August 14, 2019

When the bosun’s whistle blew, we climbed out of our bunks and quickly but hesitantly jumped into our swim attire. We busted a move to the deck to be greeted by Leland, the executive officer, and the rest of the crew. We were told to form lines along the starboard and port sides of the boat. Shortly after, we began our morning jumping jacks and pushups. Today it was Starboard’s turn to jump into the 72 degree saltwater first. Leland chucked the Waboba ball at the water and we were off to the races. Port and Starboard each battled to win a point for the friendly competition the boat mates have. Port ran away with the victory this morning. Everyone climbed up the ladder to a delicious smelling breakfast cooked by our wonderful chef Christian “Thunderman”. While underway to Woods Hole on Cape Cod we devoured our eggs and bacon, with a vegan option. We motored to Woods Hole, and in about an hour and forty-five minutes we arrived. Splitting up in to three groups, we jumped into Ribcraft and headed ashore. We all spent time wandering through the quaint town and stopped in shops and food stores for treats galore. At 10:30, we met up again for the start of our tour of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. We walked through buildings and saw the various methods of submersibles and machines that they deal with. We learned that they are used all over the planet to track different types of marine life, fix underground pipes, find lost treasure and/or sunken ships and planes. Finishing up the tour, we promptly head back the Tabor Boy. When we arrived, we were greeted by an enticing meal cooked by our wonderful cook, Christian. Once we finished cleaning up after lunch, we began our pathway to scientific enlightenment, with our third lab of the trip. We took a short walk to a beach on Bull Island where used quadrats to calculate the density of Green Crabs, Asian shore crabs, ribbed mussels, and periwinkles in a 0.5m squared area. We explored the vast nature of the island. Some students ended up placing rocks on top of each other in order to make a hotel for the crabs. We then motored back to the boat and got ready to sail to Clarks Cove in New Bedford. All 14 of us then raised the main, fore, and headsails and trimmed them. The boat cut through the gnarly waves with ease. The crew of Tabor Boy had brought us to anchor in Clarks Cove and we secured the deck. Again, we split into our port and starboard watches for the shell competition we had prepared for. Starboard watch challenged Port watch to a see which watch could learn the most shells. Starboard pulled through with the victory and gained a point for our team. Since the water was warm and it was hot on deck, we all decided it would be rude to turn down such an invitation to jump in the water. When we changed, we were greeted by the scent of ribs and barbeque being grilled at the caprail. Back into our street attire we quickly gathered around the dinner table filled our glasses and got ready a better then ever Hoorah. Each of us sat down and piled ribs, mashed potatoes and green beans atop of our plates till it looked like the Alps. We challenged each other to eat the most ribs, one after another till there were no more ending in an unfortunate tie at eighteen a piece. A lively dance party during clean up ended the long day of adventure and friendship for everyone. All of the incoming students met up with some of the long time crew for a Q and A sesh. Then we went to bed and slept till the morning. Sage, Fred, and Hans 4

August 13, 2019

Today on Tabor Boy, we woke up nice and early at 0600 to the sound of Leland’s rhyme. The eventful day began as we plunged into the chilling Cuttyhunk water. To get the blood flowing, we played a quick game of Waboba, or Keep Away. It was fun, despite the hypothermic (70 degree F) water. Port watch won, as usual. After our victory, Mr. Seth Garfield brought us to the lovely island of Cuttyhunk. He showed us the infrastructure and the way of life on the tiny island. We learned fun facts, such as how there are sometimes no people on the island in the winter. Cars were rarely used on the island; golf carts were preferred. We journeyed across the island to a salt-water pond. The pond was filled with oysters, big and small. We learned that Mr. Garfield’s oyster pond is a grow-out facility. He showed us the ropes of the farm. We boated across the pond to where most of the employees worked. They gave us a couple of oysters and some people in our group tried them raw! They described them as salty, chewy, and slimy. As we were walking back, the skies opened up above us and rain began to fall. We raced back to Mr. Garfield’s boat, where he then took us back to the Tabor Boy. Unfortunately, we were not able to finish the tour up at the lookout, but we got a good idea of the topography of the fantastic island. We did a lab and wrote in our journals. The lab was about toxins and how it can affect the wildlife food chain. We had an afternoon swim and were able to jump off the ladder or the headrig. Then, we got time to chill and bond with the group. We made burgees for our separate watches. We had stir-fry for dinner and then cleaned up. We then all sat together in the deck house and watched a documentary about the Tabor Boy. It was very intriguing and inspiring! We then went to bed, with high hopes for tomorrow, because we are going to Woods Hole. -Paige Long -Rufus Mccleery -Bryn Kerslake -Victor Xu