Wednesday, August 6, 2014

CTY Trip 4: Scrimshaw and Wrap-up

After working on scrimshaw for the past few days, the students finally competed their designs and turned them into awesome necklaces and jewelry!


The students then finished cleaning the Lady Maryland top to bottom- one of the last of their duties as the trip comes to end.  Tonight, they presented the final projects that have been a huge comoponent of their education here on Lady Maryland. The students chose specific topics in whale ecology and marine science, developed research questions, proposed potential hypotheses, then created potential research experiments to test their questions.  They presented their results both with detailed posters and creative interpretations like raps, skits, and poems.










CTY Trip 4: Schooner Olympics

On their last full day at sea, the cadets got to test their new sailing expertise in the Schooner Olympics.  The students competed in teams of Port and Starboard Watch in the following events:
1. Ballantine coiling
2. Line identification/pin chase
3. Knot tying
4. Relay race (stations included locating bearings on watch off the bow, reciting emergency protocol, and identifying compass directions)
5. Writing down standing orders verbatim
And finally...
6. Using the ship's halyard lines to lift our beloved second mate Joe.











At various points, the teams were rewarded 5 points, two goats, a cow, pi(e), and a meat grinder.


But the real winner was Joe.






Tuesday, August 5, 2014

CTY Trip 4: Bouyancy

After anchoring in the Narragansett Bay, the cadets got to learn about bouyancy and boat design by building their own miniature boats and testing how much "cargo" they could hold.  Their supplies? Nothing more than a sheet of aluminum foil, two balloons, four popsicle sticks, and a strip of duct tape. The cadets split up into groups and competed to see who could construct the strongest boat.




The winning boat carried over five pounds.


Some boats even carried live cargo!


As did some crew members.



CTY Trip 4: Cuttyhunk Island

What an eventful day! The cadets cast big nets and pulled in a variety of specimen, including over 80 different crabs.  They then helped anchor The Lady Maryland near the sparsely populated Cuttyhunk Island. After a quick swim (see previous post), the cadets got to dissect a squid a write a letter with a squid quill (spine) and squid ink.  The entire crew then took shifts hopping into The Swamp Fox, The Lady Maryland's smaller and more navigable counterpart, to head to the island proper.  Captain took everyone to a local ice cream shop and bought them each a two-scoop cone- delicious! 




After a good noght's sleep, everyone got to hop on a small boat and take a tour of local resident Seth Garfield's oyster farm.  Seth even let us taste some of his tasty- and salty- oysters!



Though some cadets say they are looking forward to sleeping in once they get back, spirits remain high, and almost everyone seems sad that the trip is coming to an end.

CTY Trip 4: Swimming

Today The Lady Maryland anchored near Cuttyhunk Island and the cadets got a chance to get off, swim, and wash off with some of the Captain's dish soap.  How refreshing!











Sunday, August 3, 2014

CTY Trip 4: New Bedford

Today the cadets sailed The Lady Maryland into New Bedford! They helped dock the ship, and we got off to walk around in this famous fishing town.

First we visited Seamen's Bethel, a historic non-denominational church for sailors.  Because New Bedford was for many years the home of so many different seamen of different cultural and religious backgrounds, the church served as a common place of worship for people less accustomed to the land-lubbing life. This included Herman Melville, the author of Moby Dick, who featured the bethel in his classic fictional novel.  The Bethel includes a plaque in tribute of Melville as well as a number of plaques honoring the many, many sailors who have tragically passed away at sea.

We then went to the New Bedford Whaling Museum, which is one of the most famous and extensive whaling museums in the world (yes, there are a lot and yes, this one is awesome.) We watched a short movie about the history of whale hunting, specifically in New Bedford and the Cape Cod Bay; then, our tour guide Tom led us around the museum.  Some highlights included a room full of scrimshaw craftwork (the medium of choice for artistic...or just bored...whalers) as well as a complete whaling ship , built to half scale, that the cadets could get on and walk around inside.

After being on land, we came back to The Lady Marland and enjoyed our time docked to the land by playing games like Wah and Big Booty.

Can't believe that the trip is more the halfway over!








CTY Trip 4: Selfie Sunday

A series of pictures taken on the boat to commemorate Selfie Sunday.










CTY Trip 4: Provincetown to New Bedford

Hello again from The Lady Maryland's second voyage servicing CTY Bristol! The cadets have been maintaining high spirits as they settle comfortably into their seafaring lives.

