Lady Maryland

Lady Maryland: Trip #4 (Day Eight)

2011-08-04T04:41:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe, but it's already our last full day on the Lady Maryland! Today was a busy day as we tried to clean up the ship, squeeze in some last minute lessons, and, finally, end our adventure with some fun and games.

Before anything else, we started the day off with a swim call before breakfast. Almost everyone jumped in for one final swim, and despite the hour (7:00am), it was a fun and refreshing way to start the day.

After we hauled back anchor near Warwick, RI, we were headed, at long last, back to Bristol. We started off the day by throwing a plankton net into the water and collecting different samples of plankton to look at under our magnifying camera. We learned about the importance of plankton despite its small size -- for example, nearly 70% of the oxygen we breath comes from plankton -- and got a little more practice in identifying different creatures.

After playing with the plankton and returning them to the water, the cadets threw the trawl net one more time. This time, we hauled up a few blue crabs, which have a brilliant hue of blue on their legs and pinchers.

Finally, it was time for what the crew referred to as "Field Day", what we soon learned meant cleaning - a lot. We spent the afternoon scrubbing the lovely Lady Maryland from bulkhead to bow and left her in sparkling condition for the next group.

The second, and more exciting, half of Field Day was the Schooner Olympics, during which the two watches, Port and Starboard, faced off in various challenges, including identifying the different lines, knot tying, on-watch skills, recalling the ship's Standing Orders, and, as the grand finale, setting the jib in "storm conditions". This meant that the crew, standing in as stormy weather (since in reality it was another nice night), used buckets of water to simulate big waves at the bow and hoses to simulate torrential rain. The cadets did a great job, the Port watch team even singing sea shanties as they set the sail, and everyone had a lot of fun.

After changing into dry clothes and eating a great last dinner on the deck, each watch presented their final project. The Port watch group created a "whale of the past," the predecessor of the narwhal called a "narwhog", which had a tusk resembling that of the modern-day narwhal but lived both on land and in the water. The Starboard watch group created a "whale of the future", the descendant of a sperm whale called a "deviljho", which had various adaptations making it more suited for a far-distant future, where the ocean is more acidic and the whale hunting technology is much improved. Both groups did a great job.

We finished the night with a game of Whales and Estuaries jeopardy on the deck, and then, with a view of the Bristol harbor and skyline, we all settled into bed, ready to wake up for one final anchor watch. What an awesome trip it's been!

The cadets haul back the anchor as we leave Warwick, RI and head back towards Bristol.

The group catches plankton in a plankton net to study under the microscopes.

Studying different types of plankton under the camera -- here, a "megalops" (on the screen).

Ready to throw the trawl one last time!

The Starboard watch team tying various knots during the Schooner Olympics.

Captain Michael explains the last event in the Schooner Olympics -- setting the jib in "storm conditions"...

Starboard watch team sets the jib!

Port watch team sets the jib...

and still sings sea shanties, despite the terrible conditions!

Lady Maryland: Trip #4 (Day Seven)

2011-08-03T11:18:00.000-07:00

Today has been fairly leisurely, as we were at sea most of the day, sailing through Narragansett Bay, finally headed back towards Rhode Island. The cadets split the day between being on watch and working on their final projects, which involves creating whales of the past and future based on what they know about whales of the present and the various adaptations of whales.

During the educational portion of the day, the cadets learned more about estuaries - how they were formed and why they are so important as mating and nursing grounds for so many different animals. They also returned to their lesson about water health, examining the results of their experiment from a few days ago. They found the calcium carbonate of the egg and crab shell entirely intact in both the fresh and salt water, and very much dissolved in the vinegar, to the point where the egg had almost no shell at all and the crab shell was flexible and bendy, almost like plastic. Though vinegar is an extreme example to represent the pH levels in our oceans, the levels are changing each year, and the cadets were reminded that if these shells could dissolve in strong acid in just a few days, they could definitely be effected by weaker levels of acid throughout their lifetime. Additionally, plankton has much thinner calcium carbonate shells than the full grown crab shells we used for our experiment, and should plankton stop being able to survive, it would effect the food chain all the way to the top.

The cadets, feeling a little somber after this lesson, were cheered up by the fact that we had accidentally anchored right in the middle of a cat boat race track. Though this meant we couldn't go swimming, we spent the night watching small boats race around us in Greenwich Bay, and were promised an early swim call in the morning.

Tomorrow, we head towards Bristol!

Lady Maryland: Trip #4 (Day Six)

2011-08-02T07:45:00.000-07:00

"It was cool to see the ways things were long ago in Mystic, in the old timey days." - Sarah

Today we woke up early and sailed into Mystic Seaport on the Mystic River in Connecticut. The seaport is home to one of largest maritime museums in our country, with its shoreline set up as it would have been in the mid-1800s, back when Mystic was an important seafaring village full of big trade boats and skilled craftsmen.

Unbeknownst to us, we were sailing in on a very important day for Mystic – the birthday of Herman Melville, who wrote the American classic Moby Dick. Therefore, there were multiple celebrations going on around Mystic, including a 24-hour reading of Moby Dick which we were lucky enough to walk into during the climactic last chapter.

The cadets spent the day exploring the museum, one of the highlights of which included the Charles W. Morgan, the last wooden whaling ship in the world. The ship is under renovation, but visitors are still allowed to walk inside for a closer look at how and where the crew would have worked and lived. The cadets are now familiar with different parts of a ship, but this was definitely the more massive and impressive version we’ve seen so far. We learned a lot about the process of whaling and the dangers that sailors used to face as they attempted to find and kill whales. Even after the hunt was over, the whalers would have to drag the whale back to the ship using a small boat, often rowing for hours due to the weight of the whale, and then start the long process of cutting off the blubber, hoisting it onto the ship, and cooking it down into oil, often in a race against the sharks that would circle the whale and eat away at its blubber. We all agreed that we’d pass on a position as a whaler were it offered to us.

The rest of the museum was made up of other ships, various exhibits (a favorite being the exhibit on the history of tattoos), and old buildings set up as 19^th century businesses, including a bank, a publishing house, a grocery, a chemist, a ship supply shop, a blacksmith, and many others. A scavenger hunt encouraged the cadets to interact with the different staff members who were posing as craftsmen, and they learned a lot about how a seafaring village would have been run. We also joined a small audience to watch an interactive play called “Tale of a Whaler”, during which we learned more about life on a whaling ship (and reaffirmed our conviction that we wouldn’t want to be a “greenhand”, or an inexperienced sailor, on a whaling ship).

In the afternoon, we were treated to a lesson in sea shanties, or songs sung on deck to help in the hoisting of sails, the heaving in of anchors, and other jobs that involved rhythmic work. We were told that a shanty has been said to be equivalent to ten extra men on the line. Music was a big part of life for sailors, and the sea shanties had influences from all over the world due to the diversity of the whaling ship crews. There was also often a designated “shanty man” who would be responsible for leading the shanties. After our lesson, we went back inside the Morgan to witness a “dog-watch”, which is a two-hour shift on deck during which the men were allowed to socialize and, often, play music. Here, we heard more songs of the sea, this time mostly ballads, played on multiple instruments that the crew would have had on the ship, including a pair of “rhythm bones” made from real bone.

After a long day, we headed back to the Lady Maryland and settled in for a night at the dock. Thunder storms were rolling in all around us, but somehow avoided the area where we were docked, so that we had a great view of the storm without getting wet. Before bed, the crew had a surprise for us. Below deck, we got to watch a movie called Around Cape Horn about a man named Irving Johnson who sailed around Cape Horn aboard a shipping vessel in 1929 – and filmed it. The storms the crew encountered near the Cape were incredibly violent and dangerous, and the footage, some of it shot from the highest rigging, was extraordinary. Though we all went to sleep feeling a little less intense about our own adventures, I think it’s safe to say we all feel a little smitten with the sea.

Tomorrow morning, we head back towards Bristol!

Preparing to dock at Mystic.

Cadets ready to ease our docking with a few roving fenders.

A demonstration on the different positions of the crew during a whaling kill.

A small model of the Charles W. Morgan, the last remaining wooden whaling ship in the world.

(Almost) the whole gang of the Lady Maryland at Mystic Seaport!

Watching the storm settle over Mystic River.

Lady Maryland: Trip #4 (Day Five)

2011-08-01T06:34:00.000-07:00

"My favorite part about visiting Block Island was getting to feed the dead squid to the spider crabs after we dissected them." - Harry

Another awesome day on the Lady Maryland! It's hard to believe that our voyage is halfway over already!

This morning we set sail early and headed towards Block Island, an island off of the Rhode Island coast that attracts a lot of visitors for its bicycling, hiking, fishing, and of course, its beautiful beaches. We started the day off by exploring more of the local marine life, this time using a tool called a "dredge" that sinks into the muddy ocean floor and catches sea life as it drags along the bottom. The cadets all helped to haul the dredge up, but they got a little timid when they realized that what the dredge had primarily caught was a whole lot of mud. Nonetheless, some jumped in to feel their way through the mud, and we eventually sorted out a few shell fish. Not entirely satisfied, we decided to throw the trawl again, too. This time, we hauled up a whole spectrum of creatures: small fish, starfish, jelly fish, crabs, shell fish, and more. The cadets spent the next hour identifying and studying our different species before we released them back into the water.

The group was feeling much more energized and alert today after a good sleep on a calm sea under the stars, and as we sailed towards Block Island, the group kept in high spirits by singing songs, new and old, as they stood watch and cleaned the ship. The cadets also learned about water health, and tested the varying levels of phosphate, dissolved oxygen, and salinity in samples drawn from the side of the ship. They determined that the water was fairly healthy, but talked about the overall health of water on our planet and how it is being affected by humans. We will take more tests tonight on anchor watch to see if the water where we anchor, near land, is any different from the water further out at sea.

Captain Michael had warned us that the Block Island harbor would be worse than the mall parking lot on Christmas Eve, and sure enough, when we sailed into the salt pond in the center of Block Island that serves as the harbor, there were boats everywhere: huge yachts, fellow schooners, fancy sailboats, small speedboats – even an old, rusty military tug boat! It was fun to look around at all the ways to travel over the water, and to compare our dear schooner’s various parts to other boats as we passed. Finally, we found a good place to drop the anchor, and a small transporting boat picked us up to take us ashore.

We were dropped off at BIMI, the Block Island Marine Institute, where we spent the next hour observing the marine life that BIMI had collected in observation tanks. In one tank, where scallops cohabited with starfish, the cadets attempted to place scallops near enough to starfish to witness the starfish catch and eat the scallops, as they had learned that starfish eat by vomiting digestive fluids into their prey. Though there were some close calls, the scallops always won out, snapping their shells and scurrying away at the last moment. Needless to say, it was very interesting to watch, and the cadets were amazed at the diversity of life in our waters.

After spending some time at the observation tanks, our cadets got the opportunity to dissect squids! Each cadet got his or her own, and they were taught how to cut a squid apart into its various organs, learning each organ’s purpose as they went. A few cadets were brave enough to eat the lens of the squid eye – supposedly full of vitamins – and most ended up with more than a little squid ink on his or her fingers. Afterward, they got to feed the squid pieces to the spider crabs in the observation tanks. Opinions were mixed about whether the lesson was gross or awesome, but overall it was very interesting. Afterward, the cadets were ready to head back to the ship and haul out towards the Fishers Island Sound, where we would anchor for the night.

The cadets continue to have a great time, and each day they become more comfortable with the different components of sailing, taking initiative and often handling the sails almost completely on their own. Tomorrow, we’ll sail a short distance to Mystic, Connecticut – our sixth state in as many days! The crew is very excited for Mystic, a port that they had to skip on the previous trip, so we're excited, too, though we're not sure what we'll find there. Another day, another adventure!

Cleaning out the trawl net after fishing.

Studying the animals we caught in the trawl.

Observing the marine life at the Block Island Marine Institute.

Squid, pre-dissection...

and mid-dissection.

Captain Michael lays the charts out to show us where we've been and where we're headed.

Lady Maryland: Trip #4 (Day Four)

2011-07-31T07:03:00.000-07:00

“Everything about the day was good, but my favorite thing was anchor watch because I did all of the bearings and checked everything by myself.” - Scott

Today has been a day full of sunshine and a whole lot of learning as we continue to travel down the coast!

This morning we woke up to a calm sea and beautiful skies as we sailed away from Provincetown towards Sakonnet River in Rhode Island. Last night we each stood watch for an hour to ensure that the dock lines didn’t tighten too much or the fenders get pushed out of place as the tide shifted, as that could result in broken lines or a banged up ship. Despite some drizzle through the night, everything went well, and everyone was happy to wake up once again to clear skies. We’ve been extremely lucky with weather so far!

After breakfast, we split up, the Port team cleaning the galley and main salon while the Starboard team kept watch on deck. This was a very important job, as we spent the morning navigating through the Cape Cod Canal, where there was a lot of traffic and only a narrow waterway compared to what we have been sailing. The cadets did a great job working together and communicating about other ships as we made our way through and enjoyed the beautiful scenery of the canal, including some awesome mansions along the water.

Once through the channel into Buzzards Bay, the crew had a surprise for us – trawl fishing! This is a type of fishing that involves dragging a large, weighted net behind the boat for a period of time in order to trap fish and other sea life. After working together to lower the net into the water (and smelling the net for good luck!), we talked about the dangers of trawl fishing and the detrimental effects it has when used as a means of catching large amounts of fish and sea life in commercial fishing. Luckily, the Lady Maryland has a license to use a small trawl in these waters for research purposes as long as we record what we find and throw it all back unharmed. When we raised the net, we had caught multiple crabs, mollusks, and shellfish. The cadets spent some time identifying the different species using field guides before carefully returning them to their natural habitat.

After helping to man the ship for awhile, it was back to learning – this time discussing the pH levels of the water and the changing nature of the oceans due to Co2 pollution. The cadets designed their own experiment to test how varying pH levels affect crab shells, immersing shells in fresh water, salt water, and vinegar, the vinegar representing what could happen to creatures with calcium carbonate based shells should the ocean continue to be polluted. We’ll check back on the experiment in a few days!

Once anchored in Sakonnet River – which the cadets were excited to find out shares some views with Roger Williams, though we couldn’t see the campus – Captain Michael asked if anyone wanted to go for a little swim. Positive responses were unanimous, and so we spent the rest of the evening jumping off the ship into the water (and washing up, finally, with biodegradable dish soap!), eating a great dinner on the deck, learning about constellations in the perfectly clear night sky, telling ghost stories, and finally, watching a fireworks show that just happened to be directly in front of the ship (we responded with blasts of the ship’s horn and lots of clapping!). It couldn’t have been a better night, and we all settled into our sleeping bags on deck under the stars, agreeing that it had been one of the best days we’d had so far. We'll wake up again for anchor watch, and tomorrow morning, we'll head to Block Island for more surprises and adventures!

