Boy, am I just happy as a clam after our dinner of pork stewed in chile verde sauce, yellow rice, black beans and tortillas. With the Lady Maryland docked in a harbor, the whole atmosphere is calm and contemplative, ideal for working on final projects (and, as it happened, a lesson on sail science).
All around are fishing boats, and had we sailed up eighty years ago there may have been just as many whaling boats. Tomorrow, we strike out into this historic city, to learn about its history of whaling, and more about whales themselves.
Yesterday, we spent the night anchored in the Elizabeth Islands, near Martha's Vineyard. We had a view of a beautiful, seemingly uninhabited Island off the starboard side of the ship, and beyond that, Martha's Vineyard itself, with a lighthouse whose sweeping beam could be seen by all of the anchor watches. Dead astern was the island of Cuttyhunk, with a quaint town nestled into its smooth hills. As any of you reading this may know, it was there that the students had a chance to call home, but only after taking a bracing dip in the ocean, the closest thing to a shower we're going to get. By 8:30, the sky was draped with low-hanging, blue-grey cumulus clouds, but in the west, off the port side of the ship, the clouds ended in a line, and beyond the line, a thin skyscape of different clouds lined in a color like the inside of a peach, if the pit were a fusion reactor. The sun dipped behind one cloud, bright yellow-orange, and reappeared below it, plum-red.
The students spent part of the evening carving scrimshaw, a pastime of the old whalers, who would carve patterns and pictures into whale ivory. We used tagua nuts, a common imitation ivory, and somewhat dulled needles, and filled the carved out lines with ink.
Today we made our easy way north, to the harbor where we are now situated. On the way, we let out the ship's trawl net and caught some downright exotic marine life. A baby shark, a large puffer fish, some weird looking shrimp (I'm blanking on the name), scallops, three flounders and a whelk were among the catch. The students sketched and wrote down numbers for each species, before we returned them all to the ocean. When your primary exposure to estuaries is the mere understanding that many of our largest cities on the east coast are situated along them, it is thrilling to discover the bio diversity that flourishes there, in spite of all the environmental challenges posed by humans.
That's all for tonight, we've got a big penultimate day of the trip tomorrow. With everyone well-accustomed to the routine of running the ship I think we will continue to enjoy every minute of it, if we have to haul the sails ten times.
Monday, July 30, 2012
Trip 4, Day 6, July 30
 |
| Dinner! |
 |
| Dishes |
 |
| Lowering sail |
 |
| Taking a break from fish i.d. |
 |
| Plankton! |
 |
| Post-swim call huddle |
 |
| Two humpbacks right by our boat! |
 |
| Enjoying some hot chocolate on a rainy evening. |
 |
| We saw humpback whales skim feeding right by our boat! |
 |
| Demonstrating bubble net feeding! |
 |
| Cleaning out the trawl net. |
 |
| Chillin' out while standing by. |
 |
| Flounder! |
 |
| Post swim call |
 |
| Baby shark! |
 |
| Squid dissection night |
 |
| Swim call! |
Saturday, July 28, 2012
CTY July 26-August 2 post 2
Greetings! It would be a fool's errand to attempt to recount the full extent of the past three days' adventures in the half an hour I have to update the blog, but here are some highlights, in the order that they occur to me:
We have just finished... well, you all at home will find out what activity we just finished in a few days, when you receive a very unique postcard. A hint: our writing instruments were primitive to say the least.
We took the day to sail out to Stellwagon Bank, the same locale of our hired whale-watching charter. When we had sailed out as far as we were intended, we had only seen one humpback spout. It was thrilling, to be sure; it was like seeing an elephant in the distance, from the top of your range rover on the Serengeti, rather than in a zoo. But it was only one. When we had sailed maybe a quarter of the way back the way we came, a shout rang out from the lookout on the bow: "There she blows!" (really, one of the crew pointed out, how many chances are you going to get in your life to shout "there she blows!" from the deck of a schooner). We made our way over. The rest could have been a fairy tale. We saw at least fifteen humpbacks, probably closer to twenty. One breached (threw its entire body out of the water, and fell back in with a terrific splash) twice in a row, maybe a hundred yards away. Another two swam around not more than fifteen yards from the boat, with their mouths half open, after blow bubbles to send schools of tiny fish in confusion closer to the surface. Lunch was delayed at least half an hour.
