An early morning on the ocean. Having made it to Deleware Bay before anchoring after midnight, we awoke at 7:00am to find the crew had already raised anchor and that we were well on our way. After breakfast we scrubbed and washed (swabbed) the deck. Soon we left the Deleware Bay, rounded Cape May of New Jersey around noon and finally came to open ocean. By the end of lunch the sea was getting choppy and threatening to retrieve the meal we had just put in our stomachs. It soon became clear that we still need some time to get our sea legs. Throughout the day we took turns in groups manning the boat by steering, navigating, and checking the boat regularly for problems or learning about estuaries, which involved an experiment with mixtures of different colored salt and fresh water.
During dinner, at about 6:00 we passed Atlantic City and throughout the day we were lucky enough to see several groups of dolphins off the bow and later swimming in our wake. Now that we are on the high seas we have begun to experience what life on a boat is really like. At 9:00 we headed below deck to play a couple of card games before lights out. Laying in a cramped rocking bunk and waiting for sleep to come is'nt easy when you know that at some point in the middle of the night you will be rudely ripped from slumber to go on deck for an hour long watch. But its a job that must be done when we're sailing through the entire night, and its a little easier knowing that we will be greeted with the sight of New York in the morning.
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