Cadets work together to "sweat" the line, the last and hardest step in raising the jib sail, to ensure that the sail is taut.

Learning about trawl fishing in Buzzards Bay.

Getting ready to drop the trawl!

The cadets study what we pulled up in the trawl - here is a pregnant Spider Crab!

Creating an experiment to test the affect of different pH levels on marine life.

Swimming in the Sakonnet River!

A beautiful night - excited for tomorrow!

*Please note: Some pictures have been added to previous posts, so make sure to check them out!

Lady Maryland: Trip #4 (Life on Deck)

2011-07-29T19:35:00.000-07:00

Matt plots a course on the charts.

The boys clean the dishes after a meal.

Sarah keeps lookout for other ships and potential dangers from the bow.

Scott steers at the helm.

The cadets scrub the floors, or "soles", of the ship as part of a twice-daily maintenance procedure.

Lady Maryland: Trip #4 (Day Three)

2011-07-29T18:55:00.000-07:00

"It was so interesting seeing the whales up close after learning so much about them!" - Whitney

Today was filled from morning until night with what we all came to see -- whales!

We started the morning headed south towards Cape Cod, and since the crew was tired from sailing through the night, the cadets took charge of the deck: steering, serving as lookouts, and checking the ship. The waves from yesterday had calmed a little but now we were headed straight into the wind. The captain explained that we have to sail regardless of the wind direction, so with the wind at our bow we had to zigzag back and forth through the night, making the trip much longer than it would have been had the wind been behind us or to the side. Nonetheless, the cadets kept on with smiles, and we spent the morning manning the ship and reviewing what we've learned so far about whales.

As it so happened, we were crossing over a bank that attracts a lot of whales due to the shallower water levels, and just as we had hoped, we spotted whales just off our course to Provincetown. The cadets identified the whales as humpbacks, the largest population of whales in this area, and though they didn't get too close to the ship, it was still very exciting to see them breach and fluke in the distance, especially because for many of us this was our first encounter with whales!

A few hours later, we arrived in Provincetown and everyone worked together to pull the Lady Maryland up to the dock and get tied up. The first thing we noticed at the dock was another large sailboat, which the crew explained is a replica of a typical Dutch sailboat used in the 1600s. The cadets, with their newly acquired knowledge of sailing, analyzed the shape of the boat and the strange square sails. After we disembarked, the crew of the other ship offered to give us a tour, and we all noted the differences between that ship and ours and gained a better understanding of how sailboats have evolved over the years. We all appreciated our small bunks much more after we were told that the crew used to have to sleep on the deck with all of the lines!

In Provincetown (or "PTown", as they call it here), we poked around shops and enjoyed some well-deserved ice cream before heading for the final activity of the day – whale watching on a professional boat with the first whale watching company in the world! Though the weather was gray and overcast, we were assured that the whales would make-up for the dreary skies – apparently they like to play in the waves as much as we do! After a long ride around the Cape, we sure enough found ourselves right in the heart of what seemed to be a whale playground. Humpback whales were blowing through their blow-holes, breaching, slapping their flukes on the water, and just generally swimming around on all sides of our boat. At one point a particularly playful whale came right up to our boat, breached close enough to spray us all on the deck, and then swam under the boat, only to pop up and continue the show on the other side! Needless to say, it was a truly awesome experience, and we found ourselves running from side to side on the deck for over an hour as we watched the whales in their natural waters.

Back at the Lady Maryland (which after only a few days is beginning to feel like home), a few of the cadets wrote some reflective haikus about the day:

Bustling with life;/PTown on a cloudy day./I want seafood. -- Harry

Black flukes in the air/Come crashing down with a splash./Very majestic. -- Harry

Whale did breach, did breach/Whale breach splash splashed me, yes splashed/Now I am wet: darn. -- Max

Gray and overcast./Perfect day for watching whales/All around the Cape. -- Anonymous

Humpback whales at play./Sails full of wind and sunshine./Lady Maryland. -- Anonymous

Another awesome day!

Lady Maryland: Trip #4 (Day Two)

2011-07-29T08:35:00.001-07:00

"It was cool seeing all the fuzzy little new birds learning to fly and the sheer amount of birds was astounding!" - Matt

Today, after a great breakfast and a good half hour spent cleaning the boat, a task we must do twice a day to keep the boat in good shape, we got to disembark the Lady Maryland and spend some time exploring Appledore Island, one of the larger islands of the Isles of Shoals. Though the islands were once a fishing village, they are now used primarily for research on marine life and birds, specifically the gulls that inhabit the island during their migrations north and south.

After getting a tour of the labs and seeing all sorts of animal skeletons and interesting live specimens, we walked around the island and eventually sat down for awhile on the rocky shore, where we got a lesson on different types of birds from one of the crew members. The lesson was made even more vivid by the countless birds that surrounded us, continually screeching as they tried to protect the fluffy, dark colored gulls that we learned are the babies. We then continued around the island, checking out the beautiful views of the water from the higher points as we hiked and poking around the tide pools on the shore, where we found endless snail shells and skipped a few rocks. Finally, it was time to head back to the ship and get sailing again.

Back on the Lady Maryland, we ate a good lunch and then worked together to haul up the anchor, a job that took a good half hour and a whole lot of man power – we’ll all be in shape when we get back! Then once again we set the sails – a job that is starting to feel familiar – and set off towards Provincetown, MA on Cape Cod, this time with the wind in our sails.

Once we were sailing, the cadets broke up into two groups, one to keep watch on deck - a job that includes steering at the helm, serving as lookout on the bow, checking the boat for any potential problems, and various other, smaller tasks – and one to start learning about whales and estuaries from the awesome educators on the crew. Everyone agrees that it is great to be out on the water again, and it’s great to feel like we know enough to be helpful on the ship. Before we know it, we’ll be able to sail the Lady Maryland without much assistance at all!

Another wave of sea-sickness accompanied the choppier water of the late-afternoon, but we now have a whole day out at sea under our belt, and we’re excited to do more sailing and exploring tomorrow after a good night’s sleep -- this time below deck, as the crew will be sailing through the night so that we can be in Provincetown by tomorrow!

Skeletal samples, as well as a shark fin, at the Isles of Shoals research labs.

Our cadets pose with some marine life skulls and skeletons.

Learning about different bird species from up on the rocks...

and marine species from down on the shore! What an awesome stop!

Lady Maryland: Trip #4 (Day One)

2011-07-29T08:33:00.000-07:00

Welcome! Lady Maryland's final CTY voyage of the summer is officially underway! We're excited for a great nine days, and so happy that you're interested in what we're up to out here at sea and at the different ports we'll stop at along the way! We'll do our best to document our adventures!

On Wednesday morning, as the rest of the CTY students headed off to their morning classes, our eight Whales and Estuaries students hopped into a van and headed north to Portsmouth, NH to board, at long last, the Lady Maryland. We boarded the ship around lunchtime and spent a leisurely afternoon in the sun, bobbing on the quick-running water of Portsmouth Harbor until the current had calmed enough for us to set sail. While we waited, we spent some time getting to know the energetic, eight-person Living Classrooms crew and the ship – a 104 foot pungy schooner modeled after work boats that would have sailed these same waters in the 1800s – as well as reviewing important safety information. Despite a little sea-sickness, the group took easily to life on a ship, and once underway we all began the long process of learning to sail – hoisting sails (which are much heavier than they look!), coiling ropes, and slowly acquiring the skills and vocabulary necessary for sailing.

Our first stop was the Isles of Shoals, a cluster of nine islands that breach the border between New Hampshire and Maine. Though the wind wouldn’t carry us all the way to the shore, we motored into the area around sunset, found a buoy to tie up to (though we eventually had to drop the anchor), and enjoyed a nice meal on deck before bed. Most of the kids opted to sleep under the stars on the deck, and everyone fell asleep quickly, especially with anchor watches to wake up for during the night and an early wake-up in the morning.

The last duty of the day was anchor watch, during which members of the crew and our awesome cadets took shifts through the night to ensure that the ship didn’t drift too much. During anchor watch, each group took bearings to record how the ship had changed positions in the water, and also recorded changing weather patterns. After our hour shift, we were all happy to crawl back into our sleeping bags for a few more hours of good sleep. What an exciting and educational first day!At Isles of Shoals, the Spirit of South Carolina, a fellow schooner, passes us on their way back out to sea, and we shoot our cannons as a friendly "hello"!

At sunset, the cadets review the standing rules of the ship before turning in after a long day.

Lady Maryland: Trip #3 (Day Seven)

2011-07-26T08:48:00.000-07:00

Today the cadets disembarked Lady Maryland to board a whale watching ship that would set out from Gloucester harbor. After such an unexpected surprise yesterday, many thought it would be hard to top off such a great day of whale watching onboard Lady Maryland.

They were all pleasantly surprised (yet again). After almost a two hour journey, the whale watching ship reached the southern tip of Stellwagen Bank to come upon dozens and dozens of Humpback whales. They were literally everywhere! And what made it so special was that they were bubble feeding: where one individual circles around to form a bubble net to trap the fish while the others swim up to the surface at the same time top gulp all that prey. It was absolutely spectacular. Such bubble feeding groups were all over the area – it was hard enough to see them all!

Even the whale watch naturalist onboard said she had never seen sop mane Humpbacks in one place at the same time feeding – we all knew we were really lucky, you don’t see this everyday. One whale even breached as it jumped up spectacularly right next to another whale watching ship – its entire massive body minus the fluke perpendicularly above the water- and then came crashing down in an enormous splash!

After returning back to Gloucester just after 2:00PM, the cadets had lunch and then set sail to do some sailing outside of Gloucester harbor. The plan was to head up around Cape Ann towards Rockport to make up some time to the Isles of Shoals, our ultimate destination. But just after getting out of the harbor, the winds completely died out and we were not moving at all. Furthermore, the forecast called for some significant winds from the east so the captain decided it would be best to motor back into Gloucester harbor and spend the night anchored behind the breakwater wall, protected from the wind.

Lady Maryland: Trip #3 (Day Six)

2011-07-24T17:49:00.000-07:00

This morning was an early all-hands on deck wake-up: 6:00AM – we had a long way to go to get to Gloucester. The crew and cadets were underway by 7:00AM but that morning the weather was not cooperating as large storm clouds with lightning and thunder were on the horizon on the boat’s course!

It was decided to alter the course to go around the storm which would mean a much longer journey than anticipated. Unfortunately, even with this maneuver, the storm caught up with us but the cadets stood on watch as if nothing out of the ordinary was going on. The rain lasted less than an hour and the clouds gave away to warm rays of sunshine.

Lady Maryland was making her way across Stellwagen Bank - a major summer feeding ground for whales in the North Atlantic. The cadets were hoping to spot a whale but none of them anticipated so many and so close to the boat. There were Humpback whales left and right and the excitement on the boat was contagious! The cadets were running from one side of the boat to the other, jumping, screaming, clapping… camera shutters were clicking away like there was no tomorrow! The whales put on a spectacular show as they were feeding.

Because of the storm and the unexpected whale-watching, Lady Maryland was a couple of hours behind schedule but the crew brought her safely to dock in Gloucester harbor while the cadets doze away after such an exciting day.

PICTURES: Provincetown

2011-07-22T17:51:00.000-07:00

PICTURES: rough seas and rowing

2011-07-22T17:45:00.000-07:00

Lady Maryland: Trip #3 (Day Five)

2011-07-22T17:38:00.000-07:00

Friday was filled with a ton of activities in town. It also proved to be completely different weather-wise than the previous day: sunny, calm and a scorching 90 degree heat. It was all about water bottles and sunscreen today.

In the morning, the cadets visited the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies to listen to an engaging presentation about whale disentanglement efforts. It was quite inspiring to hear the stories and watch the videos. These people truly make a difference!

After a quick lunch, many of the cadets were a little dispirited because of the oppressive heat. Little did they know about the surprise the crew had planed for them: swimming at the beach and then ice-cream! What a refresher!

After that, the cadets were full of energy for a visit to the Pilgrim’s monument and museum. The views from the top were spectacular – a 360 degree view of Cape Cod, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Bay.

Another great day topped of by a fine dinner of vegetable soup and corn on the cob. Yum!

Lady Maryland: Trip #3 (Day Four)

2011-07-22T17:34:00.000-07:00

Thursday morning, the crew and cadets got Lady Maryland out of New Bedford harbor – resupplied and refueled for the next stage and destination – Provincetown on the very tip of Cape Cod.

And what a day it was! All on board battled through thick fog, strong winds, high waves and spray – the boat was swaying up and down, to the left and right, water was washing across the deck! But our cadets held their ground and valiantly performed their duties on watch under the careful guidance of the watch officers and the captain

Once Lady Maryland crossed through the Cape Cod Canal, the crew attempted a trawl but it was called off due to high winds – sometimes the sea just does not cooperate. Nevermind, the strong winds proved to be perfect as Lady Maryland swiftly jibed her way across the bay and into Provincetown harbor (for those who don’t sail everyday a jibe is a sailing maneuver where the stern (back) of the boat is moved into and across the wind).

The dock was full so we had to anchor just outside the protection of the breakwater where the winds were churning up the water into waves. After a few minutes the crew found out that the anchor was dragging! Luckily a spot on the dock was found – but now the anchor had to be brought up on deck – on the wind, spray, and dark.

Finally, just after 10:00PM, Lady Maryland was safely docked in the harbor. Everyone was tired but also deeply satisfied in how the boat was handled despite the elements. All could not wait for a full nights rest (minus the one hour each has to stand watch at the dock, of course).

Lady Maryland: Trip #3 (Day Three)

2011-07-21T07:34:00.000-07:00

The cadets and crew woke up to a heavy fog – one could not see anything, which caused the boat to have a slow start as being underway in the fog would be like driving a car blindfolded. By 9:30, the fog cleared out so the anchor was pulled out of the water and Lady Maryland left Cuttyhunk harbor on her way to New Bedford.

By noon, Lady Maryland was already docked at the State Pier in New Bedford. The town used to be the whaling capital of the United States and even today represents one of the most productive fishing ports in the country

After lunch, the cadets visited the whaling museum – a fascinating look into the history of whaling as well as whale biology and anatomy. The museum had several real skeletons of whales, as well as huge models of whaling ships. There was so much cool stuff to learn! Did you know for example, that in order to stage whale skeletons for exhibits they need to be cured because they contain a lot of oil in them? They way they do it is that they bury the skeletons for several years in manure where the bacteria break down and “clean” the bones!

Later in the afternoon, the cadets had a unique opportunity to find out what it was like to row a small whaling boat thanks to the New Bedford Whale City Rowing. The cadets were given huge oars and then rowed in the harbor. The wind was quite strong so it was a real workout

That evening, the cadets were really tired after a full day of museum touring and rowing. They had the opportunity to write some postcards and letters that would be sent home and before bedtime they watched a movie about Pacific marine life. Another awesome day!

