Today was the first day that Bravo Team headed out onto the water for this school year.  We started off our day with another name game and time to get to know each other a little bit better.

Then we headed down to pack our boat gear and get ready. At the dock we reviewed boat parts and safety and then learned how to pack the gear onto the boat. When everything was stowed Captain Nancy offered up the group challenge: to come up with a plan to safely get the boat off of the dock and out of the marina.

The group discussed how they wanted to row and move the boat and then headed off. They almost left Chrissy on the dock, but quickly figured out a way to get her on board!

After we got out of the marina, we crossed our oars and debriefed our group challenge. What went well? What would we do differently next time? The crew agreed that they communicated well and that Malia and Anna did a good job leading the group. Next time they would be more clear about dock lines and would have more experience with rowing commands.

Marine animals seemed to be enjoying the fall day, too. We saw harbor porpoise, a harbor seal, and a California sea lion along the water front.

We practiced rowing for a few minutes, then set our selves up to drift and enjoy our snack and a moment of silence. Malia broke our moment of silence with a quote, “Happiness is not something ready made, it comes from your own actions.”

At the end of our day, we reflected on our experience sharing and appreciation for someone or something and a new thing we learned. We learned rowing commands, the cleat hitch, that we have two kinds of sea lions, boat parts, and we met new people. We appreciated everyone for having fun, how calm and nice our crew is, having enough people to go boating, students coaching each other, having great teachers, being on the water, and the beautiful weather.