It's Day Four and everyone seems to be having a great time. The students are already handling tasks such as raising and lowering sails, helping dock the boat, and some have even had the opportunity to steer!
It has been extremely hot and Captain Joe and his crew have been working very hard to keep us all safe and cool. While sailing, the kids enjoy having water buckets dumped on them and yesterday we jumped off the boat and swam in Chesapeake Bay, off the mouth of Patuxent River. Everyone got in, including me!
We also trawled yesterday. The students all worked together to drop a very large net in the water. We pulled up a bunch of comb jellies and one sea nettle while trawling. The students then put food coloring in a dish to see the parts of the comb jellies. They also tested the water for salinity and pH and examined plankton.
As we passed Sharps Island, which is now just a light house on a shoal, the students examined effects of sea levels rising. This evaluation continued as we passed the Calvert Cliffs, which are well-known for fossils, and visited the Calvert Marine Museum. The Calvert Marine Museum was awesome. In addition to a lot of history, exhibits, and fossils found in Maryland, they had horseshoes crabs and skates that we could touch and river otters to view. The students really seem to be learning a lot.
On Thursday, we visited the Chesapeake Maritime Museum. The students seemed to enjoy seeing the different kinds of boats and the way the Chesapeake Bay and its inhabitants have contributed to the culture of the area. They were even able to experiment with some of the tools used for oyster dredging and crab catching.
I am also very proud of our group. The students have been behaving marvelously. They did very well on our scavenger hunts in the Chesapeake Maritime Museum and the Calvert Marine Museum. Stay tuned for entries from the students coming soon!
Amber
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