Yesterday we visited the historic Pilgrim monument in Provincetown (the original landing place of the pilgrims). We then headed to the Center for Coastal Studies for a guest lecture on whale entanglement, and what the center is doing to help the whales that do become entangled in fishing and lobstering gear. It was a bit depressing, but also uplifting: from the crude innovation of using the "gobbler guillotine" crossbow arrow to sever fishing lines entangling Northern Right Whales, to the lecturer's suggestion that our students may be among the generation of scientists and engineers to develop rope-less lobster trap systems.
The students at the top of the monument
Valuable educational tool: A life-sized inflatable Northern Right Whale. It took nearly the entire class to lie the length of it.
Time for the all-hands muster, and the reading of last night's collaborative story project from from the watch (the students come up for 70 minutes at a time to make sure the ship is sound and secure). Stay dry!
We have just finished... well, you all at home will find out what activity we just finished in a few days, when you receive a very unique postcard. A hint: our writing instruments were primitive to say the least.
We took the day to sail out to Stellwagon Bank, the same locale of our hired whale-watching charter. When we had sailed out as far as we were intended, we had only seen one humpback spout. It was thrilling, to be sure; it was like seeing an elephant in the distance, from the top of your range rover on the Serengeti, rather than in a zoo. But it was only one. When we had sailed maybe a quarter of the way back the way we came, a shout rang out from the lookout on the bow: "There she blows!" (really, one of the crew pointed out, how many chances are you going to get in your life to shout "there she blows!" from the deck of a schooner). We made our way over. The rest could have been a fairy tale. We saw at least fifteen humpbacks, probably closer to twenty. One breached (threw its entire body out of the water, and fell back in with a terrific splash) twice in a row, maybe a hundred yards away. Another two swam around not more than fifteen yards from the boat, with their mouths half open, after blow bubbles to send schools of tiny fish in confusion closer to the surface. Lunch was delayed at least half an hour.
Yesterday we visited the historic Pilgrim monument in Provincetown (the original landing place of the pilgrims). We then headed to the Center for Coastal Studies for a guest lecture on whale entanglement, and what the center is doing to help the whales that do become entangled in fishing and lobstering gear. It was a bit depressing, but also uplifting: from the crude innovation of using the "gobbler guillotine" crossbow arrow to sever fishing lines entangling Northern Right Whales, to the lecturer's suggestion that our students may be among the generation of scientists and engineers to develop rope-less lobster trap systems.
Time for the all-hands muster, and the reading of last night's collaborative story project from from the watch (the students come up for 70 minutes at a time to make sure the ship is sound and secure). Stay dry!
Thursday, July 26, 2012
CTY Whales and Estuaries July 25-August 3
Welcome to the first installment of the Lady Maryland's trip 4 adventure blog, or, updates from CTY's second session Whales and Estuaries course, trip number 2. As the course's RA taps out this first update, the old gal is anchored in a refreshingly breezy harbor, and the last traces of daylight are fading from an enchantingly blue-grey sky. The students, having just finished their hot-coco, are finishing up the evening's lesson, which began with Nautical Terms 101, and is ending with I don't know what because I'm updating the blog. As a matter of course, it feels like we've been on this ship for at least a week, and I mean that in the best possible way.
The adventure began on a vessel quite unlike this two-masted "Pungy" schooner. The students and about half of the crew boarded a commercial whale-watching charter boat, and cruised at half the speed of sound out to Stellwagon bank, a popular haunt of the odontocetes ("toothed whales") and mysticetes ("mustachioed whales" i.e. baleen whales) that migrate through this area. As we approached the bank (which, I believe, is just as surprisingly large as every other geographic feature that was formed by glacier movement), we ecountered a large pod of Atlantic White-Sided Dolphins, that gamboled around and under our boat, and even hitched a ride in our wake, taking advantage of the current we created astern ("behind" in nautical terms). We were greeted at the Bank by a female Humpback whale named "Rapier", after the sword-like pattern on her tail flukes, and her calf, born earlier this year. As they surfaced together, the naturalist onboard informed us over the intercom that the calf was feeding. We encountered another mother-calf pair further out, before we set our course back for the port of Gloucester.
