Sunday Magazine Section

(Winthrop, Massachusetts, July 22, 2012) Here are a few pictures to remember the fun we all shared on the Eastern Shore.

Madelyn Engel and Ann and Bill Delavan on Wallops Island Beach.

Meredith Pearce gives Pit Johnson a creature from Chincoteague Bay.

Beverly and Robbie Harris returning from a successful shelling expedition.

Ian Jefferis at the Tom’s Cove Visitor Center.

“Broom sweep-a mop-a sweep-a mop-a sweep-a broom!”

Austin Greer and David Nichols gathering sea creatures.

Our staff and interns at the Marine Science Consortium.

Tootsie O’Hara, Maggie Fowler, and Stella Van Every at the Creamery.

Ben Coogler preferred gathering sticks on Wallops Island Beach.

Jennifer Roemlin and Sarita Keyser at the Tom’s Cove Visitor Center.

Grant Melville demonstrates the proper technique for shoveling sea creatures.

Sea creatures strutting their stuff in the mud.

Jan Jones and Gareth Bailey examining sea creatures in the lab.

Jon Sullivan and Peggy Strand using the correct sea creature shoveling technique.

Gavin Rardin and Marie Sharp enjoying the Thursday night crab boil.

Tootsie O’Hara at the salt marsh on Tuesday.

David Nichols, Ed Post, and Glen Post search for buried treasure, up close.

Thank you, Parker!

The Golden Age of Family Travel

Stella Van Every shows her family photo of our Marine Science Adventure.

(Winthrop, Massachusetts, July 21, 2012) Peggy Strand watched her grandson Jon Sullivan head off to the research vessel Wednesday morning. “Junior high school is a perfect time to take Jon on an adventure like this. He’s into everything, and he’s really excited to be here. In a couple of years, once he gets into high school, he’ll be so busy with friends, sports,activities… Now is a really special time in his life.”

Jon Sullivan and Peggy Strand at Tom’s Cove.

We arrived Sunday expecting a special time, having read the Road Scholar website. But we still had some questions. What is a plankton race? What will happen to the animals we catch? Will I really go into the mud pit? What will the other grandparents be like? What will the other kids be like?

A Godzilla Line marches toward our nets at Tom’s Cove.

Within minutes of our arrival, these anxieties vanished. Kids met other kids whose grandparents had also taken them on a science vacation in coastal Virginia. They met high-school interns from all over the country who would travel with us. Plus an educational staff who know how to present science to learners of all ages. The magic created by grandchildren, high-school students, adult educators, and grandparents would evolve in a special way throughout the week.

Glen and Sophie Post, Ann Delavan, and Madelyn Engel enjoying Tuesday’s campfire entertainment.

At mealtime and while traveling, we adults talked about all sorts of subjects – other places we traveled, what we did for a living, and some of the unique experiences of our lives. The children made fast friends with each other, sharing laughs and discoveries with the greatest of ease. And we all found out that there are a lot of people like us, everywhere, and how much fun it is to meet and spend time with each other.

Ben Coogler taking in the scenery of Chincoteague Bay.

This program showed the adult in our grandchildren. They helped us keep our balance in the mud pit. They asked if we wanted seconds in the cafeteria. And they were colleagues in identifying our sea creatures back in the lab.It also brought out the kid in our grandchildren. They put on a great talent show. We all sang campfire songs. They brought us shells on the beach, and asked us to put them in bags so we could take them home. Mostly, we all had the chance to discover a pretty wonderful and surprising world.

Come to think of it, this week brought out the kid in all of us.

All Sea Creatures, Great and Small

Gavin Rardin and a Horseshoe Crab on Wallops Island Beach.

(Marine Science Consortium, July 19, 2012) Today began with a trip to Chincoteague to meet Waterman Randy Birch and pick up the bushels of crabs for tonight’s big dinner.

Waterman Randy Birch Previews our Thursday Dinner.

He delivered not only our meal but a lesson in how to identify “the sign,” his code for selecting them at their freshest. It’s when the small fuzzy edge of a blue crab’s swimmerettes, or hind legs, turns from white to pink. These are “peelers,” about to molt, when their meat is full and tasty – marine science at its best!

