Day four consisted of sailing from Province Town towards New Bedford. We sailed through the Cap Cod Canal. On the way students took turns standing bow watch, navigating, doing boat checks and steering the boat. The others spent time on deck enjoying the sunshine and learning more about water quality. After lunch we were able to do our first trawl. The students gave the net some of their luck and then went fishing. We caught a number of crabs, a bay scallop and a some other smaller marine life. While the net was out, other students performed water quality tests. They logged the findings and will be comparing the different estuaries was sail through. We anchored out in Buzzard's Bay. After dinner the students built off their earlier water testing and quality lessons to discuss ocean pH and the effect of climate change on the acidity of ocean water.
Though it rained over night, today has been a nice day as well. The students finished their sail across Buzzard's Bay to New Bedford. On the way they continued to man the boat and learn about estuaries but they were also able to do water quality testing and trawl for more sea life. Today's trawl had less animals but they were more interesting. We caught a mantis shrimp and a sea star. We docked in New Bedford, had a quick smoothie snack and then began to explore the town. Our brief tour introduced the students to how important New Bedford was to the whaling industry.
After dinner the students dissected squid. A few of the squid had already squirted their ink right before they died so the process was quite sticky. After identifying all the parts of the squids the students practiced their calligraphy skills by removing the quill and using squid ink to write. The last bit of the day was logging their water quality findings before bed.
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