I've run out of time before the all-hands "muster". Expect updates tomorrow on our first days at sea and a visit to a port that was once a capital of the whaling industry. Until then, here's a preview:
Keep a weather-eye on the horizon!
The adventure began on a vessel quite unlike this two-masted "Pungy" schooner. The students and about half of the crew boarded a commercial whale-watching charter boat, and cruised at half the speed of sound out to Stellwagon bank, a popular haunt of the odontocetes ("toothed whales") and mysticetes ("mustachioed whales" i.e. baleen whales) that migrate through this area. As we approached the bank (which, I believe, is just as surprisingly large as every other geographic feature that was formed by glacier movement), we ecountered a large pod of Atlantic White-Sided Dolphins, that gamboled around and under our boat, and even hitched a ride in our wake, taking advantage of the current we created astern ("behind" in nautical terms). We were greeted at the Bank by a female Humpback whale named "Rapier", after the sword-like pattern on her tail flukes, and her calf, born earlier this year. As they surfaced together, the naturalist onboard informed us over the intercom that the calf was feeding. We encountered another mother-calf pair further out, before we set our course back for the port of Gloucester.
I've run out of time before the all-hands "muster". Expect updates tomorrow on our first days at sea and a visit to a port that was once a capital of the whaling industry. Until then, here's a preview:
Keep a weather-eye on the horizon!
Monday, July 23, 2012
Session 2 - Trip 1 (Day 8)
LOCATION: Nahant Bay
COMPLETED TASKS:
ROSE: Everyone is doing really well on their certifications. All that hard work and enthusiasm for learning has obviously paid off, because the cadets are able to diagram a trawl net, explain water quality testing, and talk about whales with ease!
BUD: Daily showers. Sleep. Clean clothes. Need we say more?
THORN: The Schooner Olympics are the final test of nautical knowledge. The cadets are nervous about this competitive display of boat comprehension, but the crew is confident they will succeed.
COMPLETED TASKS:
- Breakfast--French toast and the usual yogurt bar.
- Awning--Hands to hoist the awning to shield us from the rain.
- Field Day--All hands to deep-clean the entire boat; not a nook or cranny left unexplored
- Final Project--Students tie up loose ends of their articles for the Whale Weekly, the newspaper that will contain informative and entertaining contributions from all of the cadets.
- Certifications--Educator Beth takes each student aside to evaluate their scientific knowledge and Science Officers, Able-Bodied Seamen, and Galley Mates.
- Schooner Olympics--Name that line! Tie that knot! Identify that whale!
- Sail for land for the last time.
- And don't forget lunch and dinner
ROSE: Everyone is doing really well on their certifications. All that hard work and enthusiasm for learning has obviously paid off, because the cadets are able to diagram a trawl net, explain water quality testing, and talk about whales with ease!
BUD: Daily showers. Sleep. Clean clothes. Need we say more?
THORN: The Schooner Olympics are the final test of nautical knowledge. The cadets are nervous about this competitive display of boat comprehension, but the crew is confident they will succeed.
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Session 2 - Trip 1 (Day 7)
WHALE! That's right...we had our first sighting as we stood on the deck of none other than the Lady Maryland herself. As we ventured into Stellwagen Bank in hopes of spotting some charismatic megafauna, a shipmate saw breaching whales in the distance. But it didn't stop there! Soon, we were in the presence of 5 other whales, all showing spectacular displays of whale behaviors that the cadets have been learning about--flipper and tail slapping, breaching, and spouting. The climax of the day was seeing a humpback whale breach no more than 200 yards off the port side of our boat! We also spotted other notable marine life on our trip along the bank, including a huge tuna and a couple gray seals.
With all the excitement, it a miracle that the cadets still managed to complete their on-watch (boat checks, navigation, lookout) and off-watch (lessons about whale relationships and taxonomy) activities. After docking at Provincetown, we set foot on land for the first time since New Bedford. We trekked through the charming streets of Provincetown to the Pilgrim monument, where we scaled the many steps to reach the top (we have the stickers to prove it!). But wait...there's more! Dinner on deck consisted of a delicious stir-fry, followed by yet another trip on land, this time to an ice cream shop. Needless to say, it was a day enjoyed by all.
We are sailing around Stellwagen again today and have high hopes for seeing more whales. Wish us whale-watching luck!
