Sea Challenge (Day 5 & 6)

Gloucester, MA to Isle of Shoals, ME

July 26, 2023

Day 5:

Got to go off ship to the Cape Anne Museum after breakfast this morning. The walk there was short and we were at the museum by 10am when they opened. Very cool to see the maritime history exhibits and compare them to the Denis Sullivan. It was cool to see how much of the sailing equipment is the same such as the marlinspike and repair tools. Got to see a big lighthouse lens which was fun. We got back on the ship and left Gloucester around 11:30am, bound for Isles of Shoals. We went fully under sail power after departing and even put up the cool triangular “party hat” sail called the raffee. Ashley my watch leader taught me how to eye-splice a rope which I was really wanted to learn on this trip so I’m glad I did. I learned how to do a whipping on a rope two days ago which was also really fun. The captain got a thunderstorm warning and had the crew furl all the sails. Drizzled slightly but wasn’t terrible. We reached Shoals safely and I could see Portsmouth all lit up which I enjoyed. We watched Treasure Planet on a projector and bedsheet before going to sleep. Our cook Jake was kind enough to bake lemon tea cake before night which was a nice treat during anchor watch. Overall, a fun day - I hope to learn more things in the next two days.

-Henry 

When we first arrived, we took a COVID test. The first time the test didn’t go through and I was scared that I had COVID but I didn’t. Later that day we did chores and we have three groups a,b,c. I was C and we had to clean the heads. The heads are the bathrooms. We had ice cream I got a medium and it was huge! After we slept and it was comfortable and cozy. The next day we did heads it was horrible because it smelled badly. Later that night we watched a movie called Treasure Planet. 

-Joevonni 

Day 6:

The trip has been very fun. It’s not what I expected but in a good way. Some of my favorite things we’ve done is going hiking and swimming. We also got ice cream when we docked with another boat. This experience has helped me in a lot of ways. It’s helped me socially adapt and I’ve made new friends. Jumping off the boat is really fun. Today we are going to see Shoals Marine Lab. I hope to see a shark. We saw some whales at sea and a Mola Mola fish as well. But I’m really hoping I see a shark at sea. I’m excited for this parade and what it will look like. But overall, I think this was a very good experience.

-Kain