PICTURES: trawling and species identifications

2011-07-20T07:06:00.000-07:00

PICTURES: what it's like to be on watch

2011-07-20T06:56:00.000-07:00

Lady Maryland: Trip #3 (Day One and Two)

2011-07-20T06:53:00.000-07:00

Welcome family and friends,

Yesterday afternoon the Lady Maryland set out from Bristol harbor for her third nine day voyage. Nine brave cadets boarded the ship with excitement and anticipation of a great adventure. Although the weather was cooperating with rain showers here and there, the high spirited crew made the cadets feel welcomed and energized.

Due to a late afternoon boarding, Lady Maryland made her way just three miles to a small bay near Prudence Island. The first day was filled with introductions, tours of the boat, as well as most importantly – information about safety.

After dinner, prepared by the boat's own cook, the cadets took some time to jot down their impressions expectations of the journey. Here is what they had to say:

“…wow, I’m finally going to get to go sailing again!!! I’m also very excited for such a cool/new experience. I cannot wait for the rest of the trip!” - Abigail

“I’m excited because I am getting to do different activities and experiencing new things. I expect to have a really good time and learn too.” – Betzbeth

“I’m kind of worried that I will fall off! And I learned this is going to be a lot harder than I thought…I would love to see a whale or a dolphin, though” – Cassidy

“Awesome!!! Love you mom and dad, JJ and Kathy” – Harrison

“Not what I was expecting. Roger Williams University is plush and comfy. I feel though that if we were to live only like that, it would be boring. This boat is really exciting!” – Holly

I’m excited and can’t wait to go further away and spot many whales, this boat is awesome!” – Iris

“I’m really excited about sailing and being part of the crew of the boat… I can’t wait to have an awesome learning experience!” – Jessica

‘Working on a boat will be hard work, but with a bit of team work, eight friends, and a good sense of humor, we can manage it.” – Storm

“I think this cruise is a fun and entertaining way to learn about biology” - Martin

That night, the cadets each stood watch at some point in time with the crew as Lady Maryland was anchored, taking bearing and recording the weather to make sure that the boat was not in danger and the rest could sleep soundly.

The next morning the cadets were off to an early start: wake up at 6:45AM! There was no time to waste… the deck needed to be washed, the dishes after breakfast cleaned, and most exciting of them all… the sails to be set! After all, sailing is what Lady Maryland does best. It takes a lot of work to hoist all three sails but with teamwork, everything is possible.

The students were divided into two watch groups with the crew… while one watch is on (basically keeping the bat running – being on lookout, doing boat checks, steering, and navigating), the other is lead by the educators on board with educational activities.

Today, the captain decided it was a good time to do some trawl fishing and see what we catch. After one lucky cadet bestowed luck on the net by sniffing it, it was thrown overboard and after a while pulled back on deck. And indeed lucky we were – among the catch were various crabs, shrimp, algae, as well as a flounder over a foot long!

Over the course of the day, Lady Maryland made her way over some rough seas to Buzzards Bay to anchor in Cuttyhunk harbor for the night.

Lady Maryland: Final Days

2011-07-13T09:59:00.000-07:00

Hello once again blog followers!

The cadets are sailing for the last time today. Tonight, the sails will be furled, and tomorrow morning, we will motor onward to our final destination, where we will catch a ride back to our starting point. Days 8 and 9 will go faster than we can imagine!

Last night, all 10 cadets earned the title of "Able-Bodied Seaman". They showcased their knowledge of the forem'st throat halyard, bowline knots, harpoon coils and more in a race between the port and starboard watches that ended in a very close tie! The crew was proud of their apprentices for their hard work and reliability this week.

As a final peek into the minds of our sleepy sailors, I'd like to share another story written during the night anchor watch from a few nights ago...

Thelonious and Malvectius were friends for years, but they didn't always see eye to eye. Malvectius was always making trouble, and therefore, everybody feared him. One day, Thelonious and Malvectius had gotten into a huge fight over how loud the base drum should be; Malvectius had not realized how loud the bass actually was. As a result, Malvectius hypnotized Gillespie to do something very bad...

With that Malvectius begun, he gathered line, tied off ends, and he was ready. Now with no effort at all a single tug would send all the fresh water tumbling into the great salty sea. Melanius seeing what Malvectius was doing, instantly thought of the possible consequences of losing every ounce of drinkable water aboard the boat, and knew he must do something to stop it...

He would have to punish Malvectius in a way that would make him learn a lesson. At first, Melanius tried tickling Malvectius to death. Then he tried to fart all over Malvectius to make it a punishment that he would remember and regret...after all, Melanius had the worst smelling farts around. Suddenly, Melanius knew what he would do to stop Malvectius......

He would make fart bags, full of gas (literally) and set a trap in order to get Melvectius back...in the face...

As Thelonious was making the fart bags, he realized two things: a.) farts are flammable and b.) it is extremely hard to put gas in a bag without beans! He got a new plan to control Malvectius. He would set his bags on fire under him, and would have to make Malvectius think that Thelonius was magical.

His plan wasn't as clever as he had hoped. Malvectius saw straight through the trick, but was clever enough to play along. As Thelonius's trick came to an end. Malvectius acted afraid, but only to play along. He still had a few tricks up his sleeve and he wasn't going to give in quite so easily.

Malvectius was sound asleep in his cabin when he first heard the noise. A faint wooshing that was getting louder and louder. When Malvectius rolled out of bed to see where the noise came from he saw Thelonius floating above the deck. "Oh no!" Malvectius shouted. "Floating fart bags of doom!" Stealthily Malvectius pulled out his paintball gun he was hiding and shot all the fart balloons! Malvectius knew of Thelonius' plan after spying on Thelonius farting into bags the night before.

In his excitement, Malvectius kept missing the fart bags and Thelonius caught him and tied him to the mast of Lady Maryland. Two years later...Malvectius promised to be good and never do that again. Thelonius decided to let him go, but Malvectius never left. He became best friends ith the band and travelled all over the world with them without once causing any trouble.

THE END.

Mystic Seaport

2011-07-12T10:29:00.000-07:00

6 of our cadets were chosen to participate in a reenactment of life on a whaling ship.

Mike the Shantyman teaching us songs to sing as we haul away!

The group at Mystic Seaport.

Using the super high-tech microscope to view the plankton we caught on TV.

Our three fly exterminators getting even for the many bites acquired as they sleep.

Lady Maryland: Day Six

2011-07-12T10:03:00.000-07:00

When we woke up Monday morning to a fog so thick that we could not see more than 10 feet around our pink and green schooner, we weren't sure if we'd ever make it to Mystic, CT. But fate knew of our plans, and the fog fully lifted at around midday, and we were able to dock alongside the quaint Mystic Seaport. Our pungy schooner, the last of its kind, looked at home with the other historical boats tethered to the pilings at the dock. The cadets heard and read about the history of whaling across the world, and specifically in New England. We even had a shantyman come aboard the Lady Maryland and teach us real sea shanties of different origins and uses! (SHAN-ty n. A song sung by sailors on a boat to keep time, and pass time, when hauling lines, raising/lowering sails, and hauling in the anchor).

The group had a great time going to each outdoor exhibit and searching for answers to questions on their scavenger hunt sheets. Did you know that British ships of the past had anchors weighing up to 7,000 pounds?! The cadets learned this and many other facts about ships and the everyday life of a sailor.

With only one more full day left, the cadets are both excited and sad to be coming to the end of their CTY experience. I think all would say that it has been an experience they will always remember!

A Special Message

2011-07-10T16:25:00.000-07:00

Four posts in one day, you say? This must be something very important! Indeed it is, for as we were awaiting a dinner of pot roast only moments ago, our very own "Graham Cracker" and "DJ Sillyz" decided to share a little something special with the rest of the cadets and crew. I present it to you now in video form, though it's majesty is really something better seen in person. Perhaps you can request a live concert upon their return!

(Apologies for the sideways nature of the video)

Lady Maryland: Day Five

2011-07-10T12:59:00.000-07:00

It is an absolutely gorgeous day aboard our beloved schooner. The sun is shining brightly, but a light breeze keeps the cadets from over-heating. This morning we were anchored at one of Captain Michael's favorite spots to dredge for oysters, and so we decided to hook up our own oyster dredge and see what we could find. We also threw in the trawl net for the second time this trip to observe the types of species present in this part of the ocean. Everyone was excited to see that we hauled up about 10 different species in our net! The cadets spent much of the morning making observations and identifying those species with the help of field guides.

The second half of the day was filled with learning the proper techniques for testing water quality. The cadets were looking like professional scientists as they used fancy equipment and their new knowledge to record data. They discovered that the quality of the water that the Lady Maryland was sailing through at that moment was mostly high, but there were a few outlying data points, possibly due to pollution by humans.

We will be anchoring again shortly, and all are looking forward to a good night's sleep after a long, hot day of discovery!

Trawling and Water Quality Testing

2011-07-10T12:49:00.000-07:00

All hands were ready to drop the trawl net into the ocean.

Testing pH of surface water.

Swabbing the deck after trawling and dredging.

Testing the salinity of the surface ocean water.

Pictures of cadets and crew

2011-07-10T12:17:00.000-07:00

It was a slightly chilly day, ending in a slightly warmer night...warm enough to sleep on deck! Some brave cadets decided to leave their comfy bunks in favor of curling up on the wooden deck above. Sleeping beneath the stars marked the halfway point of their journey aboard the ship. Here are some pictures from the rest of Day 4:Michael (Captain) and Beth (Educator) at the stern!

Enjoying a French toast breakfast.

Heading down below into the main salon.

Starboard Watch cadets navigate and chart our course.

At night, Michael shows the cadets and crew where we have been and where we will be going on a series of overlapping charts.

Lady Maryland: Day Four

2011-07-09T18:39:00.000-07:00

Early this morning, Lady Maryland left the docks of Provincetown and sailed through the Cape Cod Canal. She spent all day at sea, as the cadets learned about sea-related birds and how to tie proper knots.

Tonight, I am including in this blog a story the cadets wrote on anchor watch from two nights ago. Since each cadet has to be up for an hour each night keeping watch, this tradition was begun to make the time pass and keep the watchers awake! Each cadet writes a paragraph or so, and the next cadet on watch contunues the plot...the catch is that only the last sentence is revealed to the next writer. Thus, we have the first installment of CTY Trip #2 Silly Stories: "The Band's Adventure to Whale Country." [Note: The Band is an adventurous group of four finger puppets that are currently living on the Lady Maryland.]

One day, the Band was on the Lady Maryland. Suddenly, they heard a loud, strange noise. And then a loud splash. Falcor quickly jumped to conclusions that this was the Aflac duck and this would shape his future forever.

Small specks appeared in Falcor's vision abruptly after he was hit in the head by an apple from the sky.

The fuzzy spots slowly began to form recognizable figures. First a unicorn leaping out of the water on the back of a humpack, as he became more and more disoriented, Falcor woke up on the Lady Maryland and decided that his earlier conclusions may have long lasting consequences, but forever is a long time. It couldn't possibly change his life forever, could it...

It did change his life forever. On a Friday night, Thelonius and the rest of the Band were partying...

...until abruptly the glass windows shattered inwards and ten SWAT team members expertly rolled in. "Freeze!" they shouted in unison. Thelonius quickly finished his drink, shaken not stirred, and rolled to the left before they could react. As Thelonius threw his back against a concrete wall, he saw Falcor awkwardly hunched behind the bar. "Falcor!" he screamed as bullets flew all around them. "We need to use the music!" Falcor violently nodded his head and pulled out his instrument. The band saw his move and also began to play their instruments. The glass aquarium grew cracks larger and larger until...

...the water came. Caving in the glass, flooding the room, and possibly setting the wet room and the furniture (don't ask how...yet) on fire...

...This was puzzling, to say the least. They'd only ever heard of this enchanted fire-water in the fairy tales they heard back when they were merely furry tykes. What was this strange water? How did it come to be there? Of this, the band knew not, but they would stop at nothing to unravel the threads of this mystery. Thelonius, fearless leader and water expert that he was, exclaimed, "My esteemed band, tonight, we put all doubts of our majesty to rest; we must fight the fire-water!"

Thelonius retired to his dressing room, put his head in his hands in a moment of anguish. He knew they could never survive, not all of them. He hoped that if any member of the band were to fall it would be him. He couldn't live with knowing he had led them to defeat. Falcor entered quietly, rested his hand on Thelonius' shoulder and spoke to him, "Do not fear, this is not the first battle we have won together, nor will it be the last." Thelonius stood up and prepared to destroy the fire-water.

He packed food, beverages, and weapons to destroy the fire-water. He left the next morning early without telling the Band. With his private jet plane that flew silently, he headed to Long Island Sound. Everyone believed that was where it all started. When he landed in a hour, he was told by a police officer because he put the plane in a spot where you couldn't put it. Thelonius didn't want to waste time, so he punched the police officer. He hid the body behind a bush, then flew to a different spot, closer to Long Island Sound. He then ran to LIS. When he got there, he saw fire-water waiting for him.

All of a sudden, Thelonius couldn't remember why he needed fire-water. It was so wonderful and pretty, that he couldn't remember anything. He looked brainwashed as he took a plane back to Beavertown, Peru. When he waked in empty-handed the band got very mad and shouted at Thelonius. But after a few days, the band couldn't stay mad at each other. They went on a whale-watching tour and saw many whales.

The End.

Lady Maryland: Day Three Sonnet

2011-07-08T18:16:00.000-07:00

This morning as our weary sailors woke,
The time had come to raise the anchor nigh.
Obeying orders that the captain spoke,
The sailors flanked the chain and hung flags high.
Although the weather soon became quite sour,
Cadets are wont to face their foes with grit.
The rain continues falling at this hour;
Thank goodness all have rain gear that does fit!
Though wet, we swabbed the deck to keep it clean,
And then we went below to do some learning--
The whale evolved to live a life marine,
In water with the seas and oceans churning.
And now more things await for us to ponder,
As through the sea the Lady M. does wander...

In addition to deck-swabbing and docking this morning, the crew had the chance to visit the Pilgrim monument and go on a whale-watching trip. We were more than ecstatic to have seen almost 20 whales by the time we were headed back to shore, but we couldn't keep from screaming with joy when we saw a whale breaching on our way back! It was so awesome to see so many whale behaviors (bubble feeding, breaching, blowholes, and more!) in one day. Hopefully they won't be the last we observe...

Trip 2 is Underway!

2011-07-07T13:59:00.000-07:00

Hello to the family and friends of our 10 newest cadets aboard the Lady Maryland!

Day 1 was an eventful beginning to what promises to be an even more eventful nine-day trip. The group was sad to leave some of their new friends behind after an action-packed week on land in Baltimore, but was excited to be flying to Gloucester to begin the sea-based portion of their three weeks at CTY. We walked to town for one last treat (ice cream…yum!) before setting sail. After sleeping at the Gloucester Maritime Heritage Center Museum, the students had the chance to see the inner workings of a fish market in person! Though the smell was enough to make some bury their noses in their shirts, the pride won at the mock auction was well worth it.