With all the excitement, it a miracle that the cadets still managed to complete their on-watch (boat checks, navigation, lookout) and off-watch (lessons about whale relationships and taxonomy) activities. After docking at Provincetown, we set foot on land for the first time since New Bedford. We trekked through the charming streets of Provincetown to the Pilgrim monument, where we scaled the many steps to reach the top (we have the stickers to prove it!). But wait...there's more! Dinner on deck consisted of a delicious stir-fry, followed by yet another trip on land, this time to an ice cream shop. Needless to say, it was a day enjoyed by all.
We are sailing around Stellwagen again today and have high hopes for seeing more whales. Wish us whale-watching luck!
Racing to identify the sand dollars caught in the trawl net
Standing by with fenders to protect the boat when we dock
Whale, 2 points on the port bow!
Duty can wait for this special event
Josh and Rong with the "Rong J", the winner of the buoyancy boat challenge
The starboard watch learning navigation with second mate Michelle
Tying knots
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Session 2 - Trip 1 (Day 4...pictures!)
Ahoy!
First things first...pictures from our first three days on board the Lady Maryland:
Day 4 was equally, if not more, fun-filled. The day began with a trip to the New Bedford Whaling Museum, where the students got to experience what life was like for a greenhand (that's "new sailor" for you land folk) on a whaling ship. They explored exhibits featuring scrimshaw (handiwork made from whale bones/baleen), whale skeletons, and ship models.
Later on, after a good old American lunch of chili-dogs, the cadets learned more about how baleen and teeth determine how different whales eat. They also collected plankton samples from the water and looked at them under a microscope...who knew plankton could be so awesome and diverse! The day ended with a swim call and a delicious dinner made by Michael, our wonderful cook.
We are now almost half-way done with our trip. The days are going quickly, but we look forward to the time we have left. Hopefully a whale-spotting and more swim calls are in our future...until next blog!
First things first...pictures from our first three days on board the Lady Maryland:
Our educators, Beth and Bettina
Rong, Teigue, and Max doing a boat check during their watch
Stephanie and Colette (and Captain Sinker!) at the helm
Erin and Hannah making a harpoon coil
Josh takes the helm!
The Port watch learning about lines from the second mate, Michelle
Teigue and Rong work together to make the perfect harpoon coil
It's all hands on deck to trawl for marine life!
Day 4 was equally, if not more, fun-filled. The day began with a trip to the New Bedford Whaling Museum, where the students got to experience what life was like for a greenhand (that's "new sailor" for you land folk) on a whaling ship. They explored exhibits featuring scrimshaw (handiwork made from whale bones/baleen), whale skeletons, and ship models.
Later on, after a good old American lunch of chili-dogs, the cadets learned more about how baleen and teeth determine how different whales eat. They also collected plankton samples from the water and looked at them under a microscope...who knew plankton could be so awesome and diverse! The day ended with a swim call and a delicious dinner made by Michael, our wonderful cook.
We are now almost half-way done with our trip. The days are going quickly, but we look forward to the time we have left. Hopefully a whale-spotting and more swim calls are in our future...until next blog!
The whole gang poses with a blue whale skeleton at the New Bedford Whaling Museum
Swim call! A favorite pre-dinner activity and a fun end to an eventful day :)
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Session 2 - Trip 1 (Day 3)
Hello friends and family back home!
Our trip is now three days underway, and our CTY sailors have been indulging in tons of incredible new experiences. They have been very busy learning about estuaries, marine habitats, and life aboard their pungy schooner...and more knowledge (whales!) is yet to come! On Day 1, the cadets arrived around dinner-time and broke bread with their shipmates for what would be the first of many meals shared together. Students were assigned to a bunk and to either the starboard or port watch. It is with those 5-person teams that they have been taking turns navigating the boat, having lessons on deck, washing the dishes, doing boat checks, and much more.
For the past two nights, the Lady Maryland has been anchored out at sea. To make sure the boat is not moving during the night, our brave (and slightly sleepy) cadets, accompanied by a crew member, took one-and-a-half hour shifts throughout the night, being sure to take our bearings and record any changes in our environment. Day 3 brought a special new opportunity...trawling for marine life! After the Starboard watch dropped the long trawl net in the water, the Port watch hauled the net in, and together they collected and surveyed many different types of sea creatures, including baby crabs and lady slippers.