Two days ago, we docked in Provincetown, a relatively well-populated stop along the coast of Cape Cod. Coming off the boat for their first time in a few days, some of the cadets had trouble adjusting to walking on a surface that wasn't moving.  If I had seen the group walking and not known what they were up to the past few days, I would have been confused as to why these kids were nearly tripping over themselves walking down the street, but I too had to reign in my sea legs, so I understood their physical foibles.

In Provincetown, the cadets had time to walk around to some shops and buy souvineers.  These included Cape Cod shirts and sweatshirts as well as the signature Jacques Cousteau- and Steve Zissou- red knit caps (featured in the pictures to follow!) We then made our way to the famous Pilgrim Monument, which marks the landing of early Mayflower settlers in Provincetown on their way to Plymouth Rock.  The kids climbed to the top of the 252-foot tall monument, marveling at the view of Cape Cod and even the Boston skyline.

After the Pilgrim Monument, we made our way to the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies, where marine scientist Jesse explained how this organization helps rescue whales and turtles who get entangled in fishing gear.  The organization has saved over 150 whales, and it actually invented the technique, used in waters everywhere today, for getting live whales out of marine debris.  The kids were impressed by Jesse's extensive knowledge of this aspect of marine wildlife.

After docking in Provincetown for the night, we began our journey toward New Bedford.  As soon as we began to set sail, the heavens opened up with a blessing from Poseidon himself- a smattering of rain! The kids and crew kept high spirits, insisting that, with all the proper rain gear, it's actually more fun to be on deck of the boat in these wet conditions.

As we sailed, educational instructors Erin and Cassie, with the help of the crew, led students in casting a big fishing net over the side of the boat! The students then pulled in their haul, sorting through piles of algae to pull out the different kinds of wildlife.  As the students identified each organism using their detailed classification books, the crew reminded students just how lucky they were to be learning with the Living Classrooms organization.  Though net fishing is usually illegal in the Cape Cod bay, The Lady Maryland has a special permit obtained for educational purposes.

We anchored for the night by a nearly abandoned private island.  Students theorized as to what happens on the island, as our beloved cook Michael warned the kids that it was an experimental breeding grounds for dangerous dinosaurs.  The island is owned by John Kerry's family; it may have just been me, but I could've sworn I smelled Heinz ketchup as we sailed away.

Seaward, and southward!













Friday, August 1, 2014

CTY Trip 4: Gloucester to Provincetown


Ahoy! This is the first blog post coming at you live from the second CTY Bristol group on The Lady Maryland this summer.  The past few days have been jam-packed with activities, and phone/internet service has been spotty along the way, but now that we have finally docked in Provincetown and settled down a bit, I feel it's time to share with the world the seafaring secrets we have so serindepitously discovered.

Our expedition started with a splash- a trip on a commercial whale watching vessel in Glouster! These boats are especially fast and maneuverable vessels that can go up to places where whales usually are and get up close to where the whales are breathing and breaching.  The students were all given Whale Wheels to identify what they saw, but after being in the classroom for 9 days, they are basically experts  on the animals anyway.  On the trip, we saw at least 6 different humpback whales, and came within about 50 yards of some. These included North Star and Hippocampus, two whales that the naturalist on our vessel recognized and seemed familiar with.

After the trip, we boarded the vessel and got ready to set sail. The crew introduced themselves and showed us around the ship.  They explained that all of the students slept in one cabin, while the Captain and First Mate slept on another near the aft (back) of the ship and the rest of the crew slept in another near the front. The crew laughed when one of the cadets asked where the cannons were on the 100+ foot Pungy schooner, but I quickly reminded the students of the cardinal rule of the high seas: if you don't have a defense against the pirates, you are the pirates.

On our trip to Provincetown, we saw at least seven more humpback whales! The crew insisted this was very lucky since the Lady isn't nearly as maneuverable as a whale watching ship. We even saw two whales breach, which means they got their entire bodies up and out of the water.

The students sailed the ship in two crews- Port and Starboard. One crew would do everything to maintain the ship (steer, navigate, do routine boat checks) while the other would do educational activities. They would switch after four hours.

Because we were in deep water last night, it was too deep to anchor, so we had to sail through the night.  This meant that the crew (including yours truly) stayed up in four hour shifts throuout the whole night while students each took one hour shifts throughout the night to help out.  Fortunately, the sailing went well, and everyone is now well-rested and relaxed.

The food has been especially delicious, and now that we are docked in Provincetown, the students have time to get off and buy souvineers. More to come!