Fall 2002 SEAmester East Journal
Sent weekly from sea by students on-board SEAmester ...
SEAmester Log, Part 1
10/6/02 - 10/13/02 by Danielle Thibault
Alas! SEAmester begins! Sunday morning was a beautiful day to start our
trip. We woke up at 6:45 and had our first experience with deck wash and
cleaning soles and bowls (floors and toilets). When we were done with TLC
on our vessel “The Spirit of Massachusetts”, we ate a delicious breakfast
prepared by Patrick. After a quick lesson in roving fenders and handling
dock lines, we motored out of Fairhaven, MA around 12:00. Once we were in
open waters we set sail and arrived in Provincetown around 22:30. The next
day we did our daily duties (cleaning the ship, standing watch) and started
classes. Our fieldtrip through P-town was great. Throughout our 8 mile
bike ride we visited Beach Forest, Race Point Beach, an saltmarsh, and the
Center for Coastal Studies. Jim Europe and Adam Macavoy went swimming at
the beach, in probably 50º water….CRAZYNESS!!!
Dawn watch (4:00 - 8:00) is definitely the best of all the watches. Not
only do you get to watch a beautiful sunrise, but you also enjoy the luxury
of a dishes-free day. The watches switch so that every three days each
watch gets a dawn watch. The group spent the last day in Provincetown
exploring and learning some history. We climbed to the top of Pilgrim
Monument, a total of 175 stairs (not a bad workout). We left P-town 10/9
and began sailing toward Mystic.
During this portion of the trip, we really got to learn a lot about sailing.
There was time to begin learning all of the lines and knots. More exciting
though, we each got to take the helm steering the ship, we set and struck
sails, and we experienced bow watch. On 10/10 the ship’s horn sounded for a
man-overboard drill. All hands rushed to the deck to man their positions.
Attendance was taken; unfortunately, one person was missing. At first we
thought it was a drill, but now we weren’t so sure…the seas were a little
rough that day. After performing our duties, the Capt. informed us that it
was a drill, and the missing person was found sleeping in his bunk… oops.
The group survived the surprise and scare of our first man-overboard drill.
The excitement wasn’t over for everyone though, a few people had the
pleasure of chumming over the side of the ship. This was the quick way to
learn the leeward side from the windward side! I was one of them, but I
caught a beautiful rainbow on the horizon when I was done losing my lunch.
The next afternoon Spirit docked in Mystic, CT alongside the Charles W.
Morgan - a whaling ship built in 1841 and retired in 1921. It was a rainy,
chilly day. However, we were all dressed in our foulies and managed to stay
dry, so morale stayed up. Mystic offered us our first hot, freshwater
shower…something not to be taken for granted. We had the opportunity to
check out the town later in the evening, which is when some of us also
checked out land sickness. It is a weird sensation when the sidewalk seems
to be rolling and your head is a little dizzy, but you know that you’re
really walking straight on flat ground. On 10/12 some students went to
explore the history of the Mystic Seaport, while others visited a rocky
intertidal zone. We had lots of free time in port to go shopping, call
people, enjoy the chowderfest going on, and do whatever.
Sunday we got to sleep in!! Our wake up wasn’t until 7:30, after which we
ate breakfast and began our first field day. We did some serious cleaning
of our ship, and when we were done she was beautiful. The rain slowed to a
drizzle; finally we didn’t have to wear our foulies all day! The zooplankton
class did a plankton tow and found a net full of ctenophores…but it was
still fun. Capt. told us that we would be staying in Mystic until later in
the week to avoid the storm brewing around Baltimore, MD. We would all
prefer to be sailing, but I guess our safety is more important. We are
making the best of the situation, and taking advantage of the
washers/dryers, showers and flush toilets.
OUR FIRST SEA SHANTY:
Strike the bell second mate,
let us go below,
looking out to windward you can see its going to blow,
looking at the glass you can see that it is fell
so we wish that you would hurry up and STRIKE THE BELL!
Everyone says HI MOM and DAD!!!!…..and pets
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