Howard Walters, our resident warm-up band (a.k.a. workshop evaluator), again brought his special humor into play, as he led us through our concept map updates. A “Howardism”: “I gotta babysit my grad assistant’s kid so he can get some work done for me.”

Experience and flavor from Jim Johnson of DNR fisheries: “Alewives are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. The bottom of the food web is dropping out, and they don’t feed on benthos. They’re getting predated by the rebounding populations of salmon.” Jim shared his detailed research and extensive knowledge about the history of fisheries in the Great Lakes system with us.

Jim’s engaging lecture tripped high school teacher Jim Corcoran’s trigger, “I am very stoked to take this back to the classroom to share his knowledge with my kids! I am going to get my kids to take real-time data, crunch it, and get that “aha” experience that’s real, that’s now!”

Participant Bruce Szczechowski added, “I appreciated Jim’s vast working knowledge of the ecology of Lake Huron as well as his passion for monitoring and restoring the integrity of the watershed.”

Captain Luke, his staff, and cadets received us warmly for our second day aboard the Pride of Michigan. Gracious hosts all, we had another wonderful day on the water moving through learning stations.

Jim Lubner, of Wisconsin Sea Grant, got our hands on a PONAR benthic grab to take samples of lake bottom material for examination. He led a discussion of the possible things we could learn from the benthic surface.

After Minnesota Sea Grant’s Cindy Hagley helped us gather lake organisms with a fine net, NOAA researcher Rochelle Sturtevant nudged us past our boat-rocked queasy stomachs to view lake life through microscopes to identify specific specimens of phytoplankton and zooplankton.

2007 COSEE Great Lakes leader and Sea Grant — aaagent man (know the song?), Steve Stewart, led a session that had us eating out of his hand. We: dropped colored M & M’s overboard to note how soon color tones faded from site (color spectrum absorption), used a Secchi Disk to note water clarity, and used a thermometer to probe for a thermocline boundary.

Captain Luke provided us with background on the fine Sea Cadet program and proudly explained many of the scientific projects his student seamen have done through the past 20 years. At this moment, the Pride of Michigan crew and cadets are making its way to the Straits of Mackinac for a scientific cruise to map, in great detail, the ancient river that cut through the bottom depths there.

In a fine display of dinner theater, the COSEE Players presented a production, “The View” starring host Baba Wawa, Zelda the Zebra Mussel, and Helga the Hydrilla. “Four stars!” (The Days Inn Dealer), a surefire Tony Award nominee (The Sea Grant Sentinel) Fintastic! (The Bay Thunderer) Unbubblelieveable! (The NOAA It All).

Our fearless leaders bask in the success of another day.