A nautical name game began the relationship between the crew and cadets, and both could not wait to finally set sail together! The students had no idea how much coordination it would take just to pull away from the dock, but after learning a few essential new terms and techniques, they already looked confident and sea-worthy.

Remember how I mentioned that it was an eventful beginning? I wasn’t kidding! After a scrumptious dinner of tacos, a student spotted something far out in the water…it was a whale! This sighting is the first of the season aboard the Lady Maryland. We could not have asked for a more positive way to start our trip.

Everyone was definitely pumped up after such a great day. Here are their initial impressions:

I’m going to love it! –Aaron

Couldn’t be better. –Ben

Moves a lot, lots of rocking…saw a whale –Adrianna

Different from expections; tie so many knots. –Paul

Nice boat, love learning about sailing and marine life. Although, I miss all my friends from the C. Bay. We were really close and leaving them was really hard. Scared to get seasick. –Cap

I’m going to have lots of fun. We saw a whale today! –Rebecca

This was a complex system and hierarchy, with a whole set of new and unusual rules and teachings, but I’m loving the complexity. –Josh

It was the best day ever! -Max

It was awesome! -Zach

The whale was totally cool. -Ariella

Wednesday night, the cadets had the responsibility of a one-hour night watch, when they got to ensure the safety of the anchored boat.

All hands were on deck Thursday morning to raise the anchor and sail forth for the second time. After giving the trawl net a lucky sniff from our youngest sailor, we tossed it in to see what sorts of creatures may be swimming right near the Lady Maryland. And thus occurs exciting event number two: we caught a stingray (along with 2 crabs, a flounder, and a few other sea creatures)! Our cadets are enjoying the huge amounts of hands-on learning they are already encountering as they explore the wondrous world of whales.

Pictures to come!

New Bedford: Whaling Museum

2011-07-02T17:15:00.000-07:00

Lady Maryland: Day Six

2011-07-02T17:05:00.000-07:00

This morning, Lady Maryland left the docks of New Bedford. She went through Buzzard's Bay and the Canal to get to Cape Cod Bay. Another trawl fishing session was executed in the afternoon with a catch of a several species of crab. The boat anchored just off of Provincetown, on the very tip of Cape Cod.

To make the blog posts a bit more interesting, I decided to include a story the cadets wrote on anchor watch from a previous night. Since each cadet has to be up with a crew member to watch the boat at night, this game was put in place to make the time pass by better. Each cadet writes a paragraph and the next cadet writes a paragraph that contunues the plot... the catch is that only the last sentence is revealed to the next paragraph writer... what we have is than an amusing, nonsensical story:

It was early on the first morning of July that young Johnny Mayweather left to seek his fortunes aboard the whaling vessel Lady Maryland. He was only 16 but his family was in great need of money since his father had contracted Fallingasleepwhileonwatchisitis last fall. His father hated the idea of Johnny joining a whaling vessel but there were few other options for a young boy in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Johnny arrived the first day with his sea chest tucked under his arm and was greeted by a grizzly old sailor missing his left arm. The one armed old man showed him to his bunk in the foc’s’le. There were 12 bunks in the tiny space and almost no light. Johnny choked on the thick smell of tar and sweat that filled the cabin.

His eyes were watery and he gagged and coughed. He was in big trouble! The boat was sinking and burning and Johnny didn’t know what his job was as cadet #591 were! He made his way through the main salon and breathed a sigh of relief as he made it to the ladder because he was sure he was going to die in that stuffy an disgusting head… that probably should not have passed the last bat inspection. Anyways, Johnny tried to steady himself on the ladder but tripped up the steps. “Ow,” he muttered, “I’m such an epic fail…” Johnny army-crawled on the deck and then did something that almost resembled a drunk spider crab.

What Johnny and his crew did not know was that they were passing by an island that many people believed was said to be abandoned. The spider crab movement called the attention to those living in that “abandoned” island. They were lured towards the island. A storm caused by those from the island began. A storm like no other. Johnny and his crew had seen that their boat was damaged, they had to abandoned ship and they swam for the shore of that island. They all fell unconscious. When they woke up, they were being nurtured. Johnny opened his eyes and couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

He saw, way out in the sky, a bedazzling unicorn. The Lady Maryland soon went into a frenzy. Beth immediately put on her best dress and yelled to the unicorn to ask if it would give her a ride over rainbows. Everyone face pawned. Johnny began whooping to pass the time. He started to jog towards the cliff and yelled, “Whoop!” as he slid down the hill on his back. When he got to the bottom he saw Miles shuffling and singing Party Rock Anthem extremely high pitched. Johnny joined in on the dancing.

Then Johnny sensed an intruder with his black magic. Johnny ran to the intruder and whooped him so hard that the mask flew off. Johnny screamed, “What do you want?” The intruder said, “I’m her to steal your souls,” and started running in the other direction. Johnny said, “Then why are you going the other way?” (this story is weird) The intruder shouts “I already have them.” Then, the intruder runs into the green glass doors but can’t go through. Johnny was sprinting too fast and went through the green glass doors. He fell into an abyss and shouted the magic number four.

Johnny suddenly learned to fly and started swooping put of the abyss screaming like a madman. The people that saw him shouted Johnny’s name and started cheering for him “Johnny!” “Wooop”

Unfortunately, many cadets did not understand this cheer. Johnny then went on another boat that was docked and sunk. People who witnessed were so shocked at this event.

But suddenly, an evil wizard named Stewart appeared on the vessel. He was a master in a certain type of magic, Black Magic. Dun, Dun, Dun, Dunnnn! Johnny’s jaw dropped at the sight of Stewart. Stewart slowly held up his wand and said “Snorkel!” This was the exact item Johnny was thinking of, and Johnny’s only reaction was that he wanted to know how this was done! However, this did not help solve Johnny’s problem, and this whole paragraph was pointless.

Swimming!

2011-07-02T16:47:00.000-07:00

Scientific Fieldwork

2011-07-02T16:28:00.000-07:00

Trawl Fishing

2011-07-02T16:07:00.000-07:00

Lady Maryland: Day Five

2011-07-02T07:59:00.001-07:00

Friday morning, the captain had another surprise for the cadets: swimming off the boat! Lady Maryland anchored near the south coast of Massachusetts where the waters were calm… and the cadets and crew took a jump in. Surprisingly, the water was not that cold but very refreshing.

Everyone was trying to outdo each other in who could make the biggest splash while jumping in. It was also a rare opportunity for all to finally wash themselves – soaps, shampoos, and shower gels went in too. Instead of a shower, the cadets took a bath – in a very large bath tub.

Before lunch, Lady Maryland was docked in New Bedford, a small fishing town that used to be the whaling capital of the United States. The cadets had an important appointment – a 2PM tour of the whaling museum in town. After a light lunch and brief walk through the historic center of town, the cadets, accompanied by some of the crew, met up with Tom, our museum guide.

The Whaling Museum in New Bedford is a fascinating and very extensive museum of whale anatomy and physiology, as well as the history of whaling. The cadets got to view actual skeletons of various whale species, look at samples of whale oil, and even tour a half size replica of an actual whaling ship. The guide, Tom, was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic and he answered the many questions of the cadets. The two or so hours spent at the museum were not enough to take in all that it had to offer – definitely a great balance to come back in the future.

After dinner, the cadets were treated to some ice-cream in town and they also had once-during-the-trip opportunity to call home.

Lady Maryland: Day Four

2011-07-02T06:49:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay in posting, but the last two days were filled with so much fun that there hardly was any spare time. Thursday morning, Lady Maryland set sailed and continued along the coast of Connecticut.

In the afternoon the cadets got to participate in some hands on field work as the weather was beautiful and the winds not too strong – the captain gave a green for trawl fishing! The youngest cadet was chosen to bestow good luck on the trawl net by giving it a good sniff and all the cadets threw in the net shortly after.

And indeed what a lucky net it was: the cadets caught spider crabs, hermit crabs, shrimp, and even a baby flounder! All the organisms were separated into buckets by species and the cadets were divided into groups to count, identify, and measure all the animals of the catch. After a group discussion of the findings, all the organisms were safely returned back to the sea.

By evening, morale was a little down as the hard work of watches, cleaning the boat, and doing scientific fieldwork was catching up with the cadets' energy levels. But several rounds of Pictionary and Charades got their energy levels back up again that they had a hard time falling asleep. What a fun way to learn and test out marine science and nautical terms!

That night, while the cadets were fast asleep, the crew navigated Lady Maryland along the coast of Rhode Island on the way to Massachusetts.

2011-07-02T06:32:00.000-07:00

Pictures and pictures!

2011-07-02T06:16:00.000-07:00

Lady Maryland: Day Three

2011-06-30T07:14:00.000-07:00

Wednesday morning, the cadets had the option to be woken up super-early at 4:00AM to witness as Lady Maryland passed through New York Harbor and up the east side of Manhattan. The city was spectacularly lit up and the cadets took many pictures of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Brooklyn Bridge, and Manhattan’s skyline. After a couple of hours of sleep, the cadets were up and ready by 7:30AM as Lady Maryland continued on through Long Island Sound.

Just before noon, the boat made its first stop at the port of Norwalk, Connecticut for refueling and resupplying provisions. The cadets got to spend some precious time on land after being on the sea for more than two days straight. They visited the local beach and park while the crew got the boat ready.

After a short lunch, the Lady Maryland anchored off nearby Sheffield Island, and the cadets were taken onshore by her small motorboat Swampy. While on the island, the cadets did some studies of tidal biodiversity using seine nets. Shieffield Island has a historical decommissioned lighthouse and the very friendly park administrator gave all an information-packed tour of the grounds and the history of the island.

To keep on schedule, the cadets were back onboard by 4:00PM. Late afternoon, Lady Maryland caught some favorable winds and was speeding away at an impressive nine knots at times!

In the evening, the boat was anchored (with the help off all the cadets of course) off the town of Milford, Connecticut. The cadets had a late night lesson of astronomy – learning to identify constellations and talking about their usefulness in navigation. That night was the first that Lady Maryland was to be anchored overnight, so the cadets had anchor watches and were allowed to sleep on deck under the stars!

2011-06-30T06:49:00.000-07:00

A few pictures of our cadets... more to come

2011-06-30T06:19:00.000-07:00

Lady Maryland: Day Two

2011-06-28T18:14:00.000-07:00

Day two and our cadets are in the full swing of living, learning, and sailing a boat. This morning, we had all hands on deck as sails rose on Lady Maryland to enable her to do what she does best!

Although the weather proved to be less than perfect at times with some rain, the cadets continued with their daily routine of watches and educational sessions intermingled with lots of fun games. Our two marine science educators introduced the topic of estuaries, and the similarities and differences between them and wetlands, and how estuaries relate to whales.

Lady Maryland hugged the New Jersey shore as she continues to make her voyage up the East Coast.

Lady Maryland: Day One

2011-06-28T09:45:00.000-07:00

Welcome CTY Friends and Families!

Although you cannot be aboard with us, we hope that this blog will keep you up to date on Lady Maryland’s voyage as well as all the things your dearest are up to.

Yesterday morning, nine brave cadets boarded Lady Maryland at Pier Five of Baltimore Harbor to set out on an unforgettable journey. The crew on a boat is like one big organism: in order for it to function properly, all its parts need to work as one. That is why all the cadets were introduced to the crew through ice-breakers and group activities. This was followed by a general safety session and an introduction to all the areas of the boat. Being one community, four general rules were established by all to make the next nine days the best ever – the importance of (1) safety, (2) communication, (3) respect, and (4) fun!

The first day was full of new information for the cadets: they learned the general operations of the boat watch such as forward watch, navigation, boat checks, and steering. The cadets are divided into two watch teams – while one is on watch with the experienced boat crew, the other has educational activities with our two enthusiastic marine science educators. Everyone was super excited so we asked each cadet to write a little “reaction to the first day and their expectations/hopes for the next eight to come:

“I had a lot of fun! The food was great as was the weather. I enjoyed every second of it and I’m going to sleep very well tonight.” – Charlie

“The weather is really nice and the wind feels good!” – Aaron

“At first, I was getting dizzy but now it all seems fine.” – Tommy

“It was awesome when we began to move and the crew were all very nice and willing to get to know us. Standing watch was fun and I enjoyed doing the different jobs, especially controlling the helm.” –Betsy

“It was a fun and interesting day!” – Matt Y.

“I want to learn everything there is to know about sailing!” – Miles

“I enjoyed the first day because we got to know everyone, and we had fun learning about all the jobs on the Lady Maryland and learning about the boat itself. I like just looking out across the water and feeling the nice breeze! – Nathalie

“The boat looked so tiny when I first saw it. It is actually pretty little but it is OK. I don’t like the bathroom though, it is too little!” – Cindy

“The crew is nice and knowledgeable. They work us hard but we are learning what it takes to run a ship! Also, the crew made brownies and threw me an awesome birthday party! I was so surprised! Definitely one of the best birthdays ever!” – Matt D.

Monday, Lady Maryland made it to the Delaware Bay by going up north from Baltimore Harbor through the Chesapeake Bay and the C&D Canal. The clouds from a generally overcast day dissipated by evening just in time for a beautiful sunset over the Delmarva Peninsula.

By dinnertime the cadets really felt how much work and cooperation is needed for a smooth voyage – but also how much fun it is! One of our cadets had his birthday so our talented cook made a surprise brownie cake for all the cadets and crew to enjoy.

A great ending to the first day!

Welcome to 2011!!

2011-06-27T07:52:00.000-07:00

Hello parents, families and friends,

The 2011 trips are now underway. The boat left the dock with smiles and excitment all around. We have a student with a birthday aboard today so it's an even more special day!! Hoping that everyone had a safe trip home from College of Notre Dame yesterday. Remember, we'll update this blog as often as we can, but it's not a priority. Enjoy your week!

The crew of the Lady Maryland

Day 6

2010-08-04T04:32:00.000-07:00

As we pull out of Mystic Seaport for our final day of sailing, here is an update on the past couple of days.

Aug. 2, Day 6

Today it was my birthday! I have to say, it was a pretty awesome birthday. My day was full of continuous surprises, like waking up to my favorite breakfast of apples and cinnamon oatmeal, to ending the day with a giant card from the whole entire crew. We also did many other amazing activities like visit an oyster farm, have a pirate scavenger hunt, talk to my family, and take a shower after slapping on multiple layers of sunscreen each day for 6 days. The best part is now I smell like Greek shampoo and body wash and most importantly, my hair is once again under control! As we get closer to our ninth day on the boat, I start to realize how much I will miss the Lady Maryland and all the crew on it. I think that is the thing I am going to miss the most- the crew.

