Day 2: Solomons Island

     Bugs are rampant here, but so is fun and learning! Today we sailed on the LCF's skipjack Sigsbee—which was historically used for oyster dredging—out from Solomons Island and into the Chesapeake Bay from the Patuxent River. Despite the sweltering heat and relentless bugs, sailing was definitely the highlight of the day! Learning to navigate, tie knots, read charts, dissecting oysters, and spotting cow-nosed rays were only some of the fun activities that took place aboard the boat. Yesterday we caught jellyfish off the dock, explored a maritime museum and went swimming and fossil-walking at the beach at Calvert Cliffs. The cliffs are archives set in stone that show us what the ocean and life was like a long time ago.

     For some of us, this was our first time camping, so when we got to the beautiful campsite, everything was a shock. No flushing toilets, no hot water, and how do you even open the tent bag? These were all things that ran through the heads of the campers. However, with instructions from the crew and trial and error, we got our tents up and our teeth brushed. But oh, the bugs! They were in every crack, crevice, and cranny. They were in the bathrooms, in the grass, and even in our tents! But despite the bug bites and hot weather, this trip has been full of adventure and new things, and we're excited for the rest of our time sailing on the Sigsbee and exploring the Chesapeake Bay!

Day 6 (July 2nd)

-left Horn Point this morning after a really big storm last night

-we had a seven hour trip on the boat today to sail to the next destination

-played the thumb game(when the director says the magic word you must avoid getting you thumb grabbed while simultaneously trying to grab your other neighbors thumb)

-played the teeth game (don't show your teeth while pronouncing a bunch of animal names and Incorporate a bunch of other rules simultaneously )
- don't worry parents, we did a bunch of learning and sailing amid all the fun playing :)

-playing Rock Paper Scissors to see who will go first in the lunch line 

-arrived at Solomons Island and got in the van to go out to camp site at Calvert cliffs state park.

-after setting up camp in a very secluded area of the park we, as a group, made spaghetti for dinner 

-dinner was great! After we cleaned up we played a bunch of games until it was time for bed around 10pm

-late in the night it unexpectedly rained on our camp and we woke up to a muddy mess outside our tents the next morning, what a great start to our next day's adventure!

Day 5 (July 1) Horn Point Lab

Today was a wonderful day. It started off with an awesome hot breakfast (French toast, sausage , and fruit) and going to the Horn point Lab where we learned about the process of oyster restoration. This activity was very hands on and we even got the chance to prepare our own batch of oysters to be raised over the next couple months. We turned this into a competition by racing to see who could bag up their oysters the fastest . In the same facility we saw a special kind of fish called a sturgeon. We were all amazed by this unique creature and even got to hold the giant fish. One of the best parts of our day was being able to clean a few items of clothing and finally take a much needed shower. We look forward to getting on the boat again tomorrow and sailing for 7 hours to a new adventure  destination.

Day 4 ( June 30 )Evening muster watching the sun set, Swimming off the boat

Day 2 (June 28th) Rock Hall Trot lining, swimming at Sandy point, run off pollution lesson, learning navigation, raising the main , stormy nite