Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Today the middle school students woke up bright and early to arrive at the Boston Harbor at 8:00. From there, we all got accustomed to our new shipmates and boarded the ship. Then we met our crew on the ship and got settled in. Just like always, we went over how to be safe on the ship and discussed the rules. After that, we helped the crew members get ready to set sail. After a few hours of sailing we got out of the Boston Harbor and ate lunch. From there we talked about watches which were 4 hour intervals that went through the night. We participated in many activities such as knot tying, coiling, navigation classes, climbing the rope that went out to the jib, and lots more. After a long, hard day we ate dinner and got ready either for bed or the night watch. There were 3 groups that would watch from either 8-midnight, 12-4 AM, and 4-8 AM. The watch consisted of being on watch, steering the ship, doing boat checks, or just helping wherever you were needed. Being on watch was a large responsibility on the ship because we sailed throughout the night. After a hard and tiring night we woke up to a nice breakfast and a beautiful day. From there, one ship got to climb the ropes and the other went whale watching for a couple hours . After a long day of more tasks on the ship, we finally arrived in the harbor about an hour and a half late. From there we got on the bus and went home. We had a great trip, and we will remember it for the rest of our lives. We learned how we need to care for others and sometimes we need to use grit to accomplish a task. We will miss you 8th graders and wish you lots of luck to come. By Bella and Grace C

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Salem and the Freedom Trail

Today was our last full day on dry land. We took a wonderful journey to Salem. First we took a nice stroll to the pier where we took a lot of pictures of the ocean in Salem. Next we went to the Salem Witch Museum where we learned about what happened to people accused of witchcraft in the 1600's. The museum was amazing and we all learned so much. We walked a short distance to the House of Seven Gables where we took a guided took. We learned about the history of the house and we learned a lot of interesting facts. Then we ate out yummy lunch outside. We took a 1 hour drive to downtown Boston where we met with our colonial freedom trail tour guide. He was amazing and the was the funniest person ever. We had a lot of fun learning about history and sharing our knowledge with the tour guide (sometimes, we knew more than him). Our last stop of the day was Quincy Market. We had a lot of time to browse independently and we had a great time. We were all given money for dinner and we all got to make our own choices. We came back to the hotel, packed our stuff for the boat tomorrow and played a great game of cards in the lobby. We are now all heading to bed and we look forward to seeing out family on Saturday.
Submitted Grace and Chris

Paul Revere