I will miss my friends but I can still keep in contact with them. The crew, however, is a different story. This is my first time away to sleepaway camp and the whole crew has been supportive of my on/off homesickness. I really have appreciated their supportiveness and look forward to my last days with them! We are now docked in Mystic, CT and are planning on staying here for the next two nights. Well, I better go and celebrate the last hours of my birthday and get ready for the adventures teenage-hood will soon bring me.

-Written by Olga

Days 4 and 5, P-Town to New Bedford

2010-08-02T05:20:00.000-07:00

Greetings! We've had a lovely past couple of days here on Lady Maryland. On Saturday, we undocked in Provincetown and set sail for New Bedford. On the way, we passed by a fellow schooner, the Spirit of South Carolina. When we heard "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" we covered our ears as our boat fired a small cannon in greeting. We docked in New Bedford and got a chance to step on shore. We toured the Gazela, an historic Portuguese cod fishing vessel which was docked right next to us. It was quite huge in comparison to Lady Maryland and had several square-rigged sails up forward. Now I'll turn it over to the students to tell you about our day yesterday.

"Today on August 1st, we pulled away from the dock at New Bedford. We sailed much of the day while rotating watch positions. We saw a mola mola, also known as the ocean sunfish. Captain Sinker caught a bluefish. We also caught a lionsmane jellyfish, which we looked at in a bucket on deck before setting it free. It was very cool! We anchored near Fisher's Island, CT and we sung sea shanties! We not only sang sea shanties but we learned about them too! Overall it was a calm day with lots of new experiences."

-Written by Emily and Sofia

Day 3, P-town!

2010-07-31T06:52:00.000-07:00

Today we went to Provincetown, MA. First, we docked the boat and walked through town to the Pilgrim’s Monument, which is the real first place that the English pilgrims landed. Then, we returned to the Lady Maryland to a pleasant surprise for lunch, pizza! After that, we left for the Whydah Pirate Museum and learned about Captain Samuel Bellamy and the wreck and treasure of the Whydah. Later we got ice cream on Main Street. We then returned to the ship and learned we would be whale watching aboard the Portuguese Pincess II. While aboard, we saw about 7 humpback whales swimming in line, skimming for food! We played an intense game of Egyptian Rat Slap on the way back to port. Back on our ship, we learned about estuaries and how they connect to whales with Leanna and listened to a ghost story with Chloe. Now, at 9:40, we are about to sleep on deck for the first time!

-Written by Emma

Lady Maryland Trip 4!!

2010-07-30T06:23:00.000-07:00

Ahoy, landlubbers! Welcome to our Trip 4 blog. We are pulling up anchor outside of Provincetown as I type, and it's the first chance we've had to access the internet, so sit back and enjoy this update on our first two days at sea.

Day 1:

Today we set sail on the Lady Maryland. We raised the sails and sailed from Portsmouth, New Hampshire to Rockport, Massachusetts. Tomorrow we are sailing toward Gloucester Harbor, MA. For lunch today we ate hot dogs, baked beans, popcorn and chips. Thor is a great cook! We washed the soles (floors) and now they are all clean. Some of us also learned how to steer the boat. We were separated into two watches, Starboard and Port. We made flags to put up for each group. When we are not on watch we are in class learning about whales. We hope to see whales soon aboard the Lady Maryland!

-Written by Olga and Audrey

Day 2:

“Two, six: Heave! Two, six: Heave! Two, six: Heave! Big: Muscles! Big: Muscles! Huge: Muscles! Mitali Muscles!”

We started the day hauling up the anchor and raising the sails in the downpour. As Port Watch had class, Starboard Watch took turns navigating, being the helmsman/woman, being the bow watch, doing boat checks, and standing by. We ate a delicious lunch and switched watches. During the time Port Watch was on duty and Starboard Watch was in class, an amazing thing happened… WHALES!

We all stopped and gathered around to enjoy the 3 huge humpback whales! It was truly spectacular! We named them Bowie, Humpback Henry, and Eri (we named Eri and Bowie after our land instructor and TA). Bowie came up in a spy hop, Humpback Henry rolled on his tummy, and Eri kept diving and blowing through her blowhole. We got great pictures and videos that we’ll burn onto a DVD.

The whales were great, but they had to leave sooner or later… Ohhhhhh. We got assigned whale projects about evolution. Port Watch learned about ten lines and five different knots, which Starboard will learn about tomorrow. We finished the day with dinner, striking the sails, dropping the anchor, and enjoying the sunset off of Cape Cod.

-Written by Mitali, with the help of Emily, Audry, Henry, and Liam

Thanks for reading, and check back soon for a picture post and more updates!

CTY Whales and Estuaries July 25, 2010

2010-07-25T19:32:00.000-07:00

Day 6: Whales!
Written by Samantha Moores and Adriana Gallardo

Today was one of the most exciting days of our journey. We saw whales!

Port watch had to wake up at 5:45am to raise the anchor and set off to Stellwagon Bank. We got underway and had grits for breakfast made buy our hilarious yet stellar chef, Thor (yes, like the lightening God).
After a few hours of sailing, we finally spotted whales. We folowed them around and turned off the engine. Two whales, which we named Lady and Maryland, stayed by our boat for 45 minutes. They seemed to have a particular interest in us. For the rest of the day we did not stop talking about Lady and Maryland. This was indeed one of the best days in our journey and was truly unforgettable.

Day 7
Written by Evan Wilson

We went on a real whale watching boat today!It was amazing. I got really good pictures and had a great time. As the trip is coming to a close, I have mixed emotions. I am having a great time on the boat but I am excited to get a shower and wear clean clothes. I really miss my family but I am confident that the rest of the trip will move fast. I can't wait to see my family or my dog.
Overall, its been a great trip. I've learned alot, made some great friends, and had lots of fun.

CTY Whales & Estuaries Living Classroom July 24, 2010

2010-07-24T14:27:00.000-07:00

Day Two: Elizabeth Islands
By Zeke Blumenfeld

Waking up at 0700 as usual, we started the day anchored across from the Isle of Cuttyhunk, MA. Soon afterwards, we all piled into the Lady Maryland's single motor boat, the Swamp Fox, to spend the day combing the beaches of the Elizabeth Islands. Two hours later, we had failed to amass much shells, but instread had found various crab carapaces, fish vertebrae, and mermaids purses. We had almost an hour left unitl the boat returned so we spent the spare time swimming in order to beat the heat. We dried quickly as we then purmeyed up the main hill of Cuttyhunk to reach its radio tower, where we enjoyed the view of the surrouding geography. We soon returned to the ship, where after sailing for sometime, dropped an otter trawl net to see if we could find any interesting organisms. We dragged up a lot of kelp and although we caught no fish, we did find some sponges and small species of starfish known as a blood star. We ended up anchoring for the night at Tarpaulin Cove, across from Martha's Vineyard where we ended for the night to the view of bioluminescent comb jellies, bobbing in the water around us.

Day Three: New Bedford, MA
By Lauren Weinstock & Tori Brown

We woke up, ate delicious cinnamon bread, and set off from Tarpalin Bay to New Bedford. On the way there we passed through Woodshore, teh marine capital of the world and took mircoscope and water samples. After examining the water, we identified the plankton with a microscope. Before docking in New Bedford, we cleaned the brass which ended in gross black hand-rags. Once docked we walked through the cobblestone streets to the Seamen's Bethel. At teh non-demonimational Bethel, we learned about the hardships of whalers lives and how they could brutally end. WHile there we also learned about Herman Melville and his book, Moby Dick. Later we went down to a dock and went rowing like true whalers. After raiding the wending machine we stumbled upon the Dollar Store. The jumbled store was quite the adventure full of icream, cold food, and cheap sunglasses. Back on the boat we celebrated crew member Sarah's birthday with a surprise card, cake, and pirates attire. We ended the day with dock watches and sound slumber.

Day Five
By Daniel Kiselev & Leah Fortson

After four nights at sea, we began to understand more of what life was like on a boat. I had a much greater appreciation for food and was sure to finsih everything I was served. Thor is an amazing cook and prepared for us oatmeal with cinnamon apples. We were all greatful to have fruit. Then we were all given blueberries, Yum!
Our first destination was to the Providence Town Center for Coastal Studies. We learned about hte importance of keeping our oceans debris free and we hypothesized ways to reduce the amount of line used in fishing. It is very common for whales to get entangled in the fishing lines that connect the bouy to the pot on the ocean floor. Some of our ideas included: natrual fiber ropes, GPS trackers on the pots, magnets that would bring the pots to the surface, and complete irradification of the fishing industry.
We ate sandwhiches for lunch, they were really good. The highlight of the day was climbing the Providence Tower; it is the tallest granite structure. We all needed the exercise.
After we stopped at a local icecream store and our ice cream melted in the warm weather (though still delicious), we went to a ship supply store. It sold everything and it was amazing!
We returned to the Lady Maryland and sailed around the area for practice (we mainly practiced jibing). We had cod soup, the perfect meal for a raining evening.
The day ended with an all-hands muster.

More Adventure to come!

2010-07-13T14:06:00.000-07:00

Seaweed!

Omar saying hello!

A Tall Ship in Mystic Sea Port

Day 7 Trip 2

2010-07-13T14:00:00.000-07:00

For breakfast we had a really good meal of bacon, cheese and egg on a baibata roll. Normally, I hate eggs on anything but the cook, Gerry, made is so awesome. We docked in Mystic, Connecticut and its really intersting here. It's a museum so the docks and surrouding area is very similar to how it was in 1876. We saw two women dressed up like how women would have back then their whoes looked uncomfortable and they looked really warm in full dresses. The Mystic Seaport had so many mini museums to learn about life on board a ship in the late 1800s and also all the contruction and preparation that went into shipboard life. Last night we took a shower for the first time , it was so refreshing because we were getting smelly and coated in layers of sunscreen. I really enjoyed being able to walk around Mystic today and learn all about sailing back in time when whaling was big.

Written by Lizzy.

Activities on the Water Trip 2

2010-07-11T17:11:00.000-07:00

Listening to Maritime stories

Looking out port side

Justine and Zoe in Class

Jim lowering the flag

Trip 1 on Board!

2010-07-10T14:10:00.000-07:00

Trip 1 on the Lady Maryland last week whale watching. Look how close that whale is to the boat- how exciting! Trip 2 has seen some whales just as close.

Whales, Whales Whales! Day 2 Trip 2

2010-07-10T09:13:00.000-07:00

Yesterday wewoke up and got ready in Provincetown while we were docked. We enjoyed an awesome breakfast of cornbread, yogurt and fruit. Then at 9 we took a long walk to see the Pilgram's monument. The tower seemed to sway in the wind, it was so tall! As we climbed the 116 steps and 60 ramps we said it was hard work but the view at the top was spectacular, and totally worth it. We had lunch and went to see a whale entanglement presentation. Then we walked around town, enjoying the local ice cream, fudge or taffy- delicious! Then we saw humpback whales on the Dolphin VII with a formal naturalist pointing all the whales out. We saw calves breathing, breathing again, and then breaching! We saw so many whales and the whole class was so excited to see them in a different setting. We could even see the glow of the white flippers against the green water- how massive! We returned to the boat where we departed for Greenport, NY. We are sailing through the night and will be helping the crew with watches the whole time.

Written by Justine

Picture by Andrea

2010-07-08T17:50:00.000-07:00

Day 2 Whales Trip 2

2010-07-08T17:42:00.000-07:00

First off we woke up at 7 in the morning and then we prepared the breakfast, we ate and we went right into cleaning the boat. Port watch was in charge of cleaning the cabins and the dishes from breakfast. Starboard watch was doing their job of cleaning the deck, and port watch took a bit of class. While we were in class we were interrupted by whales! We saw 3 pods or groups of whales including a ton of different humpbacks. There were a bunch of tourist boats who came and watched the whales with us, but we had a front row seat. The whales were spouting, fluking and slapping their fins while eatting. It was really exciting. After an hour watching the whales we went back to work, still having whales spouting around us. The watches took turns being on duty and taking plankton smaples and looking at them in the microscope. Captain Sinker caught a Blue Fish and the cook, Gerry, made it for lunch. It was delicious! We are on course for Provincetown and the Cape looks beautiful on sch a sunny day.

Written by Andrea.

Whales trip 1

2010-07-08T06:28:00.001-07:00

7/4/2010
Day 7

Today we docked in Provincetown for most of the morning. The busy little town was full of people excited about the 4th of July. We climbed to the top of the Pilgrim tower and looked out at Cape Cod. The view was incredible.

After noon, we sailed towards Stellwagon Bank. The frenzy began with a few soft puffs of steam on the horizon. Everyone rushed to the front of the boat, cameras and binoculars in hand, to get a closer look at the world's largest mammals. As the Lady Maryland got closer, we became giddier. The whales surrounded us, and everyone was pointing at a different whale, a spout here, a fluke there.

When we turned off the engines, the whales got really close. You could see the wide, dark back of the whales, hear the deep intake of air as they filled their giant lungs. Some of us also felt the spray of mist as they spouted.

Next, they gathered in a tight circle. The water turned green as they blew bubbles. Whales came up in the center, mouths wide open. We recognized this as bubble feeding.

The few people that had managed to stay calm and relaxed through all of this could not hold it in any longer. The whales breached, leaping out of the water, and falling back down sending up cascades of water. We watched in disbelief as four of them breached, one after the other. I was hysterical. It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen.

Written by Kate B

CTY Whales Trip Day 7

2010-07-05T12:31:00.000-07:00

7/3/2010
Day 7

Today we left the New Bedford Harbor after we ate a breakfast of grits and sausage. The we sailed through the Cape Cod Canal. We had a lunch of chicken tacos while we were sailing. When we got to Cape Cod, we anchored in Provincetown. After that, we did an experiment showing different feeding types of whales. We filled a tub with tarragon, packing peanuts, and water. Then we used plastic bags as stomachs, and various other tools as "teeth."
After that, we were able to go swimming. We swam right next to the boat, getting in and out by a ladder. We washed ourselves with Dawn dishsoap and jumped in. When we finished swimming, we had eggplant lasagna for dinner. After we finished our evening chores, we did hygiene bowls and went to sleep. Throughout the night, we did nightwatches, making sure the boat wasn't drifting very much. Once we were done our shifts, we got back to go back to bed until the next day.

Written by Maggie W.

CTY whales session 1

2010-07-01T07:52:00.000-07:00

Day 3

Today we all woke up at 5 a.m. to see the Statue of Liberty and New York City. AT 5:30 a.m., Jenna's mom saw us from the Brooklyn Bridge. Then port watch navigated and steered us up the Long Island Sound. Mel finally was able to meet up with us at Oyster Bay. We did a boat cleaning competition. Port watch had souls, bowls, and dish duty, while starboard watch did a full deck wash. Whoever finsihed first won. Port watch won and Josh and Sam claimed two small skeleton warriors named Pablo and Carlos.

