A Wonderful Day at Shoals Marine Lab

Author: A Watch – Andy, Avery, Cherry, Jai, Logan, Sasha, and Solange

Today, almost all of the crew of the Cramer left our anchored position off
of Appledore Island to explore the campus of Shoals Marine Lab, whose
coordinators work closely with SEA. The entire island is a gull colony,
meaning that seagulls were surrounding our exploration of the trails and
facilities. One part of the field trip was learning about Shoals' undergrad
research projects, which are supported by both Cornell University and the
University of New Hampshire.

To finish out our day, we visited a more protected tidal pool on the coast
of the island, which we waded into in search of marine wildlife. While we
were at the pool, Theo and Andy skipped rocks across the water. Jai went
exploring on larger rocks further out with two friends. Solange practiced
for the marching band, and Cherry was analyzing the effect of erosion and
displacement using large rocks. Crabs trembled in fear as Sasha and Avery
flipped rocks over in search of these scared little beasts. Logan explored
the rocks farther ashore, as well as some seaweed and grasses.
If you are following our journey, you will know that we made a new friend
yesterday (Pip the Land Bird). After building heartfelt connections with
this adorable little bird, we sadly said goodbye as he found a new home on
the Isles of Shoals. We will never forget the times we spent together, the
butter and water we fed him, and the slapping that occurred on the science
deck.

The rest of the day was spent working on our oceanography projects, as we
dug through data collected on our trip so far. A Watch is focusing on the
plankton found within the Neuston net, and the impacts of different levels
of salinity, depth, and temperatures.

Tonight, we're anchored off of Appledore Island, and plan to set course
tomorrow. We've had a great day of exploring and can't wait for even more
tomorrow.

As said so profoundly by Pip before he left, "Tweet tweet, peck, tweet".

A Watch - Andy, Avery, Cherry, Jai, Logan, Sasha, and Solange