The Tole Mour, an 156 ft. tall ship, set sail out of Long Beach Harbor on Saturday, April 13th with 23 students. The trip was chaperoned by Mr. Coller (Marine Science), Mr. Kurz (AP Environmental Science), Mrs. Cunningham( Science Lab Assistant), and Mrs. Hofreiter (Vice Principal). “You are no longer a passenger. You are now apart of the crew,” is what was told to us as we “Mustered Forward” at the bow(front of the boat). This meant that we were responsible for hauling and striking the lower seven sails, keeping the boat clean, and following any other orders given by the captain or any of the professional crew members.

Within the first couple hours of the sail, we spotted a young humpback whale off the bow. It surfaced and tail-slapped several times before disappearing into the distance. That night, our crew got to experience  up-and-overs, which are when you climb up the ropes (about 75 ft. in the air) and back down. Some had the time of their lives climbing up in the riggings while some conquered their fear of heights.

We had two major snorkels. One at Catalina, where we found unique animals like the Spanish Shawl. The other snorkel happened at Santa Barbara Island, where we swim with the Seal Lions in the Rookery. Some other hands-on events included Shanty Night, where we all sang sailing songs,a hike, Marine-Life classes, Ship-Operation Classes, and Rope-Work Classes.

By the end of the five days, our crew had mastered the art of hauling and striking the sails of Tole Mour. To test our skills, we had a challenge set and strike, where the captain timed us and the professional crew stood by and watched. We ended up beating all of our times from the previous days, which marked a very happy end to our expedition.