When we docked, we went into town and we all got ice cream. After that, we went to a variety store and had a crazy adventure. We saw a ninja, played around with all of the clothes, and found some stylish rain gear for Harmony (but she didn't like it). We saw cheddar flavored meal worms and sour cream and onion flavored crickets.

When we got back to the boat, Rachel took us to the beach. We all got in, but only a few of us went under the water. Sam and Josh caught caught a fish, but they did not know what kind it was. We had a great dinner and had fun working on our whale project (even though we don't always agree on everything). Any way, today was a good day.

CTY Whales Trip 1 Day 2

2010-06-30T07:03:00.000-07:00

Day 2
6/29/2010

Today we had cinnamon buns for breakfast : ). Then, when we were done with breakfast, we started watch. Some people got seasick and had to sit out on some of their watches. Then, before lunch we had a man overboard drill and we had to figure out how to get the "people" back onboard. After lunch, we saw porpoises and they were frolicking in the water. We learned how to navigate the boat and how to steer the boat. We did our first boat checks by ourselves. Josh and Sam broke the world record for fastest boat check. Tonight we have to do watches at night while underway. The weather today was overall kind of cool, but nice.

Written by Judith

Summer 2010 is HERE!!!!!

2010-06-25T11:35:00.000-07:00

The crew of the Lady Maryland has been working very hard all week to get the boat pretty and the educational program completly finalized for the amazing summer adventure. We can't wait to meet all the students and their families on Sunday.

Trip 4 Day 8 (August 5th) - Long Island Sound, NY to Alpine, NJ

2009-08-05T18:43:00.001-07:00

August 5th: Long Island Sound, NY to Alpine, NJ
Written by Tim and Crew:

Today was a sight seeing day. We finished off the Long Island Sound in the morning and started up the Hudson River in NYC. We passed the Chrysler building in the morning and the UN building soon after, followed later by the Empire State Building. Soon all of the skyscrapers were lined up along the horizon. Further down the river, the Statue of Liberty was really close. We got great views from lots of different angles and then passed Ellis Island.

From here, we started on our way to Alpine, NJ, which is about 2 hours from NYC. Here, there are beautiful cliffs along the coast with lots of trees. We docked there for the night and had our last dinner of breaded chicken with sweet potatoes, coleslaw, and corn on the cob. It was yummy. After that, we did our projects which we had worked on all week. They went well and we got to play frisbee and use flushing toilets. Now, on our final night, we are all going to sleep on the deck of the ship!

Trip 4 Day 7 (August 4th) - Mystic Seaport, CT to Long Island Sound, NY

2009-08-05T18:33:00.000-07:00

August 4th: Mystic Seaport, CT to Long Island Sound, NY
Brief Summary:

Today we made a lot of distance. We set off sailing at around 7:00, stopped for gas (which costed almost $400!), and then were on the water moving until 12:30 AM Although it started out REALLY foggy, we were able to both sail and motor all day and it was pretty smooth moving.

As far as the day went, we started off with a delicious breakfast of muffins and fruit, and then did normal cleaning and watch duty. For our learning time, we got to work on our final creative projects which is a skit about past and future whales. We also learned a lot about wetlands, did some water quality testing, and learned how to make monkey's fists with string and a marble. We learned some more games to pass time on watch and told each other jokes, riddles, and stories. During the day, we had the best lunch of the whole trip: baked stuff cheesy breadcrumb pasta shells! Yummmmmm.

After dinner and muster, we all went to bed while the boat was still underway and, luckily, we didn't even have to wake up for night watches! We got a nice, good night sleep in preparation for our last FULL day!

Trip 4 Day 7 (August 4th) - Mystic Seaport, CT to

2009-08-05T18:28:00.000-07:00

Trip 4 Day 6 (August 3rd) - Block Island, RI to Mystic Seaport, CT

2009-08-03T22:39:00.000-07:00

August 3rd: Block Island, RI to Mystic Seaport, CT
Written by Andy and Crew:

Today was easily one of the best days of the trip so far. We started off creeping through the fog out of our anchor position at Block Island and continued forward into a beautiful sunny day. After we arrived in Mystic Seaport, a new staff member named Nina came on board to join the crew and replace the Educator Lisa, who is leaving tonight.

We ate lunch at the dock and then broke into groups of 2 or 3 to explore the museum. A scavenger hunt took us to the Charles W. Morgan, the last wooden whaling vessel in the world. During the day, we also watched and participated in a 19th century baseball game and a skit about whaler life.

Later in the day a terrific chanteyman named Don Sineti taught us a thing or two about chanteys, and even a bit about cetaceans. The best part of the day, though, was a special surprise that we had to earn by cleaning up dinner and doing Soles and Boles duty in 20 minutes. We were told that if we completed it in that time we would get a prize. With 9 seconds left, we finished and were told to go TAKE A SHOWER! It was like getting every present we ever wanted and then some. For most of us, this was the longest we had gone without a shower, so this was a long time coming but GREATLY appreciated. It was a great way to finish the day, and it was one of our favorite moments so far.

P.S. Did I mention we took a shower?

Trip 4 Day 5 (August 2nd) - Cuttyhunk Island, MA to Block Island, RI

2009-08-03T22:27:00.000-07:00

August 2nd - Cuttyhunk Island, MA to Block Island, RI
Written by Nina and Crew:

Today we woke up at 6:30 to set the sails. We had breakfast and then Port went on watch first to manage the boat, be on lookout, navigate, and steer the boat. After 4 hours, we switched with the other watch.

Today we anchored at Block Island in Rhode Island and took a boat ferry to shore. At Block Island, there were tons of different kinds of boats that were there for a fishing tournament that was in town. When we got on land, we went to a place where we were able to dissect squid. We learned about squid anatomy by dissecting it with our hands and some of us even ate the lens of the squid (which is supposed to hold tons of vitamins and minerals)! Then we got to eat the best ice cream in the world and then go to the beach for 10 minutes to play in the sand and water.

We got back to the boat in time for dinner and it had already started raining. We had delicious chili. For our night activity we sang some old sea shanties with Bard and had a chance to create our own shanty with our watch. Now we are going to sleep a bit earlier than usual so that we can wake up early to head into Mystic tomorrow.

Trip 4 Day 4 (August 1st) - Provincetown, MA to Cuttyhunk Island, MA

2009-08-03T05:44:00.000-07:00

August 1st: Provincetown, MA to Cuttyhunk Island, MA
Written by Jesse and Crew:

Today started off bright and early at 6:30 A.M. with eggs, cheese, and tomato on English muffins. Today all we did was sail. I actually enjoyed cleaning today. We started out breaking into our watches (port and starboard). We learned about water quality and also about acids and bases. We also practiced for out skits and learned more about navigation and steering.

Lunch and dinner were great as usual. For lunch we had burgers and for dinner we had soup. The best thing about today was the fossil presentation by George; we talked about shark fossils and we watched a video on the evolution of whales. Today was really basic but it was really fun anyways!

Trip 4 Day 3 (July 31) - Stellwagon Bank, MA to Provincetown, MA

2009-08-01T18:13:00.005-07:00

July 31st: Stellwagon Bank, MA to Provincetown, MA
Written by Lisa and Crew:

Morning
In the morning we headed out for Provincetown. Breakfast was pancakes, bananas, and blueberries, which were really good. For the rest of the morning we rotated watches and finished our flags. We did see some whales surfacing for air every once in a while. Around 10ish we were able to see some whales breaching (jumping high out of the water) only about 40 ft from the boat!!! Everyone literally dropped what they were doing and went on the deck to watch. There were several breaches and they were awesome!

Afternoon
Once we reached Provincetown, we walked to a local marine life entanglement center, which works with animals such as whales that get caught in things such as netting and lobster traps. For the next one and a half hours we got to walk around Provincetown and look at all of the shops and things. At about 3:30, we all met back up at the boat to pack lunches in preparation for our whale watching adventure. The ship that we boarded for the whale watch was called the Portugese Princess. It was an official whale watching boat and had two decks. We saw 12 humpback whales! The experience was amazing! Most of the whales were just surfacing for air so we were only able to see a small portion of the back and the dorsal fin. However, one of the humpbacks breached pretty high only about 150-200 feet from the boat! Most of us stayed on the outside of the boat for a better view. Every once in a while a whale would get close enough so that we could actually feel the warmth of its breath! On the way back to the dock, all of us stood on the bow and enjoyed the wind while we got soaked with rain.

After returning we used indoor plumbing (a big deal) one last time and went back to the boat. The rest of the evening was spent finishing nightly duties and getting ready for bed. Overall the day was great! No one got sick and we had lots and lots of fun!

Trip 4 Day 2 (July 30th)

2009-08-01T17:56:00.003-07:00

July 30th: Isle of Shoals, NH - Stellwagon Bank, NH
Written by Sarah and crew:

Today was horrible but we also saw many whales. Overall, we saw 12 humpbacks, 1 finback, and 1 minke whale. It was awesome! We saw them breaching, lobtailing, fin slapping, deep diving, and logging. Unfortunately, we haven't seen them doing any spyhopping yet so hopefully we'll get to see that later on. Anyways, the weather in the morning was really rainy with lots of clouds and fog. That was the time when everyone started getting seasick. Lots of dizziness ensued and all but three of the kids ended up puking. When the weather cleared up, we started feeling better and started doing some more work. During class, we got our first creative project, which was to create our own flags for our watch (each student is divided into one of the two watches: Port or Starboard). It was really exciting for us!

At night we got another interesting thing from one of our crew members named Bard. He gave us a plastic Dubloin and instructed us to keep it with us at all times. Bard would be doing checks with us throughout the week and we have to have it with us so we won't get disqualified for the prize at the end of the journey.

Later that night, we each had to do night shifts watching the boat. We saw bioluminescent jellyfish and really pretty starts. Hopefully everyone won't be as sick tomorrow.

Trip 4 day 1 (July 29th) (a little late :-)

2009-07-31T17:20:00.000-07:00

Hello and welcome. This blog outlines the 9 day trip of 8 CTY students aboard the Lady Maryland. Each night, a different student will act as the scribe to write up a summary/blog post of the day, which will be recorded here. Unfortunately, some places where we spend the night do not have internet access, so we may not be able to update every night, but blogs of each day should be posted. Enjoy!

July 29th; Portsmouth, NH - Isle of Shoals, NH
Blog Courtesy of Sarah and crew:

Today was the first day we arrived at the boat. Before we got on the boat, the crew members introduced themselves and we played an interesting name game. Although the boat was totally new to all of us, the crew members were really nice and we had an extraordinary cook! Everyone loved the food she made. But anyways... afterwards, we worked our butts off! We learned different types of knots, boat checks, and basically how to get DOWN AND DIRTY on the boat! Right now, we're anchored a short distance from Star Island, which is part of the Isle of Shoals. We also have individual night shifts from as early as 10 to as late as 2 in the morning!

There are 18 people on the boat and we've had a blast today. By the way, our classmates are Tim, Andrew, Sarah, Lisa, Annie, Jen, Nina, and Jesse. Unfortunately, it's lights out for now. Tomorrow should be interesting though!

CTY Whales Day 7

2009-07-29T11:26:00.000-07:00

hi there! Sorry for the delay, we weren't getting wireless service for the last couple days of the trip. We're all safe and sound back in Bristol now, but below is the post from Saturday/Sunday.
-Jordan

Hola! Bonjour! And hello from aboard the Lady Maryland! In this updated blogpost, I will describe the last port-of-call, Gloucester, Massachusetts. Our ship docked and stayed overnight in the harbor of the lovely town. At night, the city and boats turned on their lights and played party music, which we enjoyed dancing to! On the morning of July 26, we awoke a half hour earlier than usual to reach a boat scheduled to take us on a whale-watching tour in Stellwagen Bank. We boarded the boat and motored off. About an hour later we slowed down in an area where about eight whales clustered! Our trip was particularly lucky because we saw whales breaching, which means they leap out of the water and flop on their backs to let other whales know where they are. We also witnessed humpback whales feeding. They blow a ring of bubbles around themselves to group the fish together in a convenient place, and subsequently scoop the prey up in their mouths, popping their heads up out of the water! After our whale tour, we stopped for a quick visit to a gift shop and then headed back to our boat. The day continued as we sailed into the sun out of the harbor for another fantastic day at sea. At the end of the day we anchored in Rockport, went for a swim, and settled in for the night. As the first watch took the nightly records, the crew imagined another exciting day on our boat to come with the rising sun.

-Written by Dara B.

CTY Whales Day 6

2009-07-26T04:40:00.000-07:00

The class on whales and estuary systems is awesome. I've been learning how to set sail, anchor, tie knots and other things. The most fun part for me is being at the helm. Yesterday was terrific because a humpback whale kept coming up to the side of our boat and going under it doing tricks. The whale kept going to the surface of the water and diving down so you could see the cool tail. It got as close as five feet to us! You could see the scars on its face and fins. It was wonderful. The whole crew is very helpful and interesting.

-Written by Jaquelinne

CTY Day 5

2009-07-25T04:30:00.001-07:00

Dear Readers of the Blog,

We have all been having soo much fun on the Lady Maryland! There are so many new things to learn about whales and sailing. I am proud to say I have steered, navigated, and watched out for a real sailboat. I learned how to raise the and set the sails, tie knots and make coils! I am not too siked about the whole "not showering" business but I guess that just makes it all the more adventurousave. We have not yet seen any whales but tomorrow we should be heading into a main whale feeding ground so hopefully we will get lucky.
One of the things I've enjoyed most on this trip is trawling! For those of you who don't know what it is, it is basically fishing along the bottom of the ocean with a net hanging off the side of the boat. It was sooo cool! I found many creatures I didn't even know existed! We also caught two baby lobsters with beautiful colors.
I had fun at the Whaling Museum and rowing the whailing boats in New Bedford.
Today, while docked in Provincetown, we went to the Whydah Pirate Museum and did a scavenger hunt. We also went to the Center for Coastal Studies and learned about rescuing whales who are entangled in fishing lines. Who knew learning could be so much fun?
Also, the food is amazing-- Kudos to our chef, Dylan. And thanks to the whole crew this is and is further going to be a great experience!

-Written by David J.

CTY Day 4

2009-07-23T18:00:00.000-07:00

This week has been such an experience, full of hard work and many new things to learn. Over the past few days, I have experienced so much that I will never look at a boat, or even life, the same way. The responsibilities require such immense teamwork, leaving almost no free time between lessons, cleaning, eating, sleeping and working the sails. But it's worth it! The sights at ports and docking are awesome, as well as just seeing the sunset every night and lights from lighthouses, blinking. Even on the rainy day when I was drenched through my rainpants, it was oddly very fun to get soaked on a boat. I'm looking forward to seeing the whales tomorrow, so until then, bye!

-Written by Bethany H.

CTY Whales Days 1 & 2!

