OK so starting with travel day. Basically four of us staff people drove the fifteen-passenger vans full of 1-week campers and their luggage back to Bangor. This included a 20 minute drive to the ferry at 6am, a 1.5 hour ferry ride to Blacks Harbor, NB, and then a 2ish hour drive into Bangor (crossing the border). When we got there, we dropped the kids off at the airport where they either were met by parents in cars or got on planes to other parts of the country. We left two staff there and then me and Heather went to the hotel. This is where we check in kids and then entertain them until the next morning. Up again at 6am to drive all the way back to Blacks Harbor and catch the ferry with new campers. All in all EXHAUSTING.
The new kids are really awesome. There are 10 year olds and 18 year olds but they are all getting along and I think its cool. There are only 16 of them total at camp this week--such a small group. But we get to know all of them well and they all make really close connections with each other.
Monday we did the sensory hike and tides with the ORDs and then in the PM we went on a Whales and Sails adventure!!! Me and another ESI took the kids on the Elsie Menota, a sailboat complete with captain, crew, and marine biologist. We went out a little towards the northern part of the island because the fog was bad and we couldn't go down to the southern end. The tide rips at peak flood (exactly between high and low tide) at the tip of Grand Manan and creates upwelling, attracting fishies and whales alike. Within 10 minutes of being on the boat we saw our first whale--a minke!!! For the whole time we were sighting minkes all around us, mostly far off but some right up close! They seemed to be just surfacing to breathe but it was AWESOME. My first whale of whale camp!!!!!! Minkes are about 30 foot long baleen whales with white spots on their pectoral fins (MINKE MITTENS). For comparison, finbacks (the 2nd largest animal in the world, which also live in the Bay of Fundy) get to be around 80 feet long, so the whales we were seeing weren't huge, but still amazing. I've heard that the whale watches just get better as the summer goes on, so I can't wait for my next one! We also saw 3 bald eagles on shore, lots of harbor porpoises, grey seals, and black guillemots!! And no one got sea sick, yay!
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| Dorsal fin of a minke! |
Today was a rainy cold windy mess outside. Just awful weather this week. Anyways, we had a lot of things scheduled that got moved around or cancelled due to the weather. I was supposed to be on the Day's Catch going to Machias Island to see PUFFINS this morning, but it was actually down-pouring so it got cancelled. Instead I tagged along on the culture and fisheries lesson and learned all about the old smoked herring industry on the island, the modern salmon fishery and lots more. FUN! Except all the kids were wet and chilled. SO at lunch we decided to nix the geology hike at Flock of Sheep for fear that we would all get hypothermia. We went to the Grand Manan Museum instead and learned about history, boats, geology, and birds! The kids enjoyed it and were so glad to be indoors. For the last 2 hours of the day we went to Pettes Cove and did an abbreviated geo lesson. Pettes Cove has some of the BEST rocks and seaglass on the island and so we just let the kids do a lot of exploring for part of the lesson. I found so much amazing seaglass including TWO purple pieces, three ice-blue pieces, and lots of brown green and clear. The seaglass gods were certainly smiling upon me today. I also found some really great rocks and so did the kids. It was a great note to end on after all the rain and unpleasantness.
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| In the museum we learned that this is what a lighthouse light really looks like!! So COOL |
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| Old wooden buoys in the museum |
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| Gifts from the sea to me :) |
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