Lady Maryland: Day Four

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

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!

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

Lady Maryland: Day Six

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!

Scientific Fieldwork