2009-07-21T18:56:00.000-07:00

Greetings from the Lady Maryland! CTY Session 2, Trip 3 is underway and all's well on board. Tonight, we are safely anchored in New Bedford Harbor after a day of sailing. We experienced some rain today, but everyone made the best of it, worked hard, and had fun. A couple of the students have written up some posts for you, so I'll turn it over to them.
-Jordan

"Today, I began to learn phrases commonly used to distinguish different parts of the boat. Port as left, starboard as right, bow as front, and stern as back. Last night, I learned to check bearings of a using a specially-designed compass. During the boat check, I learned how to check the battery of the boat and determine if the voltage was how it should be, which is 12.2 volts or higher-- if not, let the captain know! Today, during the rain, we began to talk about whales. We found out that killer whales are actually the largest species of dolphin. That's how my day went, and I hope there's more to learn in days to come."

-Written by Eric F.

"This morning I awoke to rain pouring on my head (many of us were sleeping out on deck for the pleasant breeze and ample headroom). It wasn't just a little drip-drop but a horizontal downpour that was penetrating my sleeping bag. I ran down below where everyone else had gone to resume sleeping as it was only 2 AM.
I woke up again in the morning to see that the rain had momentarily stopped. It gave us time to get dressed and have a delicious breakfast prepared by our wonderful cook, Dylan. After we ate, the work started. There is hardly a spare moment on a sailboat like this: we raise the sails and the anchor, chart the course (which often changes due to the weather and other factors), and much more.
It began to rain a bit harder, and got foggy as well. Everyone was suited up in their rain gear and good to go. Of course, it was then that I found that I didn't have my rain pants. But the crew was prepared with a great yellow jumpsuit (which was also inflatable)! When I finally got back on deck, the rain had decided to slow. Then I learned how to navigate, tie some knots, and trawl (use a long net cast over the side of the boat to collect marine life). I had a great whaling lesson as well-- in the rain, of course! I am looking forward to tomorrow, when we'll visit the whaling museum in New Bedford for a walk on dry land. Well, I've got to go, it's time for our nightly muster meeting."

-Written by Izzie

CTY Whales Day 8

2009-07-16T04:48:00.000-07:00

7/15/09

Today, we left Mystic Seaport bright and early, having a scheduled bridge opening which the captain planned to make. While still silent on deck, we threw off our dock lines and went on our way. Breakfast consisted on unusually tasty cereal and granola, along with some cold lemonade. The morning was quiet, however, we suceeded in relying on the wind to get us to Bristol. Having fired up the engines everyday so far, the lack of rumbling was refreshing. However, soon we gathered together as we began our "field day." Unlike a normal field day, our Lady Maryland field day consisted of chores such as scrubbing the decks, cleaning our the bunks as well as discovering the dirt and grease hiding behind the deck boxes. For some however, the fumes and lemony scents proved to be too much. Many nauseus cadets were forced on deck. After 4 hours of mindless cleaning, we were given a break. However, rest wouldn't last long, because as Aaron rose from his shadowy seat, his weathered John Deere hat flew off his head, landing overboard. Without hesitation, Sinker called out, "Hats overboard!" Every person on board snapped into action. Nina and I attempted to keep our eyes on the black mesh as best we could as the rest ran to tack back to the last known location. But the hat disappeared below the surface and was never recovered. The drill was pretty cool to watch, as long as you weren't the hat. Afterwards, Aaron, as if it had never happened, returned to relaxtion along with everyone on deck. The breeezes were strong, the suin, bright and warm. Later that night we all gathered around and the class presented their skits. Both were very funny and very well photographed. We ended the evening with a reflection on what we had set our goals as and whether or not we accomplished them. As the sun disappeared behind the hills, the realization that the end was near began to set in.

Over the past eight days, I have had the pleasure and honor to spend time with 18 incredible individuals, who, cohesively made this journey so remarkably incredible. I was able to watch as nine other students thrown into a new and unfamiliar world evolved from children into pride worthy young adults. Not only do i consider myself lucky to have gotten to work with them as students, but also blessed to have become close friends with them. I want to thank each and every crew member for their saintly patience and guidance, as well as every CTYer for their eagerness to open up to me and eachother. As we leave this adventure for the next, I would like to leave everyone with this thought, "People walk in and out of our lives constantly, but those who truly make a difference will stay in our hearts and minds forever." You are those people.

Nothing but the best in moving forward,

Michael DeMattia

CTY Whales Day 7

2009-07-16T04:40:00.000-07:00

7/14/09

Today we spent the day at Mystic Seaport in Coinnecticut. After an awesome lunch of mac and cheese, we headed onto land. First we split up into 2 groups and explored the boats and stores. At 2 pm, we saw an interactive play called A Tale of a Whaler, which most of us participated in. After the play, we all joined in the scavenger hunt, which required us to answer questions about whaling, ships, sails, and tools used on board. We visited the planetarium at 4 pm where we all learned about stars and various constellations. About an hour later, we went aboard the Charles W. Morgan, the only wooden whaling ship in existence today. Soon after, the seaport closed and we had it all to ourselves, including the showers.

As you may know, we had not washed since we left the train station in Baltimore. None of us smelled (or felt) very pleasant, so it was a great treat. To end the day, we played frisbee and went to bed

written by Radhika and Vivian

CTY Whales day 6

2009-07-15T13:21:00.000-07:00

Today, we woke up at 7 as usual. Absolutely no one wanted to wake up, also as usual. However, since starboard watch had the 8-12 shift, we were kept busy all morning. Since we had sailed through the night, the sails were already up, so right away, port watch started their morning lessons as starboard watch rotated from the navigation table, to the helm, and on to bow watch. All of these positions are much more important than they sound. When you are at the nav table, you are plotting the course the Lady Maryland will sail next and checking out the estimated time of arrival at our destination. At the helm, you are the one responsible for steering the boat. On bow watch, you check for possible obstacles such as bouys that could hit the ship.

A little later, Rachel and Nina tought us about estuaries. They are really quite interesting, especially the names for the wild life that live there! Each group drew their own estuary, complete with animals that lived in different regions. It was a lot of fun.

In the early afternoon, we anchored at Fisher's Island, just a few minutes aways from Mystic Seaport. Soon enough, we were lucky enough to have a swim call. The water was freezing cold and there as a strong current, but it was definitely refreshing. After the swim call, the cadets hung around, chatting, laughing, and doing nothing much until dinner time.

Dinner was absolutely delicious...juicy hamburgers with a great dessert: large wafer cookies that could be dipped in chocolate! Actually, dessert got a little bit out of hand. Everyone went a little crazy for the chocolate since they hadn't really eaten any junk food in over a week! After dinner, we were quick to go to bed. We're all really excited for Mystic Seaport tomorrow.

written by Christine

CTY Whales Session 2 Day 5

2009-07-13T11:28:00.000-07:00

7/12/09
Day 5

Today we hauled up anchor and docked at Nantucket for about four hours. We got free ice cream courtesy of Rachel. We were able to visit the whaling museum and made sailor valentines (scrimshaw). We learned a lot about harpoons. We also visited a pharmacy to restock on sun screen and other things. Now we are heading to Mystic Seaport and we will be sailing overnight. It is going to be soooo much fun.

Written by Dugie and Aaron.

CTY trip 2 day 4

2009-07-13T06:23:00.000-07:00

7/11/09

Today we left Martha's Vineyard and sailed nearly all day using the true version of sailing, without the motor at all. We were flying by sailing standards, and the sun was shining, the breeze was kindly, and the seas were perfect. Neither rough nor perfect, which would render any travel useless.

This morning however, we all went swimming and had a lot of fun. At nine, we were all surprised by a swim call by Sinker and gleefully slapped on our bathing suits and jumped in. The water was cold but not intolerable. We were allowed to wash, which we were all extremely grateful to do as most of us had not had any form of bodily washing in a long time.

We headed for Nantucket, and are currently anchored very close to shore. We can almost see the houses clearly and we are protected by what the shore can offer us. We were all prepped after dinner about a possible thunderstorm tonight and are a little anxious about what will happen, but we trust the guidance of the crew and captain, and all we can do now is keep the lines in check and watch the waters.

Today we all began to see a pattern forming in the daily routine. A schedule would determine the duties, and port and starboard watches would switch between learning nautical and navigational skills and having on deck classes on marine biology. We would eat meals either in watches or all hands and then after meals different watches would would rotate on the dishes while the other watch would do the souls and bowls, meaning the floors of the galley and aft cabin and the heads in the main salon and aft cabin. At the end of the day, we mustered and talked about things we liked and would would disperse there after.

Written by Lia

CTY Whales Session 2 Day 3

2009-07-11T07:26:00.000-07:00

7/10/09

Day 3
Today we had an adventure. To greet us this morning was the sun! After heating up like cold-blooded lizards in the sun, we set off for the Provincetown Center for Costal Studies. After going backwards, forewards, through the cementary, down the street, calling for directions, walking back around in a circle, and then finding the PCCS. Once we finally got there, we met a woman who told us about the disentanglement of marine animals. She told us how different whales got caught in gear and the type of gear that usually catches animals. After we got the low down, we received some some awesome stickers with the hotline number on it. After we went back (the right way) we set off sailing to the Cape Cod Canal, learning along the way about navagation and going over marine mammals using jeopordy! This ride was pretty normal, no barf flying accross the deck, an no desperate attempt to get our sea legs. Currently we are anchored in the Vinyard Sound getting ready for night watch and sleep! Hopefully Bowie will remember to type up the blog, if he forgets don't panic, we didn't die. If he does, we will get back to you tomorrow, Bye!

CTY Whales Session 2 Day 2

2009-07-09T14:36:00.000-07:00

Today we woke up at 7:00 am (three hours too early). We all had breakfast together. We had cornbread and apple sauce. Then we raised the anchor and the sails. After that, we went on our way to Provincetown (P-TOWN)! But before we went into open water, we had a deck wash, and today, I was fortunate enough to not clean the captain's head.

Unfortunately, being our first full day on the boat in open water, the majority of us got seasick. But it all paid off when we made it to Stellwagen Bank. On our way there, we were lucky enough to spot a breaching humpback whale. When we finally arrived in Stellwagen Bank, we were extremely lucky when two humpback whales came within five feet of the boat. We hung out there for two hours. The whales showed some interesting behaviors. They swam underneath the boat, fluked, dove, and spy hoppep (which is when they bring their eyes out of the water to observe their surroundings). We plugged in the hydrophone to listen to the song that humpbacks are known for. We were unable to hear anything, but the overall experience was quite incredible. Then finally, we made it to our final destination in P-TOWN!

CTY Whales Session 2 Day 1

2009-07-09T14:16:00.000-07:00

7/8/09
We woke up at 6:30 a.m. We ate a quick breakfast and then met our boat crew. Then we boarded the Lady Maryland, our new home for the next 9 days. We were assigned our bunks almost as soon as we stepped on the boat, and, after putting our bags on board, we headed over to a nearby dock. We went to Captain Bill's Whale Tours. They took us to Stellwagen Bank where we saw a lot of humpback whales. Some of their names were Fulerum, who had an injured dorsal fin, Pinpoint, and Cajun. We also saw a basking shark. On the way back, almost everyone fell asleep. We ate cuttlefish noodles when we got back to the Lady Maryland. We sailed to another dock to get fuel and then sailed a little before anchoring for the night. That night we had a one hour night watch with one other CTY kid and a crew member. During this time, we had to make sure the boat did not move around too much and check to make sure everything was working.

Written by Laura

Whales CTY Summer Session 1 Day 8

2009-07-07T06:30:00.000-07:00

On Monday, after being hove to in Stellwagon Bank all night, we woke up to whales eating their breakfast beside the Lady Maryland. We had delicious baked French toast for our breakfast and after watching more whales, we departed for Gloucester. We were pretty sad that it was our last sailing day. While we were underway, we ate a delicious lunch of the fish that Sinker had caught. He also caught a dogfish shark, but we let that go. Coming into Gloucester, we saw a castle built by the person who invented the remote control. We got into Gloucester at around 1530 and after docking, we went to the Gloucester Maritime Heritage Center.

At the Heritage Center, we looked at some awesome touch tanks which showcased native and invasive species of marine life. We all got to pet skates, which were surprisingly playful. We also saw a hermit crab get eaten! In addition to the hermit crabs, we saw really cool blue lobsters and learned that lobsters are carnivorous cannibals. There were also really strange looking fish and enormous moon snails!

After playing in the touch tanks, we did a squid dissection. Everyone got their own squid and we learned a lot about squid anatomy. The squid smelled really bad, but it was still awesome! At the end of the dissection, we used the squid's pen and ink sac to write our names.

We went back to the boat for dinner and then we did our project presentations. Everyone had been working on projects throughout the trip, and since it was our last night on the boat, we presented them to the crew and the other cadets. Starboard Watch showed us the whale of the future and Port Watch showed us the whale of the past. All the presentations were awseome! :) Then we had our final muster, where we exchanged funny quotes from the trip and sang some songs. That night, the cadets got to be on watch by themselves without any crew members (and they did a great job!). We're sad to be leaving the Lady Maryland, but its been an amazing trip.

Whales CTY Summer Session 1 Day 7

2009-07-06T15:38:00.000-07:00

This morning we went into Provincetown. It was a very colorful town with an expressive, free vibe. We visited the Pilgrim Monument, which consisted of 116 stairs. We reached the top in less than 6 minutes! From the top, we had a very beautiful panoramic view of Cape Cod. After visiting the the gift shop, we headed back to the boat to continue our journey. At about 4:20 pm, we saw our first humpback whale. As we sailed closer, we saw there were more of them. We even saw a mom and her calf. We were very surprised and excited as we ran across the boat taking pictures and descriptive videos. After about 2 hours of whale watching, we finally calmed down at the sight of the whales and got to peacefully eat dinner. Rachael had a hydrophone, a device that allowed us to hear the whales, which was very cool. At the same time, Sinker(our captain) caught a 3'2" striped bass. It was awesome! We are now writing messages in a bottle to be found by strangers...who knows when! A day that started with visiting a colorful town and doing boat chores ended up being one of the greatest days aboard the Lady Maryland!

Whales CTY Summer Session 1 Day 6 (July 4th!)

2009-07-06T15:33:00.000-07:00

We began the 4th of July by visiting the Cape Cod Canal. There we saw a Russian sailing ship that is the biggest tall ship in the world. Going through the canal was beautiful. It was so serene passing by the fishermen off the shore and seeing obvious signs of civilization after so much time at sea. Upon entering the Provincetown Harbor, we unexpectedly ran into a familiar ship, named the Harvey Gamage. The ship carried a group of teens who share the same interests as we do and are travelling upon a similar journey that we will, although their ship was bigger than the Lady Maryland. We were invited to board their ship and we sang songs, toured the vessel, and watched an incredible fireworks show while aboard the Harvey Gamage. It was an amazing time, and there are still more to come!

