What To Do: Discovery Cruises allow kids to learn about marine science

Little sandaled feet skip quickly along the pier. A group of children—laughing and joking—turn their sun-kissed faces toward a research vessel tied up beside a dock at Wood’s Hole pier on Cape Cod. These happy kids are going to learn a science lesson.

 

OceanQuest’s “guest scientists” scamper aboard the Sea Star and head out on a 90-minute education cruise. Parents who think this trip is just for kids are in for a pleasant surprise. Even moms and dads learn something new when OceanQuest director Kathy Mullin, a marine biologist, begins doing what she loves most: teaching ocean science.

 

“Adults usually view the Discovery Cruise as a kid activity,” Mullin says, “However, most adults leave the boat realizing they learned a lot, too, and had a great time.”

 

An OceanQuest cruise gives every passenger an opportunity to explore ocean science hands on. Passengers actively manipulate real scientific equipment, collect data and discover the wonders of marine science. By trawling or by raising traps left on the sea floor, the crew hauls up marine life, which passengers are allowed to hold and examine (when appropriate). Each trip is a uniquely different experience because no one knows what the traps will catch. By the end of the day, the crew returns the creatures to the sea unharmed.

 

The look of awe that suddenly appears on every child’s face as he or she handles a horseshoe crab or sea star is apparently contagious.

 

Elliot Roberts, 11, of Seattle, Wash., said, “My favorite part of the boat trip was picking up lobsters, and crabs and sea stars in the tank.”

 

Courtney, 12, said, “My favorite part of the trip was when we touched the animals in the tanks.”

After hauling the traps, the crew drops the catches into the “live tanks” in the stern of the boat. As the “guest scientists” move from station to station, professional scientists, educators and mariners aboard the vessel encourage inquiry and discovery, explaining sea life and its role in our environment.

 

“All life on Earth is interconnected and in the total scheme of existence,” said Mullin. “Without our seas, life as we know it could not exist.”

 

OceanQuest cruises offer three separate science stations, and every “guest scientist” rotates through each one, receiving information that explains that particular station.  Everyone actively participates in a “mini ocean-research voyage.”

 

In the stern, for example, passengers concentrate on marine biology. This station hauls the plankton net, capturing various species of plankton present in the area. The visitors help haul up and set a lobster trap. The station makes observations about the many species of life found on or near the ocean floor.

 

In the bow, passengers operate instruments and equipment used to study physical and meteorological oceanography. This station collects water in a sampler, determining water temperature, density and salinity. Guests observe the differences in water character at individual points within a water column.

 

Inside the cabin, the group explores basic seawater chemistry. Passengers determine dissolved oxygen content, carbon dioxide levels, pH and salinity—the basic chemical parameters affecting the quality and diversity of life in the cruise area.

 

As she leaves the boat, wearing an ear-to-ear grin, Tesslyn Matthes, 6, of Bellevue, Wash., said, “My favorite time today was catching plankton. I’ve ever seen plankton before.”

 

OceanQuest is a non-profit educational organization, whose mission is to introduce passengers to the wonders of ocean science through a hands-on learning experience at sea. Its goal is to give each participant an understanding of fragile marine ecosystems that ensure a healthy and sustainable ocean.

 

Hands-on teaching and learning techniques provide a relevant, meaningful and fun experience for all ages. “This was very educational, learning about things in our neighborhood,” said Laurel Marsland, 12, of Harwich, “and lots of fun, too.”

 

Mullin says OceanQuest’s goal is to develop awareness, knowledge and responsible behavior concerning the sustainability of ecosystems. OceanQuest offers educational trips for school children of all ages during the spring and fall, as well, along with marsh walks and charter cruises and tours of Cuttyhunk.

 

“Kids have so much fun on summer cruises because they get to really experience ocean science using the same gear as ‘real’ scientists,” Mullin says. “Hands-on learning is always the most effective. These kids get a real ‘see, feel and learn’ experience.”

 

Before moving to the Cape in 1989, Mullin taught high school biology in Holbrook, Mass. She has held various teaching positions in grades 5 through 12.  She also worked at the South Shore Natural Science Center in Norwell. During the summers, she worked as a naturalist for the Captain John boats in Plymouth, doing 10 years of whale watching and research. The experience inspired her to develop OceanQuest when she moved to Cape Cod.

 

Mullin founded OceanQuest in 1992. She remains its sole director. OceanQuest’s maiden voyage in May 1993 carried a Brewster church group out to sea. A licensed ship’s captain, as well, Mullin sometimes “drives the ship” when the regular captain is unavailable. Purchased in 1999 with the help of a grant from the Sudbury foundation, the 54-foot Sea Star carries up to 60 passengers and is fully licensed, certified and Coast Guard inspected.