Lady Maryland: Lady Maryland: Trip #4 (Day Eight)

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!