Programs Blog

Ship’s Log

Position
Anchored outside Plymouth MA

Weather
Sunny and Warm

Souls on Board

Today was a very interesting day where we sailed through the night. We then had a deck wash where we cleaned the deck for most of the morning. We had a lot of free time today since we anchored early. During our free time I chilled on the bowsprit and just relaxed. We then had a swim call after lunch. I jumped off the tip of the boat, which is about 20 feet high, a multitude of times. Swim break was followed by afternoon snacks which was cupcake to celebrate my 17th birthday. Today was very relaxing and a lot of fun. The whole trip has been relaxing and fun.

The work is always fun, from working deck and hauling lines to driving the boat. It has been very nice to be away from my phone and live life in the moment. My favorite thing to do is to sit on the lab top and watch the sunset and watch the stars start to appear.  This trip has been amazing and one of the best experiences in my life. I love doing the experiments and deck work, but spending time with all of my crewmates is easily the best part of the trip. Everyone is close to each other and we spend a lot of time working together in either labs or setting sails.

I wanted to do this camp to see if I would like this type of stuff as a job and career and this trip has answered my question. This has been amazing and I can’t wait to do more things similar in my future.

– Mikey

P.S Hi mom, dad, and burke miss you guys, Mikey

Over the past four days while we have been underway, we deployed four different instruments into the water at different depths in three different locations. We deployed a Neuston net which catches zooplankton at the surface of the water, a phytoplankton net which captures phytoplankton throughout the water column, a meter net which catches critters at a deep depth, and the carousel which measures temperature, salinity, pressure, and chlorophyll A. The three locations that we deployed these instruments are a part of our final research project we are doing on the boat.

We are studying where the ideal location for a Marine Protected Area (MPA) should be in the Gulf of Maine. During our last day on shore we did a project where we each had characters and had to decide on a location for an MPA. My group was a team of researchers from the Woodshole Oceanographic Research Institute and we proposed a protected area on Cashes Ledge. Our research about Cashes Ledge concluded that the area was highly productive and a key habitat for many endangered species. Then a couple days ago we sailed to Cashes Ledge and collected our data to see if our proposed area was actually a good fit. The other two spots where we collected data were also proposed areas on shore.

I am in C watch and we were assigned to analyze Cashes Ledge. Once our data was collected we spent dawn watch looking through graphs and writing a statement on Cashes Ledge. We found many interesting points of data but we still need to compare our site to the others. Today we spent around two hours reading the other groups statements and creating one research paper. The final paper is being edited by our Chief Scientist tonight, and tomorrow we are reading through it and finally determining where there should be a MPA in the Gulf of Maine. All the way from the beginning of classes on shore to proposing possible site for a MPA to actually doing thorough research, I think I can speak for everyone when I say we have learned more in these last two weeks than we ever have at our schools back home. This experience has been so fascinating and eye opening; I am sad it is coming to an end. It has been so fun working with my favorite scientists Amy and Jordan and helping my mate Sara on deck. I am going to miss all of these amazing people when I go back home but I am so happy to be leaving with some once in a lifetime memories.

– Sierra

PS: Love you mom and Dad <3 See you soon.