Lady Maryland is back on the move

AHOY!

Thanks for tuning in again on our adventure on the one and only Lady Maryland! We apologize for not posting yesterday, but it was a very busy day! We finally can do pictures, so we will update you on those.

Studying plankton on the “plankton tv”

Dissecting squid

The whole group in front of The Statue of Liberty

Learning about the sails

Mustering as we sail on the Atlantic at sunset

Yesterday we had a fun filled day on land at the Msytic Seaport Museum. On land we learned about the boat building process, the history of Vikings, a few whale species, and the history of whaling. Some of us took the opportunity to make our own boats, while others wanted to explore the other fun things within the museum. Not only were we lucky enough to get a sneak peak of the Mayflower 2, we got to listen to a professional shanty man sing songs and give us a lesson on the history of music aboard a ship. Our day ended with a nice walk into the city of Mystic, to get a scoop of our favorite ice cream! Since we were docked, our night was split into dock watches, where we all took turns making sure Lady Maryland was to stay put!

This morning we were all hands in setting the sail, and we took a plunge into Fishers Island Sound. It was a bit cold but it was fun to practice the whale behaviors we just recently learned! As we sailed along, the crew was cool enough to show us Taylor Swift’s house, and we had a mini dance party to her music! Throughout the day we learned about whales and how they can change the climate, climate change on a whole and how we can make a difference, Stellwagen Bank, and habitats of estuaries. We are more than excited to see what is in store for our last few days.

Jumping into swim call 

Playing while enjoying the swim

Practicing our shanty singing while “raising sail”

Ice cream!!

The entire crew!

Until next time,
Lady Maryland

Trip 1 Day 4

Ahoy from Long Island Sound!

The first thing we tried to do was upload some pictures from the past few days, but alas our goal could not be accomplished. For now we will just update everyone on our day.

During the night we took turns assisting the crew in the overnight anchor watch! The crew showed us how to pick and record our bearings making sure Lady Maryland was to stay put. Today we woke up in the beautiful Long Island Sound and started our day with a plankton tow in which we identified copepods, various crab larvae stages, and possibly some lobster larvae! The weather was just perfect enough to test who built the best boat in the boat challenge! We learned it was harder than it looked to build the sturdiest boat out of aluminum foil. As we switched watches, we had some time to work on our research projects. Who knew boats have a mini library?! Before bed we will raise the flag each watch has made. We are super excited to see what is in store in the days to come!

Until next,
Lady Maryland Crew

The Atlantic and NYC

Hello from Long Island Sound!!

We are on our way to anchor for the night, and we have had a fun filled day near NYC.

Yesterday we braved the Atlantic Ocean for 24 hours, and we made it up the New Jersey coast. Throughout the day we learned about whales, plankton, how to run the boat, and much more!
As a group we are bonding and getting to know one another. Lots of laughs and inside jokes fill the day!
The first two nights we sailed through the night, but tonight we are all looking forward to anchor for the night.
Today we started our day docking and playing four square on land while the crew filled the ships gas and water. Later we fished a little outside of NYC, and we caught a hogchoker and many invertebrates. After that we went around the Statue of Liberty and sailed up the East River to head into the Long Island Sound. We again fit some learning into our fun, and we learned about whale ecology and behaviors, buoyancy, squid, and even more about the boat and how it runs.
We are excited to see more marine life and explore more areas.

Post again soon!

The whole Lady Maryland Crew (we are all crew now :) )

Away they go!!

It's a beautiful morning and the Lady Maryland crew was excited to see 10 smiling faces as the campers arrived on the dock.  After brief introductions, moving luggage and students aboard, picking bunk numbers out of a hat and getting a quick overview of the projected route they started some orientation to the boat and were underway.  Today will be filled with lots of orientations to systems and life aboard, lots of sunblock, plenty of water and tons of fun.  It's likely there won't be a post for a couple days as they make their northward trip, but just as soon as time and technology allow they'll updates you on the goings on.

students heading below decks for the first time

crew passes all the luggage down to students

getting ready to be underway with lifejackets on

1st mate LP gives a quick overview of living aboard

2nd mate Pamela gives a quick overview of what it means to be "on watch"

Capt Tim goes over the projected route for the trip with everyone

Welcome summer of 2018!

The calender may say yesterday was the first day of summer, but here at Living Classrooms we've been in "summer mode" for a couple of weeks!  Lady Maryland and her crew are working hard to be ready to greet all the happy campers this weekend.  Maintenance, packing, planning, cleaning and training are just a few things that we've packed in the the past two weeks to prepare for a summer of sailing with students.  The crew is looking forward to meeting campers and their families Sunday during the Open House and even more excited to head north Monday with the first group of students.

Whale RAs Gina & Lawrence learning about what makes sailboats go

First Mate LP and Second Mate Youseff at the helm

Sasha takes a bearing during navigation.

Furling the jib at the end of the day.