Whales CTY Summer Session 1 Day 5

2009-07-03T15:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we sailed all day and all night from Oyster Bay through the Long Island Sound on our way to New Bedford, Massachusetts. We left from Oyster Bay and refueled early in the morning. During the day, Port and Starboard watches shifted between learning about sailing while on watch and learning about whales when we weren't. While learning about whales, we played marine mammal jeopardy. We also got some sweet pirate-themed temporary tattoos! During watch, we gained experience steering through fog and windy weather as well as learning more about navigation and directions. We also learned more about the different lines and knots used aboard the Lady Maryland. During night watch, there was very poor visibilty due to the heavy fog. Bow watch was heavily emphasized as we looked out for boat lights and listened for boat fog horns.

Today we docked in New Bedford, Massachusetts shortly after breakfast. We went into town to see the New Bedford Whaling Museum where we had an information scavenger hunt. We learned about whaling and its importance to New Bedford, as well as the lives of the sailors. After the museum, we visited the Seamen's Bethel, where we saw the pew where Herman Melville probably sat as a young sailor during the chapel services. Later this afternoon, we went rowing. We split up into two teams in replicas of whaling rowboats. Now, we are back on the boat and just finished a delicious dinner of fish chowder. Yum!

Whales CTY Summer Session 1 Day 3 (and 1 and 2)

2009-07-01T18:14:00.000-07:00

We, the cadets woke up early on Monday to board the Lady Maryland and set sail for two days and two nights without stopping. During the first day, while we were in the Chesapeake Bay, we learned the ropes (or rather, lines) of being on a boat. We were split into two watches, Port Watch and Starboard Watch, and were also given a tour of the boat. That night, after a delicious dinner of bison tongue tacos, we created our own flags for each watch to fly while on watch. At the end of the day, we were directed to our tiny bunks. Just as the boat rocked us to sleep, we were awoken two at a time to go on watch for an hour. During this hour, we were at the helm steering the boat.

On Tuesday, we had our first full watches and we learned about navigation, boat checks, how to be lookouts, and how to steer the boat. When we were not on watch, we learned about estuaries and organisms in the bay. That night, we were awoken to the sight of the New York City skyline and the Statue of Liberty.

Today, we arrived in Oyster Bay, NY, and stepped off the boat for the first time in two days. We went into town and were treated to ice cream and given a little time to shop. We went seining on the beach and caught a few fish along with a crab. We came back to the boat, played a few rounds of Mafia, and had another surprise: pizza! Now we're all settling down for night watch and looking forward to setting sail tomorrow morning.

Ahhh, Summer 2009 has begun!!!

2009-06-29T05:23:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all the wonderful students and families who visited Lady Maryland and her crew on Sunday. We're planning on you having a wonderful adventure with us. Check back for postings and maybe even pictures - we'll get things up here as often as we can. If you have questions or concerns please don't hesitate to contact Haley or Lisa who are based out of Baltimore - 410-685-9043 or cty@livingclassrooms.org. Even if they aren't in the office, voice mail and email get checked several times a day!

Whales CTY Summer Session 4 Day 8

2008-08-07T07:00:00.000-07:00

Day 8
8/6/08
This morning, we started off the day with a swim call in the fresh water of the Chesapeake Bay. We all jumped off the side of the boat while, of course, Meghan took millions of pictures. The huge current kept dragging us away from the boat, making it hard to stay in one place, but we felt the cleanest we had in 8 long days. When the pool closed, port watch raised the anchor with great difficulty as we sailed off the hook, on our way once again. When we anchored at night, we ate dinner, worked on our projects, and then presented them. Port watch did an episode of "Pimp my Whale" while starboard watch did an episode of "American Idol" whale week, featuring Whaleja Boy! After our presentations, we had muster where we read the very colorful story that we wrote, made fun of Bowie for reading Seventeen Magazine, and heard our night orders.
Tonight was the night that we would be on watch all by ourselves. After we all had changed in our pj's and were ready for bed, we played a game called Mallory Family Fun Game, which is a game that mixes Charades with Taboo to form one very fun game. When the game was over, we set up all of our sleeping bags on deck and snuggled into them. However, many of us sat up and talked while Bowie's cranky self kept telling us to be quiet. I think that we were all just too excited that our journey on the Lady Maryland was coming to an end.
Written by Jaquee and William Benjamin Phillips III

Whales CTY Summer Session 4 Day 7

2008-08-06T13:40:00.000-07:00

Day 7
8/5/08
Since yesterday was a relaxing day at the beach, today we sailed all day from Lewes, DE, through the C and D canal, finally anchoring in Maryland.
Last night we anchored in Lewes and got to sleep on deck. We woke up this morning to a delicious breakfast. We proceeded to see dolphins cross our bow and see sea turtles swim close to the port side as we set sail.
In the middle of tying the somewhat impossible bowline knot, I was relieved to be called down below for initiation. The adults on board the Lady Maryland in addition to Jimbo were dressed in costumes while they all too happily squirted us with miniature water guns and poured false-in bacon bits in our hair. We were all called up individually. We had to crawl through a life ring with a type one PFD on. Then Dylan stated something about each of us which ranged from being a rock star to always wearing your hair up. After this, we had to eat a cracker with leftovers on it, then have a mixture of mayo and blueberries wiped on our faces. I'm not sure what you would call all of that, but it was a good surprise. We cleaned the fake-in bits off the deck and did our best to wash our faces. We had a delicious dinner of spaghetti and meat sauce, which I have been craving. We then did an activity called scrimshaw. On old whaling boats, men would make these in their free time. Scrimshaw is carvings in whale bone filled with ink. Men were paid little or nothing at all, so they would use their art to buy food and gifts in town. We made our carvings on touga nuts, not whale bone. We mustered and got ready for another relaxing sleep on deck.
Written by Savannah

Whales CTY Summer Session 4 Day 6

2008-08-06T13:06:00.000-07:00

8/4/08
Day 6
We started the Jersey Shore leg of our journey with a breath-taking sail through the night. We raised sails off of Sea Bright, NJ and sailed without engines almost the entire Jersey coast. We has a perfect point of sail with winds at 25 knots and an average speed of 8.5 knots. Everyone volunteered for an underway watch for an hour during the night. We awoke just off Cape May. A short while later, dolphins were spotted all over. We had a bagel and biscut breakfast as we sailed to Cape Henlopen, DE. We sailed again without engines across the mouth of the Delaware Bay with little wind. The trawl net was set in Captain Rich's special place, but only brought up jellyfish and a few hermit crabs. The boat approached the cove breakwater and motored with only the main to our anchorage. The anchor was set, the awning put up, and the bathing suits put on. We were brought to the little beach inside the cove by Swampy, the dinghy. The water was warm. We sained a bit, only catching a few fish. The ocean beach was filled with fishing poles so we couldn't swim there. It was after this that we had a little phone time before returning the the boat. We relaxed before a rosemary marsala chicken dinner was served. Next came the dog watch and more dolphin sightings. We used a hydrophone in the water which allowed us to listen to the dolphins clicking and sqeeking. Muster was on the foredeck. Captain Rich announced we could sleep on deck and most of us are planning on it. We all have anchor watches tonight. Tomorrow holds a transit to the mouth of the C and D Canal and light winds. See you on Friday!
Written by Jimmy

Whales CTY Summer Session 4 Day 5

2008-08-05T05:27:00.001-07:00

8/3/08
Day 5
This morning, we started with the opportunity to wake up at 6:30 a.m. and go swimming. Most people did. Thornton made everyone pancakes for pancakes and then we began our watches. We made our way to New York City, and at lunch as we passed through Manhatten. We saw the Christer building and then Empire State building, and shortly after, the Statue of Liberty. We sailed to New Jersey, and while passing a beach, Jimbo's dad kayaked over and came on board briefly.
Afterwards, we went abck to class and watch, and those in class cast a net to collect plankton. We caught a small fish, a tiny crab, and a bunch of microorganisms. We had dinner, washed the souls and bowls, and went back to sailing. We turned the motor off and went by wind. We watched the sun set during our muster (a meeting we have every night), and hung out and played cards below deck. When we got ready for bed, we were timed and we changed in under six minutes so we can sleep in for an extra 15 minutes tomorrow.
Written by Cosima

Whales CTY Summer Session 4 Day 4

2008-08-03T05:24:00.000-07:00

8/2/08
Day 4
Another day on the Lady Maryland! We woke up on this foggy Saturday morning to get ready for another day of work, same as all other days. The starboard watch had breakfast before the portwatch because starboard watch had the 8 am to 12 pm watch while the port watch had the 12 pm to 4 pm. However, at 3:30, our port watch was cut off by a thunderstorm. We were forced to retreat to below deck to continue our work. Later on, we returned to the deck when the storm had passed.

Dinner was great as usual. We continued the day with evening classes which included bow watch, navigation, and working the helm. What a day, oh, what a day!. With us in the Long Island Sound, everything seems just right.
Written by Nathalie

Whales CTY Summer Session 4 Day 3

2008-08-02T12:14:00.000-07:00

Day 3
8/1/08

We woke up to the putrid smell of the head and the bilge. We have slightly gotten used to the stench over the past couple days. My ears only slightly make out the words, "swim call" followed by a round of "YES" and "FINALLY." I caught a comb jelly during our swim call.
Next, we anchored in New Bedford, MA. There, we went rowing in whaling dories. Afterwards, we came back to the boat and had another delicious lunch prepared by Thornton. Then, we went to the New Bedford Whaling Museum, where we completed a scavenger hunt. Afterwards, we toured the sailor's bethel, a nondenominational church featured in Moby Dick.
When we got back to the wonderful Lady Maryland, we set the sail (only the forsail) and trawled for the second time, catching many creatures including a Lion's Mane Jellyfish. We even were able to do a water quality test for the coalition for Buzzard's Bay.
Dinner was delicious and we cleaned the ship afterwards. Now, we sail on into the night, through the Block Island Sound and into the Long Island Sound. I close my eyes and wonder how much longer it will be until I am awaken for my night watch.
Written by Welles

Whales CTY Summer Session 4 Day 2

2008-08-01T06:39:00.000-07:00

Day 2
7/31/08

Greetings from our little piece of paradise! After the fantastic day yesterday, I thought it would be IMPOSSIBLE to have as much fun today, but I was most definitely proved wrong. After awakening from a lovely night sleeping on deck, we were treated to our first ever breakfast by Thornton (the Lady Maryland cook). Mmmmmm...Boy was that cranberry orange coffee cake YUMMY! We all helped with the dishes and did a wash down of the deck, which is more fun than it sounds! When you are sitting on a boat with waves lapping on the deck, even scraping crud out of pots is enjoyable! After all the cleaning, we headed down the dock for a professional whale watching excursion. I had pretty low expectations because the whales were so amazing from the Lady Maryland the day before and a thick fog didn't help my spirits. But we were treated pretty early on to a lone humpback showing us its fluke, nice and slow, perfect for taking photos. Soon, we met up with Salt, a well known humpback around Stellwagen Bank, who was nursing her calf. We stayed with the pair for quite a while, untile the calf became very curious. It swam RIGHT UNDER THE BOW where we were standing, spraying us all with whale snot from its blow hole. We could have touched it, it was so close. The calf then turned onto its back, and started flapping it fluke, getting us all wet! On our way back to P-Town, we came upon some humpbacks bubble feeding. Bubbling feeding is where whales blow bubbles around a school of fish, trapping them. Then, the whale swims through the school and sometimes out of the water, so you get a great view of the open mouths filled with baleen. I headed upstairs to talk to the boat's scientist about whales. It was the best decision I have ever made. When I raeched the upper level, I caught a glimpse of a humpback. As I followed it with my eyes, it suddenly leaped out of the water, breaching. It breached again two more times before disappearing. It was a stunning, once in a life time moment. The power and grace of the whale was simply magical. It is an even I will remember for the rest of my life. The whale watching ended with a group of four fin whales, the second largest whale. When we got back to P-Town, we headed to the Whydah Pirate museum, home to the world's only pirate treasure. We also took a trip to the real, flushing toilets, which are a huge step up from the head on the ship. We left P-Town and sailed through the Cape Cod Bay and towards New Bedford. We had our first real watch/class rotation which went well. Right before we went through the Cape Cod Canal, we put out a trawl net.
Among other things, we caught two skates, and fish, spider crabs, sand dollars and a star fish. We got to touch EVERYTHING! I even got to put a starfish on my face. We enjoyed a lovely dinner while motoring down the Cape Cod Canal. Late tonight, we will anchor somewhere near New Bedford, awaiting and exciting day. I have night watch tonight from 10 to 11 or 2200-2300 in sailing langauge.
Written by Meghan Shea

Whales CTY Summer Session 4 Day 1

2008-08-01T06:14:00.000-07:00

Day 1
7/30/08

Today, we finally set sail on the Lady Maryland! We were all exhausted from the train ride and car ride, but we managed somehow. We all learned how to set up the boat, including pulling up the sails, which was pretty fun. On the boat, we saw atleast 15 whales surface! We even saw some whales that were less than 100 feet away and feeding right behind the boat! The lunch was delicious on board.

When we experienced some boat chores like sweeping the floor, washing the floor, and piloting the Lady Maryland, we arrived at our destination for the night, Provincetown. We listened to an interesting speech about how some companies were working to free marine mammals (specifically whales) that were getting in fishing lines. Afterwards, we were allowed to wander around in town. We encountered one store that had an randon selection eclectic marine necessities.
Tonight, we experienced our first time sleeping on deck and also our first time waking up at night for the boat watch. Today we learned and saw many things which got us all really excited for the next day.
Written by Suzanne Zhou

Whales CTY Summer Session 3 Day 7

2008-07-28T19:17:00.000-07:00

7-27-08
This post was written by Sasha and Caroline:

Whales CTY Summer Session 3 Day 6

2008-07-27T15:52:00.000-07:00

7-26-08
This post was written by Reva:

Today we trawled (a method of fishing in which a net is dragged behind the boat) twice. We put the trawl net down first in Buzzard's Bay, then in Cape Cod Bay.
The first trawl had lots of algae the second one had lots of animals and other sea life. Between the two trawls we caught many kinds of crabs and snails, several sand-dollars, a few small fish, and even some tiny shrimp. We even caught a large flounder, but unfortunately it died. Nevertheless, we all got to examine and identify the creatures with field guides. We also got a very informative lesson about the sea life.

Oh yeah, we had a really funny initiation as well because we crossed through the Cape Cod Canal. First the crew came out in Canal Sheriff costumes with water guns and made us put on huge orange life vests. Then we each had to accept funny charges for doing random stuff, and ate creamed lentils and mac n' cheese from the first night (as "punishment" for our "crimes"). It was really funny. Later we learned how to tie knots and went swimming.

Another thing today was that we played "stealth." For this game there was a clothespin that we all tried to stick to someone's clothes without them noticing, and whoever had the clothespin at the end of the day had to do something funny.