Schooner Olympics

Some highlights from the 2014 CTY Whales and Estuaries, session two, trip one Schooner Olympiad. 

A fierce knot tying completion above.

Below, everyone's favorite timed race..."Pick up Joe"

More from trip #3

Captain says " Hey everybody, look at those huge ships over there"

So everybody looks and what do they see?

The Coast Guarde Cutter Barque Eagle and the Charles W Morgan at the Mass Maritime Acadamy.

Trip three scrimshaw

Look at all this awesome scrimshaw! CTY Trip #3 2014

I scream, you scream...

Ice cream in Provincetown sitting on the lobster pot bouy chair on MacMillian pier!

Delicious Food

Seining Adventure Pictures

The cadet crew having some great fun identifying all the cool critters they caught off of Naushon Island!

New Bedford Land Excursion!

This morning we rose bright and early to wolf down a hearty breakfast of yogurt, berries and pancakes - with real maple syrup. As with all meals on the boat, we stayed considerate of each other while serving ourselves so that the whole crew could savor a drop to lick clean from the bottom of the plate. It tasted so sweet - almost like candy, which isn't allowed on the boat. We are only halfway through our voyage and the students are already consciously jonesing for something - anything! - out of a wrapper. It seems that the meals on the ship have become unbearably wholesome. I'll never forget watching cadet Justin at the New Bedford Ferry Terminal as he pressed his fingers longingly against the glass of the vending machine. I believe his cheek was wetted by a single tear.

A great portion of our time in New Bedford was spent on land! The students were eager to shovel knowledge into the bottomless voids of their own curiosity, and what better place to begin than the New Bedford Whaling Museum? Historical illustrations, a variety of whaling harpoons, a half-scale model of the great ship Lagoda (the largest ship model in the world), and majestic whale skeletons suspended from the high ceilings made for some highlights of the museum. Also fascinating was the gallery of gorgeous lamp glasswork that had emerged from New Bedford as a result of the booming whaling industry; one of the main uses of whale oil was in candles and oil lamps, which burned brighter and cleaner than ever before and caused New Bedford to be known as the "City of Light." The overwhelming class favorite, however, was the gallery of intricate scrimshaw pieces. Hopefully, the boys and girls carry this artistic inspiration with them as they continue to work on their own taguanut scrimshaw pendants!

After the Whaling Museum, we broke for lunch and returned to land to visit the Seamen's Bethel, a real landmark described by Herman Melville in the great novel, Moby Dick. A destination for many a sailor about to embark on his long journey, the walls of the bethel were hung with memorial plaques for those lost at sea (these plaques are called cenotaphs, which means "empty tomb" in Greek).

We rounded out our land adventure with a visit to the Buzzard's Bay coalition. The walls were covered with information about the organization's natural preservation efforts, which mainly focus on education and raising awareness. This discussion was the perfect transition into the next activity, where students sampled water from the side of the boat and ran various tests to measure its purity.

The evening programming included a showing of video footage taken from the tail end of the Golden Age of Sailing, narrated by Irving Johnson. Through this primary source material, cadets were able to see how much sailing has changed since back then, when there were no safety regulations and most of the ships were not equipped with engines, instead flying across the ocean with only the power of the wind. All of the cadets went to sleep eager to begin sailing once again. 

After our peaceful night in the dock, we all worked together to swiftly maneuver out of our cozy New Bedford docking slot, saying goodbye to our neighbor, the beautiful and temporarily retired educational vessel, The Ernestina. Setting sail goes more and more smoothly as the cadets become more confident with the procedure. 

That's all for now. Pictures to come. Talk to you later in Provincetown! 

From Whales at Home to Whales at Sea

My apologies for the lag in updates for the Session 2 Bristol WHALES class's adventure upon the Lady Maryland! We find ourselves on Day 3 without a word from your ambassador RA ... blame the mild seas and ill-timed dosages of Dramamine. Although I puked nine or ten times yesterday, I felt more blessed than cursed, surrounded by the sweetest CTY cadets who kept checking in on me and asking how I was feeling. Luckily today has gone by without a single trace of nausea and I have mustered up the courage to come down into the Captain's cabin and tap out a post.

