of mussels. After that we walked about 400m around the island to observe the different eatable plants which grow there. I really enjoyed this lesson because I liked the way Svein can explain things and spread his passion for that. I could learn a lot from him for my future as a biology teacher. 

After lunch we had to get ready for the afternoon lecture – rowing with Petter. Unfortunately we couldn’t set fishing nets because of reasons of time. However Petter showed us the troll nets. They have three different layers: wider holes on the outside layers and more narrow ones on the inside layer. The nets are about three meters under the water and marked with a buoy. Nevertheless we got kind of a fishing line with baits on it to be able to fish in our rowing boats. I was in a boat with Thomas. We rowed 200m out from the little beach and fished. Unfortunately we didn’t catch a fish but Antje did and we saw it. That was cool! Petter hit the head of the fish 4 times to kill him. After that we went back to the kitchen house and he showed us how to „open“ a fish and to prepare some filets. I saw that once in a biology lesson in my home university. It was my first time fishing and I enjoyed it – being on the sea, relax and enjoy being outside.In the evening we all sat together. After the lecture we went in the sea and enjoyed the evening sun. A great afternoon! In the evening Elena and Maike played the guitar and we sang some nice songs. After that we went to the same sleeping spot as the night before. The night was quite warm and due to that the wind was comfortable. 

The next morning we got up quite early to clean the accommodation before we started with our last lecture – Kayaking with Thomas. That was one of my highlights during the trip. We paddled between the small island in front of Randoya and practiced the paddle strokes (front arm pushes, back arm pulls) and how to use the edges of the kayak. This session was very helpful and I improved my skills a lot. Due to the increased wind we stayed between the island. I learned how islands can protect yourself against the wind, waves, drifting and current. After practicing we made a tour around the small islands. Two times we had to cross and once we paddled to the open ocean. It was impressive how the wind increased and changed the conditions in the kayak. That was quite challenging but we made it. In the end we found a windproof spot and practiced capsizing and rescuing someone. Each of us had to capsize once and to rescue someone once. It worked better than expected. Unfortunately we had to go back very quick because we left Randoya at 12:30. The motor of the boat that should bring us back to Kungshaven was broken and so we had to walk a mile to the little harbor of the island where a small ferry came to bring us back to Kungshaven. There the bus already waited and we met the Norwegians. 

I really enjoyed this Costal Course and I learned a lot. It was one of the most educational trips in the semester with so many different topics. I improved my marine biology knowledge, learned how to row row-boats, how to drive motor boats, how to fish with a fishing line and improved my skills in kayaking. It was sad that we couldn’t do the trip the whole week and together with the Norwegians. It would be nice to get to know each other and to enjoy the island and the lectures more intensiv. But nevertheless I made a lot of notes during the week, as I think that it would be a great thing to do a similar trip with school classes. I think situational and practical learning arrangements are very educational and students keep things better in mind than just learning things in theory and the classroom.