Lady Maryland: Day Three

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!