Hi All,
Here are some pictures of our first day at Echo Hill. We had a nice ride up and then went about our business here at the school. My first class was Bay Studies. We took one of the vintage wooden skipjacks out on the bay and learned about all kinds of things -- fish features, bay history, adaptations, antique and current fishing methods, predator-prey interactions-- it was fantastic, Captain Carrington did a wonderful job.
We caught a 2 foot blue catfish that had been living in an old crab trap on the bottom; our cod net (now outlawed except by special educational permit) pulled up the trap, the catfish, and decaying catfish that the first cat was living off of.
A bit disgusting, but awesome nevertheless. We caught a Blue Crab (too small to eat), a bunch of white perch, a couple of pumpkinseeds and a couple of American eels.
Capt. Carrington and 1st Mate Molly told us the story of how all American eels travel to the Sargasso Sea to mate, and how the European eels make the same trip, but that the two species never interbreed.
What a day. I'm ready to crash. Too much learning.
