Manson Options Middle School, Day 1, May 2014

We arrived at the marina at around nine o’clock this morning after rising early and leaving our school and four o’clock this morning. We immediately got fitted for rough weather gear, luckily not having to use it all of the first day. The “Wind Watch” group boarded the boat and loaded their things just before our group. After every one was on the boat we were given tours of the upper deck and the galley. We decided where we wanted to sail to on our first day of sailing. We had a majority vote, we voted to stay at Obstruction with the intention of seeing seals.

Eventually we left the dock and were on our way. The first thing we did was eat snack, everyone was in awe from the shear vast beauty of the great Puget Sound. Our two groups separated, one to the bow or the “Wind Watch”, and the others, the “Water Watch” stayed back. The group on the bow did a science experiment on the effects of dissolved oxygen on phytoplankton, the group that stayed back in the cockpit learned how to use the winched in order to raise that sails, we also learned  some of the terms on board, such as, haul, hold, ease, and to make fast. After both of the groups were done we headed down in to the galley to eat our delicious lunch. After both groups ate, we switched activates. By the time we were done with our activities we were just outside our camp site. The weather was windy most of the time, the sky was really cloudy, and the sun was out the whole time.