Programs Blog

July 7, 2025

Author: August W.

Hello! Today was the last Monday of SEASCape, as we get started on the final week. Kayla, our oceanography professor was able to arrange a scientific vessel to take us out into the harbor and around to just beyond Nobska Lighthouse to take samples, use an underwater video sled, do a plankton tow, and use a dredge to capture sea life. This vessel was the Zephyr, captained by Jim, and our tour guide was Rob. We first stopped maybe 400ft offshore and put the video sled down, in an eelgrass bed, which was covered with plant life. It was especially cool, because the camera was in and among the blades of grass, somewhat like you’re swimming through the bed. After the sled was pulled back in, the boat turned back towards harbor and sailed for a couple of minutes more before we dropped the dredging net and plankton tow.

I was surprised at the number of creatures that were pulled up: a horseshoe crab, a hermit crab, a sea squirt, three scallops, two spider crabs, an oyster, a mermaid’s purse, a conch, and a multitude of sea urchins. The sea squirt was a species known as a sea pork, a name presumably given to it due to its color and unappealing texture. It was an incredibly interesting animal. Our allotted time on the boat was running out, so we turned back to shore and docked.

With the voyage complete, and the sea life thrown back overboard, we trekked back to campus for the final two hours of the morning class time. During this period we watched the 2017 documentary Chasing Coral, which was, while not a cheerful watch, an absolutely incredible example of the severity of the ongoing climate crisis, as well as the perseverance of the filmmakers in their attempts to capture the footage to make the documentary. It was directed by Jeff Orlowski, and I would recommend it unconditionally. Lunch was next on the schedule. I had an English muffin with avocado. It was spectacular.

The afternoon lecture was with Craig and was a look at the colonial history of New England, Massachusetts, and Cape Cod, from the transatlantic slave trade, to the biographies of some specific black mariners abolitionists in pre-emancipation New England, such as David Walker and Crispus Atticus. It was a really interesting investigation of a place so often stereotyped and standardized, with such little of its history actually represented. Classes completed, I went  back down to the cabin to relax for a while and write this blog entry before dinner preparations began. We had potato bowls with a kale salad. Also delicious. Sofia has been preparing questions for a trivia night all day, and that should begin pretty soon, which I assume will be exciting and entertaining. That is about all that happened today, so thanks for reading! Goodbye!