We set sail with haste on Monday afternoon and it wasn't long before we were enjoying a delicious meal on deck cooked by our amazing chef, Michael. Dinner consisted of baked chicken, smashed potatoes, summer squash, and fresh bread. The chicken made for a particularly "unctuous" main course, and the cadets had to face the greasy dishes with a special vigor. The crew aboard the ship encourages us to lick our plates clean before washing them to save as much fresh water as possible.

Michael pointed out that some of the most valuable lessons we learn here on the Lady Maryland are not limited to the classroom subjects. From our nine days here we can learn firsthand the importance of good planning. Planning allows us to be properly cleaned and luxuriously fed while living on this small vessel while at the same time avoiding as much waste as possible. Living efficiently is good for the environment, but also absolutely necessary on a trip such as this one.

On Day 2, we were taught tons of boat sailing/maintenance protocol (and vocabulary!). Once we were finished with our morning chores, the class fished some marine life from the ocean and used the library on board to identify the various species of algae, snails, and crabs. Part of this process was completing scientific observational drawings of the critters in our readers. Here's one of mine:

In the evening, we anchored the boat off the shore of Cuttyhunk Island and the cadets enjoyed a refreshing swim and shampoo with dish soap!

Today we woke up early and after our chores we were able to begin a cool scrimshaw pendant project in the tradition of old whaling sailors. At around 10, we halted the project to go out on a smaller boat and tour an oyster farm! Sadly, the Cuttyhunk Oyster crop was damaged this year by a hurricane that threw off the salinity of the water. The farm tour informed us of the basics of the business and the general prices of oysters at wholesale and from restaurants. At the end, everyone who wanted to got to eat an oyster fresh from the sea! Delicious!

Signing off for now!

More photos!

Photos!

Here are the photos you've been waiting for!  Students have been getting creative on the ship, learning how to sail, had a visit to a museum on Nantucket, and went to the Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown. 

More Trip 2 updates!

Day 2 Whales Watching in Provincetown

After surviving to our first “anchor watch” all of us woke up full of energy…

-Yeah, all right!-

This is true is that everyone, except for the crew and the captain were sleepy; but after an enjoyable breakfast prepared by the best ship’s cook (Michael de la Cruz), we started to recharge our energies and were ready to dock in Provincetown Harbor.

At noon, we took another boat on a whale watch. We were lucky because we saw 34 Humpback whales, 3 Right whales, a Basking shark and a gray seal. At the end of the day, when we came back to the Lady Maryland for dinner, some friendly fishermen gave us an enormous bag full of mussels that we devoured the next day.

Day 3 Happy B-Day

The beginning of the day was nice and happy because the first thing we did when we woke up was to sing “Happy Birthday” to our good friend Justin, who was just turning 14. It was easy to tell that he was very happy with the surprise because he had a big smile from ear to ear. During the day, we also had the chance to eat some delicious cupcakes because of the festivity. However, before this, there was much work to do since we sailed back across the Cape Cod Canal and further to a private island.

Day 4 Shower and Squid Ink

-Yeeeees, finally a shower!... Well, something like that.

Very early in the morning we went to the closest beach on the island next to the anchored Lady Maryland. There, the students took samples of water looking for fishes, crustaceans, mollusks, etc. to study the kind of species that can be found in the intertidal zone. Just before coming back to the ship, we washed our hair with Dawn dish soap, which left us with a delicious spring roses smell. That day we sailed to Nantucket, where we spent the night anchored. In the evening, the captain taught the students how to dissect a squid and how to use its ink for making a beautiful surprise to their families. Wait for it! J

Trip 2 Update

Whales students are having a great time in New England and Long Island Sound! Over the past few days they have been on a great whale watch in Cape Cod Bay, seeing near record numbers of whales, anchored off a gorgeous island where they had some time on the beach and identified fish, and even got to visit Nantucket! We hope to to upload photos of all the fun very soon!

