Wednesday, July 26^th

Everyone was slow getting up this morning after standing watches and breakfast takes a while to fix.  The crew decided to just sail to day and not stop for any snorkel dives.  The crew does a lot better setting the sails today and are really working together.  Capt. Harman heads us out into the deep blue so we can catch the Gulf Stream for speed and have better luck fishing.  Chris R. and David put out the fishing lines.

Today is the start of the lobster mini-season and boats have been cruising offshore since early morning.  People in boats of every size were out with their tickle sticks and nets to get some free lobster; lots of boat traffic all day long.

As we head out to the deep, we can see and set an intercept course for a three-masted sailing ship with red sails.  We made three photo passes on turned out to be the flagship of the fleet and got a cannon salute in return!  Because of our photo run, we sailed another two hours just to get back to where we raised anchor, so it will be a long slog back to Florida Bay.  Lunch comes and goes without stopping and we finally drop sail and anchor at Sombrero Reef for a snorkel dive because everyone is so hot.  After the dive, we motor out into the Gulf Stream again and leave the sails down and fishing poles are out.  Everyone but Chris, BA, Mr. Luff and the Captain took naps on deck until the fishing reel started screaming.

The fish gave Chris a good fight.  He got to practice pumping and reeling again (reel on the way down, not on the way up!).  That does it for everyone taking naps and no one misses bringing another big tuna in.  This time, when the Captain asks for volunteers to clean the fish, both Paco and Blake speak up.  As it turns out, the Captain teaches Paco how and we put the fillets in the refrigerator for dinner.

Having put it off as long as we can, we get out a homemade seine and drag it behind the boat to collect plankton.  All the Scouts were working on the Oceanography merit badge and the collection and study satisfied a requirement.

As we approach the Channel 5 bridge, Capt. Harman has BA run out on deck and motion two approaching boats to slow down and not leave a wake.  Everyone was puzzled until we looked up and realized we were going through at high tide and the mast was barely going to fit underneath the bridge.  It made it, with about six inches to spare, and had any boat wakes rocked the boat, we would have bent the mast.  On the other side of the bridge, we were in Florida Bay and could see Sea Base off to the north, but we kept on to the west.

With the dinner crew downstairs and an adult upstairs cooking tuna, Capt. Harman sailed straight into the sunset and we anchor at a spot far from any land in water incredibly calm.  After another great dinner, the Scouts discussed what they were going to do for a skit at the luau, but didn’t figure anything out, so they started doing KP.

David, our crew chief, called a crew meeting after dinner to work on the skit and this turned out to be the only time during the trip that we experienced any friction.  With a little guidance from the Captain and the adults, the meeting got back on track and the crew made a lot of progress on planning their skit.

NEXT: Day 10