And as this blog is being composed, the CTY-ers are on deck learning about the different indicators of water quality and what can disturb their natural levels. From learning to tie knots to learning the ways an estuary is formed, the students have been very busy indeed! They are loving this opportunity to show leadership and cooperation as they work together to make sure life on the Lady Maryland is ship-shape and fun for everyone. Thanks for reading, and we know we will be sending more exciting updates about our adventures your way very soon!
Our trip is now three days underway, and our CTY sailors have been indulging in tons of incredible new experiences. They have been very busy learning about estuaries, marine habitats, and life aboard their pungy schooner...and more knowledge (whales!) is yet to come! On Day 1, the cadets arrived around dinner-time and broke bread with their shipmates for what would be the first of many meals shared together. Students were assigned to a bunk and to either the starboard or port watch. It is with those 5-person teams that they have been taking turns navigating the boat, having lessons on deck, washing the dishes, doing boat checks, and much more.
For the past two nights, the Lady Maryland has been anchored out at sea. To make sure the boat is not moving during the night, our brave (and slightly sleepy) cadets, accompanied by a crew member, took one-and-a-half hour shifts throughout the night, being sure to take our bearings and record any changes in our environment. Day 3 brought a special new opportunity...trawling for marine life! After the Starboard watch dropped the long trawl net in the water, the Port watch hauled the net in, and together they collected and surveyed many different types of sea creatures, including baby crabs and lady slippers.
And as this blog is being composed, the CTY-ers are on deck learning about the different indicators of water quality and what can disturb their natural levels. From learning to tie knots to learning the ways an estuary is formed, the students have been very busy indeed! They are loving this opportunity to show leadership and cooperation as they work together to make sure life on the Lady Maryland is ship-shape and fun for everyone. Thanks for reading, and we know we will be sending more exciting updates about our adventures your way very soon!
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
The Final Act
Greetings and salutations from beautiful New
England…once again! It is a
bitter-sweet last day on Lady Maryland,
and our students are heading into their final hours aboard the pink and green
schooner. Yesterday was a fairly
relaxing day. The students enjoyed runs
in the Swamp Fox to go ashore at Point
Judith, RI, to enjoy
a pleasant afternoon of whale watching aboard the Lady Frances. Unfortunately, there were no whales to be
seen. There was a very relaxing ride to
be had though, and the students got to experience open ocean that the Lady
Maryland should not go into. Back on
board the students had a lesson about how whales feed and the efficiency of
their feeding, before getting ready for bed.
Today, our students woke up early, and helped the crew scrub
down the boat to get her ready for the next group. Afterwards, the students competed in the Schooner
Olympics! (emphasis to show extent of awesomeness…) The Olympics consisted of five separate events:
pin-rail chase, knot tying, compass and points relay, standing orders race, and
setting the jib. By far the most
exciting event was the setting of the jib (the forward most sail on Lady M). The crew pulled out the fire hoses and
buckets of water to spray at the students as they set the jib to simulate
squall conditions. The students laughed
and squealed and worked as a team to get the jib up and to strike it. Both starboard and port watch did a fantastic
job, and it was great to see them have such fun on their last day. After the Olympics, the kids all jumped into
the salt water for their final salt water bath.
Which brings us to now. Now, the
students are changing and drying off, getting ready for their final dinner
aboard Lady Maryland. The students are ready to see home again,
having been away for three long weeks, but they will take the lessons learned
on the Lady Maryland with them; lessons of teamwork, respect, and working hard
in their academics and with their hands.
What more could this program ask for?
 |
| Swim call!! |
 |
| The Lady Frances on which the students went for their whale watch |
 |
| We want to see whales! |
 |
| The Lady Maryland from a distance |
 |
| Pin Rail Race! |
 |
| Where is that line again? |
 |
| She got it! |
 |
| Reeeeeach! |
 |
| Do you know the standing orders, starboard watch? |
 |
| Port watch hard at work on their standing orders |
 |
| Getting ready for the relay |
 |
| Knot tying...it's okay, guys, fear knot! You'll get them! |
 |
| Haul that halyard! |
 |
| Squall conditions... it hit the camera lens once or twice. |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)