Madelyn Engel found this whelk shell on Wallops Island.

But there’s lots to do before the crab boil. First, we head to the beach at Wallops Island NASA Base to collect shells with Grant and his team. It’s a beautiful morning, and a great chance to walk and talk, or to find specimens we’ll discuss on the sand before heading back to the lab.

Sharing the love with a sea cucumber at the Blue Crab Lab.

We spend all afternoon identifying and examining the sea creatures we’ve caught earlier in the week, while learning what makes our fish, crabs, shrimp, and sea worms unique. And then, on cue, our sea cucumber slowly constricts itself from head to…well…the other end. It’s a great show.

David Nichols and Austin Greer observing plankton in the lab.

Our final observation is a microscopic view of the plankton we’ve caught, preceded by a lecture about their true nature. They can be either animal or plant, and the only qualification for plankton status is being unable to swim against the current. Some plankton stay that way forever, while others spend only a part of their lives being planktonic. “Plankton is a lifestyle,” as Grant Melville puts it. And yes, that literary flair marks him as a descendent of the author of Moby Dick. Sadly, only slightly more than half of us know who Herman Melville was.

The diatom plankton we caught yesterday, viewed through a microscope.

When dinner is served, we relate to crabs, shrimp, and clams in a more traditional manner, with mallets, cocktail sauce, and drawn butter. Our lab becomes a Road Scholar restaurant, and all of us have a great time eating and talking about our week on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. A talent show featuring young participants and Marine Science Institute interns ends this last full day of our program with music and a hearty share of laughs. And thankfully, there’s another day ahead of us tomorrow.

Dinner is served, July 19, 2012.

Gone Fishin’

A striped burr fish was our catch of the day on the RV Flatfish.

(Chincoteague Bay, Virginia, July 18, 2012). The RV Mollusk and RV Flatfish were waiting for us this morning as we embarked on our hunt for more specimens for our research. We were also ready to test the waters of Virginia’s Eastern Shore to add to the Marine Science Consortium’s multi-year database. Serious work – the kind that people study for years to do properly – but luckily some of those people are here to guide us through our tasks.

Our sister ship, the RV Mollusk, plies the waters of Chincoteague Bay.

Each boat is a flat-bottomed rectangular platform, and we rotate in small groups to the four corners. Water temperature; pH and salinity; then clarity and color; and finally the speed and direction of the current are all measured. Tomorrow, we will combine our monitoring of Chincoteague’s water conditions with observations of the animals themselves to gain a deeper understanding of the world we’re visiting this week.

Road Scholars prepare a Van Dorn Bottle to measure water temperature.

Except for the water temperature seeming high, everything else looks within range, although we’ll know better tomorrow. Then, it’s time to cast our nets and trawl for specimens. Captain Jimmy finds the right spot, and seven of us, led by Grant Melville, throw the nets over the stern. They fill out nicely, and we trawl for about ten minutes.

Creatures from the deep peer back at us from the net on the Flatfish

Eight of us reel in the net, and gently spill the contents on the Flatfish’s deck. Grant and his team throw back the creatures that are dangerous or not needed for our experiments, quickly, because of the heat. A sting ray is the most notable unwelcome visitor, and it’s quickly tossed away. Our prize catch is a striped burr fish, puffed up and staring at us as we put him in a bucket cooled by ice to keep him healthy for the trip back. Other fish and crabs are selected, sorted, and stored in different buckets before we all head back for the day.

David Nichols supervises our marine research from the stern.

Most of us visit the lab and our fish tanks to see how our specimens are doing; nearly all of them are faring well and calming down after their ride on the Flatfish, which isn’t as much fun for them as it is for us.  Tomorrow, we’ll get to know each other better after a morning on the beach. Because we’re marine scientists, our beach time will include hunting for shells. And because we’re Road Scholars, we’ll do that on the deserted beach of a local NASA facility, where the shelling is said to be spectacular.

Marine scientists Jon Sullivan, Gareth Bailey, and Austin Greer.

Everybody into the Water!

