CTY Whales Trip 2 | Session 2 | Day 5

Phrases of the day

Mom, stop worrying. I made a monkey fist! -Maaz

Stairway to Heaven -Grace

KNOTS! KNOTS! KNOTS! -Rohan

Mom, I'm coming home with a monkey's fist! -Riley

My hat is sleeping with the fishes. -Arthur

It's classified. -Adrian

It's not scientific! -Alan

FOOD. -Jay

STAR-BOARD!!! -Isabel

JIRAC. -Carolina

Today we were out at sea on our way to Woods Hole. Port and Starboard watches took over and we set the sails and caught a breeze. We even pumped out the bilges on our way! In class we learned about sea squirts (tunicates) we found on the docks and saw both of their siphons. We talked about estuaries and watched how fresh and saltwater mix. Tonight, we are learning from Helen how to tie different knots and doing anchor watches as we wait offshore for another day.

Sarah teaching (clockwise) Alan, Isabel, Carolina, Rohan, and Jay on board.

Riley and Maaz pumping out the bilge.

Adrian keeping the Lady Maryland on course.

A busy day tying off sails at sea.

Riley, Jay, and Rohan helping Tony and Helen set out the chain to anchor for the night.

Knot making with Helen!

CTY Whales Trip 2 | Session 2 | Days 3-4

We made it to New Bedford! It took a while and a bit of rain, but we had a blast. Last night, we had Anchor watches to make sure we didn't drift off. Yesterday night and this morning we trawled the Massachusetts waters for creatures! We conquered our fears of the spider crabs and loved chilling with the sea stars. We also went to the Whaling Museum and learned about the history of the industry and revel in the size of a blue whale (the largest whales out in the deep blue)!

Carmen and Lydia showing Adrian, Arthur, and Riley how to navigate.

Grace steering the Lady Maryland.

Everyone in the mouth of a toothed whale at the museum.

Port watch (and Tony in the back) showing off our sea star friends!

Class down below to avoid the rain!

The skate we caught in our trawl net.

CTY Whales Trip 2 | Session 2 | Day 1-2

Our first two days on Lady Maryland have been busy and filled with wonder and excitement. We learned how to raise and lower sails, check the status of the schooner, steer, be a lookout, and how to clean the toilets. If the captain teaches us too much more, he might not need to do any work!

Today, we had "shore time" in Provincetown and took a break on the beach playing frisbee. Our new friends, the hermit crabs, were everywhere! There were also green crabs in the water. We learned that green crabs are invasive, they don't naturally live in these waters. They compete with other crabs for food and make it harder for the native crabs to survive. Green crabs have such a negative impact that it is legal to kill them. However, we decided to spare them since they loved Isabel's feet so much.

Whale watching was our favorite thing so far. Today was a special treat. We went to where many whales were feeding. The educator on our tour said there were between 43-53 individual whales that he could identify by their flukes! There were Humpback, Minke, and Fin whales, oh my! Our trip was not only unique because of the large number of whales we saw, but because we also got to see them blow bubble nets. This is when the whales blow a large ring of bubbles underwater to trap and confuse their prey!

We can't wait for another day on the water and wish Grace's mom a very happy birthday!

Emily holds up a large green crab for Jay, Riley, Grace, Maaz, and Arthur.

Maaz and Jay reenact a scene from Titanic while looking for whales.

Some of the humpback whales we saw feeding today!

CTY Whales Trip 1| session 2 | Day 8-9 : The unforgettable trip

Last two days of this trip... what a awesome voyage has been. We have learned a lot and it has been a grateful experience. The teamwork that was build in to each of us showed each other the key to success. We learned a lot. We got to see whales again , we got to fish and we got to share and learned not only about the sea but of each other and the life of a sailor of the Lady Maryland. Finally we got to Salem... This will be the unforgettable trip of each other.This ten words describe the feeling of each one of us on this trip.

Unforgettable 

Unique 

Discipline 

Cool 

Incredible 

Amazing 

Impressive 

Unbelievable 

Daring 

Mighty 

Preparing to haul the fishing net 

The fishing net 

Raising the jib sail 

Preparing boat checks

Learning about the species that we caught 

Look out for boats and other harmful things.

Sand dollars 

Starfish 

We caught a flounder 

We got the opportunity to whale watch in the lady Maryland 

Final day swimming right beside the boat 

Thanks to the whole crew you made this experience valuable and grateful 

CTY Whales Trip 1 | session 2 | Day 7: Sails to great seas

And off we go to Salem ! It's so amazing the feel of sailing. To know that you're not causing any type of polution in the sea , no type of gas emissions and the fun of using the sails to guide your way through the sea. Feels awesome! Our morning was jam packed of action. We woke up , had breakfast, washed  the dishes and started our sailor routine. We raise the heavy anchor , pulled as a team the heavy sails up and started to learn navigation techniques. We even got the chance to steer the boat !! While a group was working with the sailing part , the other part was learning of and hunting plankton . The educators showed us the importance of plankton in the food chain and that those little crablike planktons were called "Porcelain Crabs". The crew helped us learn how to grab your excess rope and turn it in to a "Coil". This helps organize the rope and prevent it from tangling. Our day become night and we prepared to eat and drop off the anchor. We anchored on the end of the Cape Cod Canal. It's so sad that we are so close to our destination. Tomorrow we hope the sea,sun and wind is on our favor. 

 Porcelain Crabs 

One of the crew members teaching us how to do a Coil

Learning how to do a valentine coil .

The girls doing a excellent job coiling 

Rolling the fire hose after cleaning all the mud in the anchor 

David working as the captain, leading us to Salem . 

CTY Whales Trip 1 | Session 2 | Day 6 : Whales, whales whales!!!!

It was a rainy night but the morning was perfect. The sun was shining and the sky was clear. We woke up exited despite the rainy night. This was because our educators told us that we were going to see whales . Finally ! All that information that we learned on whales , set to practice. We had breakfast and after the amazing breakfast we started doing our favorite activity in the boat "washing the dishes".  Our Educators wanted us to get to know a little more about the whales before the whales watch trip, so they decided to give us a small introduction on science of the whales and why do we find them where we are going. The trip was long. We arrived to Playmouth Massachusets a historical port. They had a life size replica of the Mayflower,this was the boat that the pilgrims used to get to America. We embarked on a awesome adventure to the deep sea in a huge boat used to do whale watches. The trip was like a hour and it was so boring until we saw our first whale. We got so exited, our R.A. freaked out and our educators wanted to take the whale back home . They were so big and beautiful. We gasped as we saw those big gazers of water coming out of their blow holes. We never thought that they were such huge animals. The whales that we got to see were humpback whales. They were so intelligent and charismatic with the people on the boat. As they showed us how they dived in the water we could see  there huge tails and after this, big ponds of still and foamy water called fluke prints. It was a incredible experience and many of us can't describe how awesome it was. After this great adventure we got to the Lady Maryland and rested for the next day while the crew got ready to sail. Our trip is ending, of we go to Salem!!. 

Learning of different species of whales 

A Fluke Print of a humpback whale 

Photos from the humpback whale watch