SciKid LOG BOOK
Key West: 19th
April 2003 (Persis Anne Tomingas celebrates her twelfth birthday in Key West)
The
Southern most place in the United States of America.
Historic
Pirate museums and books highlight the history of this neat area
Warm
weather and GREAT beaches
Cool
shops and Florida style cloths
The
Mel Fisher museum has a gold bar you can touch and super gold jewelry from a
real ship wreck in the 1800 era
Ernest
Hemingway, lived here, wrote books here and went fishing a lot
There’s
a lot of great music and musicians here and neat shops
The
seagulls are different on the East Coast compared to the West Coast, different
song and different coloring
There’
a bunch of birds I haven’t seen before, there are also Osprays, Herons and
Egrets which I know from the West Coast
We
caught a really big frog, talked to him for a little while then let him loose
so he could live a normal life
A
mother duck had a bunch of ducklings we got to watch grow up as our dads worked
getting the ship ready for the adventure
Went
swimming and a Manatee came by to say hi!
Super cool
Key
Lime Pie is the best!
Dry Tortugas: 21st
April 2003
This
place is the best to swim in, saw a manta ray and sting rays, and 6 inch long
silver fish with a long needle nose
Ponce
de Leon came here looking for the fountain of youth, but there’s no water on
Tortugas, which is why its called “Dry”
Tortugas
(named by de Leon) means turtles and there are lots somewhere around here but
we didn’t get to see any
Tortugas
has a really big fortress on it with a moat around it and HUGE cannons that
could shoot 300 lbs. 3 miles!!
There
must be a million birds here, well, I couldn’t really count that many but this
is their breeding ground
We
saw Pelicans diving for fish, really cool, they start from about 40 feet up,
fold their wings and drop in the water, then come up with a fish in their mouth
Hate
to leave here, it’s really nice
Yucatan Peninsula: 25th April 2003
It
was a rolling ride to get here, 10 foot seas with wind, Persis slept through it
all as if it were a rocking chair
Our ship passed over the site of Dinosaur extinction where
a meteorite hit the earth leaving its crater in the waters off of the
Cozumel is an island just out of site of Cancun on the
Yucatan. It’s neat with the
prettiest water you have ever seen.
First thing we went swimming, the water is really warm and
clear, it even feels clean, not sticky like most salt water
Tulum: 26th April 2003
We
had two pet Red Slider Turtles, Jack has grown really big, Kila unfortunately
died today, it’s very sad to say goodbye
Sharon Davinport who has a Master in Anthropology
specializing in Mayan Art took us to Tulum
She
explained that this site was built during the Classical Period
Tulum
isn’t as fancy with as many pictures carved in walls as some sites but it still
has a bunch including an upside down God
Sharon
said that the God is upside down because he is descending to earth
There
was a low cluster of purple leaves that used to have red flowers that I haven’t
seen before
Tulum
also has one of the greatest Ocean views in the world
There
were broken pieces of pottery on the ground if you looked close enough
We
saw two types of Iguanas, one had strips and another was huge, maybe a yard
long and dark green
Cozumel: 27th
April 2003
Tropical
Storm
Today
is one of those days, it’s a little stormy. We suspended our trip to the Cozumel shore for a while. This is actually cool! Or at least my Dad and I think so. This is our first tropical storm out at
sea. I am amusing myself with
shards of pottery over 500 years old that I found. I got the shards yesterday when Dad, Sharon and I went to
the Tulum Ruins. The shards are
priceless! One is painted red and
another has clay decorations on it.
In Cancun I got new shirts cut with beads making fringes and cool Mayan
designs in gold foil for the band I started with Alysa and Nichole Smith of
Provo Utah. I got concho belts
earlier in Key West with the money I earned for doing good homework. We can provide our own pants and hairstyles. I’m getting back on course with
homework, every time there is a change in where we are what we are doing; it’s
hard to keep steady on homework. This is interesting, I’ve been eye popped before, but this
time I’ve been eye-popped and stunned!
Our yacht the Callisto has been taking the sea softly, I hope it stays
that way.
Persis Anne Tomingas
TO BE CONTINUED………
The Marine Science activities are
made possible from a generous donation from www.Ocean-Explorers.com For information on how you can
contribute, please contact: [email protected]
Activities:
- Mayan Studies with on site
visits in Cozumel and Tulum April
26th 2003
- Zooplankton collecting & counting Ongoing
- Marine life depth studies
- Shore Bird Counts
- Marine Mammal counts
- Weather Reports
- Navigation
- Music instruction and performance
- Kayaking
- Snorkeling
Not a bare bones expedition, the Callisto has tasteful staterooms,
fine dining and world-class concert musicians for memorable evenings. Family oriented with a strong emphasis on science projects
for children, the Callisto provides informative hands on sessions and technical discussions on Marine Science and world topics.
Evening lectures by experts in their field
round out a fulfilling life experience.
Contact:
907-783-1221
Box 111321
Anchorage, Alaska 99511