Congrats to all of our Spring 2014 crew on an epic voyage! We all look forward to hearing about your future adventures, and hope to sail with you again soon.
Be sure to check out Laura's article on the voyage in her local newspaper.
UPDATE: Check out an article about Mandy and the OCF spring trip in her local paper!
Gloucester has been a wonderful stop for our crew. We not only stocked up on fuel and provisions, but visited whale researchers at Ocean Alliance who are designing drones to fly into the blows of whales to collect valuable data to study whale stress. They call it a SnotBot. They're also working with the pop artist Pharrell Williams on a new line of jeans made out of recycled and reclaimed ocean plastics.
Finally, after two and a half months of intensive fishing (if you can call dragging a handline intensive…) we caught our first edible fish today. As we started to near the cooler waters north of Cape Hatteras we had begun to give up hope of enjoying the pleasure of fresh fish straight from the sea. Each morning we dutifully streamed our line off the taffrail, with the confidence that today would be the day and we would soon be eating the fresh fish sandwiches for which our cook Lizzie is famous for throughout the fleet. But every night at twilight we would reluctantly coil up the fishing line with resignation and, as the days wore on, despair.
Sure we've had some close calls; we've seen Dorados (Mahi Mahi as their known) leaping in the air around our lures, we've seen them lying in wait under fish floats, and we've even caught a few barracuda (which we threw back over concerns of ciguatera). Our wait for a delicious seafood meal would have to wait.
But today was different. The entire ship was woken up to the call of "Fish On!" yelled by our Chief Mate, Mr. Leathers. In no time he had a beautiful Bonito (a smaller cousin in the tuna family) over the rail amidst a very happy ship's company. Not wanting to waste any part of this opportunity, we reviewed some salient aspects of the fish's physiology, and looked in its stomach to see what we could learn about its diet. Shockingly we found about two dozen small larval crustaceans, larval fishes, and even a very small seahorse! Nothing was nearly as big as the lure that the fish had tried to eat.
A fantastic Easter holiday to all of our family and friends! We're excited to get under way tomorrow and continue our voyage north. All are well!
While enjoying a walk along the sandy beach, I saw two trucks parked near the crashing waves. As I got closer to investigate I could see the body of a bottlenose dolphin. Two women, marine biologists, were taking different tests such as temperature, and were photographing the beached mammal. After looking more closely at the dolphin, I could see lesions scattered on its body. The women told us that the lesions and the fact that the dolphin died on the beach were definite signs of Morbillivirus, though she couldn't tell us conclusively at the time without more extensive testing. This virus has killed over 1,100 dolphins up and down the east coast over the last year. This is the second epidemic, one in the '80's killing only 800 bottlenose dolphins.
Another day waiting out weather ashore doesn't mean we can't learn about the seaport of Charleston and the ships that call here. This morning we visited the commercial port of Charleston, and saw how the containers that carry the goods we consume are shipped around the globe. We saw how different kinds of cargo, like cars or grain, require different kinds of ships and seaport facilities, and how technology has impacted maritime labor and seaport culture.
As you can see on the iBoat track, we're still in Charleston. The cold front that brought many of you April snow showers is creating strong northeasterly winds off of Cape Hatteras, known as the "Graveyard of the Atlantic," so the Captain has exercised due caution. While the old saying predicts that ships and sailors rot in port, there's definitely worse places to get stuck! We're exploring the sublime spring gardens at the Magnolia Plantation today...
Our short passage from Cumberland Island, Georgia saw us at first motoring in light breezes, then flying toward the Palmetto State at up to 10 knots in rain and fair wind.
There is
something about these long passages that brings out the artist in the sailor.
Between Santo Domingo and Fernandina Beach students and crew have created an
abundance of poetry, journal writing, and art. It has become commonplace to
crowd around the cabin top in the evening and paint the sky, noting changes in
color, cloud formation, and ocean hue.
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