A beach clean up service project resulted in three full bags of garbage. A lot of styrofoam, fishing line and rope, and plastic containers, fragments and bags, aluminum cans and a few tires.

Participants walked the salt marsh and talked and observed the fragile ecosystem, observing birds, fish, flora and fauna, and geology. Chelsea facilitated observation and discussion of shoreside critters including crabs, mussels, seaweed, killifish, etc.

Kenny had lunch ready when everyone returned to the ship, a little time for digestion and the hot sun beckoned us into the water for a swim call.

Our goal for the next day was to have the students run the ship. That is, organize themselves, haul back the anchor, set the sails, navigate to our destination and anchor the boat, with minimum input from the crew. In fact, the crews' only role was to monitor safety and be available to answer yes or no questions. The goal for the next evening was for each watch to perform a skit with the ship's history as the theme.

With everyone dried off after swim call, and the plan made, all watches busied themselves for the rest of the day planning, practicing, and asking lots of questions. Water sampling data was analyzed, and after dinner the students held a “pin chase” race in the dark making sure everyone knew their lines.

Below are the results from the water sampling:
Participants took samples for water quality testing as they passed through the different bodies of water. Thomas Creehan, an Upward Bound student from the University of Maine, Orono, compared the results from two of our samples; one taken 8/14 in the Taunton River and one taken 8/17 at High Hill Point, Sakonnet River. High Hill Point, Sakonnet River was more salty (30 ppt) than the Taunton
River (27ppt). The Taunton River was less salty because of fresh water from the river and because we were farther from the ocean than High Hill Point. The pH was lower in the Taunton River (7.6 vs 8.2) which is expected because of fresh water. The dissolved oxygen was less in the Taunton River (5.5 vs 7.1) which may be due to increased nutrient loading, less surface mixing in the enclosed water of the river or more photosynthesis at High Hill Point. The temperatures were the same (21C) which is normal for this time of year. The decreased amount of dissolved oxygen in the Taunton River would make it an unfavorable environment for organisms. High Hill Point would be a more favorable environment for aquatic organisms.

Wind: SW Light
Visibility: Excellent

Captain: Amanda Madeira
Program Coordinator: Inette Rex