Whales Trip 2
Day 0
We had a very emotional goodbye with our friends of the C-bay group. The kids that went on land the first half of the program succeded in building strong friendships in just 8 days. We all were very sad because we will not see each other again until the last day of the course. However, we also were very excited for beginning a new and amazing adventure. None of us have ever lived on a ship before and that is one of the main reasons the majority of the students chose this summer program. 
The adventure started sooner that what we had planned because we were a little late for our flight and we had to run across all the airport to get to the boarding gate just some seconds before they closed. With a great demonstration of team work, we made it!
The flight lasted only 50 minutes and after landing and taking our luggage, we went to our first destination: The Massachusetts Maritime Academy. There we met our teammates of Whales Trip 1 and spent a nice evening hearing about what both groups had learned until now.
Day 1
We had breakfast in the cafeteria of the school where we stayed and played football/soccer for a while before saying goodbye to the Whales Trip 1. When we got to the "Lady Maryland", the crew welcomed us and explained the rules and how to work while sailing. Since the kids have built a tight-knit group, they did not have troubles learning about sailing. Therefore, they were making knots,  coiling ropes, raising sails and navigating the ship.
In the evening we arrived to Provincetown coast and we anchored the Lady Maryland there. The captain explained to us that since we were anchored, we had to take turns to do guards and watch that everything was in order at night. This is called the anchored watch.

Trip 1 Final Post

The trip 1 students are back in Baltimore, starting up the land-based portion of their course. Yesterday we woke up at the Massachussetts Marine Academy where we toured the T.S. Kennedy and got a glimpse into the lives of students there and life on such a large vessel. We then flew from Providence, RI into BWI where we cleaned up and got reaquainted to campus. We all had such an amazing journey - sailing up the east coast, learning so much about whales, estuaries, and life at sea. I'm sure this will be one of the most formative experiences in their young adult lives!

July 7, 2014 ( Trip 1, Day 8)

The end of our voyage is near - today is our last full day at sea! We had a blast in Provincetown and enjoyed the chance to stretch our legs but today has been great back on the water. Crossing over Cape Cod Bay was bumpy and chilly but warm hot chocolate and a whale sighting from Lady Maryland herself made for an exciting morning. This afternoon, now sunny and beautiful, culminated in the 'Schooner Olympics', a friendly competition between the port and starboard watches (which have rotated between lessons and boat duties throughout the trip). We had fun racing to coil lines, tie knots, relay to identify lines ( basically all the many many ropes on the ship), and put our navigation knowledge to the test. As the trip winds down, the students will present their research question projects to each other and the entire crew and we will have one final night in our bunks!

More Trip 1 photos

Here are some more photos from the past few days!

At the New Bedford Whaling Museum, with the Lagoda and getting in some harpoon practice.

Fireworks over Buzzards Bay

Lessons below deck in the rain

Whale!!!

Surprise ice cream treat!

July 6, 2014 (Trip 1, Day 7)

What an amazing day on Cape Cod! The weather the past two days after the storm has been absolutely perfect and it really feels like the height of summer up here. Today the whole group went on a whale watching adventure where we saw about 40 Humpback whales and about 150 Striped dolphins, numbers that are rarely seen in one trip! It was amazing to see the bubble feeding and the unique behaviors we've learned about be put into action. Yesterday we went to another whaling museum and the Seaman's Bethel, a non- denominational chapel for sailors and a landmark for whaling history. Before leaving New Bedford, MA last night, the group was treated to a tour of  the historic schooner Ernestina and after trawling again out in Buzzard's Bay we watched a delayed firework show complete with glowsticks and singing our own patriotic soundtrack.

A few photos

Here are a few more photos of the students up on Long Island and in New England!

The whole group in front of the whaling museum

Learning how to put together a barrel

Doing dishes in the rain

On the Charles W. Morgan, a famous whaling ship which they had learned about earlier at the whaling museum. This was an unexpected treat, made possible by the storm!