Pit and Kate Johnson conducting field research at Tom’s Cove

(Assoteague Island, VA, July 17, 2012). I am a Blue Crab. On Sunday evening, when we arrived, Parker and Grant divided us into two research teams. And so, with seventeen other grandparents and grandchildren, I will be gathering creatures from creeks and the bay, on foot and by boat, for the next three days, bringing them to tanks in the Blue Crab Lab where we will examine them and learn what they can teach us about the marine environment of Virginia’s Eastern Shore. On Friday, we will return them to the waters when we leave. Maybe they’ll learn something from us as well.

Gareth Bailey makes a scientific discovery at Tom’s Cove.

This morning we begin in the intertidal zone of Tom’s Cove, armed with shovels, sieve boxes, and nets, to capture shrimp, crabs, fish, and snails for our studies later in the week. It’s fun to discover how much life there is in such calm water. And we Blue Crabs did well, catching two live sponges, a first this year at the Marine Science Consortium.

Raising our nets after this morning’s “Godzilla Line.”

We spent the second half of our morning literally scaring these same creatures up a creek, where four of us held large nets while everyone else formed a “Godzilla Line,” splashing and shouting our way toward the nets. You’d be surprised how many more crabs, shrimp, and fish responded to our highly scientific methodology and wound up in the nets. And then we were off to the lab, so we could gently acclimate our research subjects to their temporary homes in our fish tanks.

The Blue Crabs race into the marsh at Wallops Island.

After lunch, we traveled a short distance to the Wallops Island Naval Base, another place where only Road Scholars can go. Here, we visited a salt marsh where we first waded, and then wallowed in the coastal mud. It seems like a bad idea in theory, but in practice, it’s terrific. The mud is soft and cool, and no harm came to any of us that a good garden hose couldn’t cure. Which, of course, our program leaders provided. And just about every Blue Crab found his or her way into the mud, again, in a highly scientific manner.

Glen Post enjoying the mud pit on the day after her birthday.

Our second day ended with training for tomorrow’s cruise on a research boat, where we will conduct experiments on the temperature, pH, and salinity of seawater that our program leaders will include in their database, followed by trawling for even bigger creatures for our studies on Thursday. En garde, Jacques Cousteau!

Maggie Fowler welcomes her grandmother Tootsie O’Hara to the salt marsh.

Wild Ponies, Horseshoe Crabs, a Swim, Great Ice Cream, and a Campfire – Your Typical Road Scholar Day at the Beach

A Mare and Two Foals on Assateague Island, July 16, 2012

(Chincoteague Island, Virginia, July 16, 2012). The beach in July. It conjures images of sun, sand, waves, grilled burgers, ice cream, and family fun. Today had all of that for participants in Road Scholar’s “Share a Marine Science Adventure with your Grandchild” program. And so very much more.

Stella Van Every and Maggie Fowler with a horseshoe crab.

We began with a visit to Tom’s Cove Visitor Center at Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, where program leaders Parker McMullen-Bushman and Grant Melville introduced us to the Delmarva Fox Squirrel, Horseshoe Crabs, and a dozen other land and sea creatures who will be sharing their island home with us for the week.

Virginia is for lovers.

Then, it was off to the beach, where we enjoyed a swim while Parker and Grant, along with their team, grilled a classic lunch before our exclusive tour of the island to see the wild ponies who have lived here for hundreds of years. Did they survive a shipwrecked Spanish Galleon? Were they gifts from Blackbeard the Pirate to a woman he loved? Are they simply a tax dodge – herded away from the mainland by farmers to save taxes on livestock? No one knows, so pick your own story…or, better yet, make up a new one. No matter. The horses themselves are spectacular, and we had several up-close and personal encounters with them.

Stephanie and Wendell Ogden enjoy the Island Creamery.

After saying farewell to the ponies, we learned that our marine scientists are also fine hosts. They brought us all to the Island Creamery for a great treat on a hot summer afternoon. Whether we had good old chocolate or vanilla, or margarita sorbet, you couldn’t beat the selection, or the company.

Who doesn’t love a good campfire?

After dinner, we gathered for a good old-fashioned campfire, with laughs and group sing-alongs, again led by Parker, Grant, and their team of educators and interns. S’mores were not only a great way to end a perfect summer day, they were also our second dessert. But isn’t that what summer days are all about?

Chincoteague Bay waits patiently for July 17 and more good times.