Ask anyone aboard, I'm sure they'd all agree that life on the Lady Maryland is no walk in the park. As if going to bed at 10pm and waking up at 6am, not to mention getting up in the middle of the night for an hour for watches wasn't bad enough, the whole day is filled with various struggles. But although it's hard, these past few days have been some of the most fun of our lives!
After getting up and eating, we cast off the dock we stayed at from the previous night, and went to a field dock to stock up on fuel and water. Getting back to sea in the Long Island Sound we set up a otter trawl net and put it into the water. Waiting a few minutes, we brought it back up for examination. We caught many different species, like horseshoe and spider crabs, shrimp, baby flounder, hermit crabs, and snails.
Later on in the day while traveling down the sound we had to make a precautionary stop close to land because of an oncoming storm. When the storm came it disintegrated when it it the water.
Later in our class portion of the day we used a plankton tow to catch the plankton on the surface of the water. We mainly saw copepods, but were lucky enough to see other different species too. Then after first-hand experience with the food that baleen whales eat, we learned all their special migration and eating traditions. We how Wright Whales skim the surface for their food, and how the Grey Whale gulps water and uses baleen to siphon all the unwanted products out of its mouth. Finally we learned how the Orca Whale feeds by catching its prey.
After watches and classes we dropped anchor in Fisher's Island. Now anchored on the eastern part of the Long Island Sound, we rotated hourly with a pair of students and a crew member to check on the ship in order to make sure the anchor does not move and that nothing is going wrong with the boat.
Quote of the day:
"Mambo!"
-Janalee & Andrew
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