Passing through New York

Day 3 - Erica's Blog Entry

Yesterday we used the trawl net. It has a large opening and fins at the end to catch the maximum amount of fish. We trawled right in front of New York City on Bay Ridge Flats. We caught many species! Those animals included a seahorse, flounder, windowpane, sea robins, a pregnant blue crab, and spotted hakes. We got to hold the seahorse and when we held it, it wrapped its tail around our fingers. The flounder was enormous - 17 inches! Trawling was overall a very rewarding and interesting experience in terms of learning about sea life. Hi, Dad! 

Day 3 - Maggie's Blog Entry

When we woke up, we were just leaving the Atlantic Ocean and sailing into New York Harbor. It was amazing to see the beautiful buildings and the sheer size of the city and to imagine the view of so many reaching the US for the first time as we passed the Statue of Liberty. As we passed Brooklyn, we dropped our trawl net to catch fish and sea life to observe. Some species we caught were a 17 inch summer flounder, a sea horse and 3 sea robins. We continued sailing up the East River and into Long Island Sound, where we dropped anchor in Cold Spring Harbor. Once anchored we went swimming and we able to "shower" and get relatively clean. That night was our first anchor watch. It was similar to doing a boat check, but was concerned with factors specific to being at anchor. We were woken up for one hour and 15 minutes during the night to check the boat in small groups at 30 minute intervals. Because we weren't underway, last night was the first night we could sleep on deck. I chose to sleep on the side of the ship to see the stars. It was a little bit cloudy, but from the Lady Maryland I have seen the stars almost better than I have ever seen before.

Jumping off the Lady Maryland for a swim!

Alex steering the boat into Cold Spring Harbor

Day 4 - Cold Spring Harbor

After our first night at anchor, we explored the Whaling Museum in Cold Spring Harbor before moving on in our journey. Everyone learned about the role that whaling ships played in the evolution of sailing and we compared the Lady Maryland (104ft long) to the whaling ship Charles W. Morgan (115ft long)! We also got to try on costumes from sailors and explore their fates. After returning to the boat, we did some trawling and caught a common mantis shrimp and a horseshoe crab, then raised the sails and went on our way!

Enjoying the land after 2 days at sea

Exploring the Whaling Museum

The mantis shrimp caught in general trawl net

First Days at Sea!

Day 1 - Launch Day

We set sail from the dock in Baltimore full of excitement for our first day on the Lady Maryland! After leaving the dock, we learned about our "watch" groups that we will be working in for the next nine days - and one of our first lessons was sailing into the Chesapeake Bay! It took us most of the day to get there, which meant that everyone had a chance to learn some new things with their watch, like steering the boat or doing "boat checks" to make sure that everything is as it should be. After dinner, we did our first trawl in the Chesapeake Bay and caught some white perch in our net. 

Launching the trawl net into the Chesapeake Bay

Learning about the fish we caught!

Day 2 - First Full Day Aboard

We had a few surprises for our first full day aboard - dolphin sightings! The first one was during lunch, and Port watch sighted dolphins during their watch on lookout. We also learned more about the boat, like how to tie knots and steer straight in open water (the trick is watching the horizon!). After dinner, we tried to throw coins onto a yellow buoy for luck! When not on watch, we learned about marine ecosystems from Sarah and about whales and dolphins from Emily. 

Doing the dishes after dinner.

Throwing coins onto the yellow buoy - Sofia's coin made it!

Decorating watch flags: Port watch, then Starboard watch

Port watch learning to tie knots

Sunset on the Lady Maryland

Welcome to summer 2017!!!

And they are off!  After a quiet, but fun night on campus, the students were picked up by LCF staff after breakfast and headed down to meet the rest of the Lady Maryland crew and get their adventure started.  After some orientation and safety discussions the student crew helped the professional crew sail the boat off the dock - WOW!!! Getting to sail off the dock is the traditional way and not somthing that happens very often.  The students and crew will update this blog as they have time, but don't be surprised if it takes a day or two as they'll be so busy having fun, being safe and learning TONS!

Boarding Lady Maryland

The first of many all hands musters

Before getting underway there is a lot of orientation to be done.  Here students are learning how to properly use the head (marine toilet).

Learning how to make a working coil

Raising sail for the first time