December 4th.
Melborne Beach Florida

We left early today, at sunrise and traveled all day.  We had a current going with us for the first 2 hours, almost 2 knots, so we pushed how far we could get before the sun set.  Our anchor dropped as the sun dropped past the horizon.
70 regular miles in one day!  7:00am to 5:25pm,  3 bridges to open for us (this always slows you down a bit).
Almost 10 miles per hour average! (That is hair flying speeds for us!) 
So we are posting some writing that Devon and Sahara have done for school work.


By Devon:

Falcon9 Rocket Launch

On Tuesday Dec. 3, one of SpaceX’s rockets (Falcon 9) launched into space to deliver a 3.2 ton satellite into orbit. SpaceX is a space transfer company that is located in Hawthorne Carolina, it was founded in 2002 by Elon musk. The rocket launched off at exactly 5:41 p.m. Though the rocket launched on Tuesday, it was supposed to launch a couple days ago due to some few technical problems. The satellite was to enter a geostationary or a geosynchronous orbit. This orbit is special because it will stay above the same spot above the earth until it crashes or is taken down, though, the satellite has to go up 35,786 km above the earth and at the right speed for this to happen, it also has to be above the equator.

 Since 2002 (since it was made) SpaceX has developed 3 space shuttles so far, their names are Falcon1 Falcon9 and the Dragon spacecraft. The Falcon9, is right now transferring cargo and just carried the SES-8 communications satellite into space, but will later it will be transferring people.

This event is relevant to us because on that night after dinner we went outside and watched it launch. Evan though it was 40 miles away, it looked 3 times as bright as a star.

(our best picture zoomed in)

We passed NASA where the rocket was launched.


Morbillivirus
By Sahara

 

Picture by Sahara

Morbillivirus is the virus that has been killing all the dolphins this summer and fall. It affects only dolphins, porpoises, and whales, and cannot be transmitted to humans. The first outbreak of morbillivirus, in 1987-1988, killed at least 800 dolphins, and we have already surpassed that number, even though the cycle of the disease isn’t even half way over yet. It affects the lung and brain the most, with symptoms such as:

*appearing thin
*repertory difficulties (breathing)
*abnormal behavior
*pneumonia (lung infections)
*brain infections

  Morbillivirus is usually spread through inhalation, direct contact, or through other openings such as eyes and mouth. Experts think that the outbreak is due to a dip in “herd immunity”. All the dolphins that survived the last outbreak and would have helped to protect the herd against the virus have either died or left. Bottlenose dolphins appear to be hit the hardest; tests on other dolphins in the same area such as spotted or common dolphin have come back negative. The virus is also reported to have killed 5 whales, though experts still haven’t concluded that it was actually the virus.

As hard as it is to admit, this is also nature’s way of taking down the amount of a species. There has been a huge increase in dolphin numbers, with records of 6000-7000 in South Carolina and Georgia alone, and estimates of at least 10 000 in the south-east.  With the virus, their numbers have decreased. 



Random pictures from the Day
If you decorate your tree with live pelicans, this is what it might look like:


Dinner bread sticks....with a twist!  By Devon , Sahara, and Dad

Sunset, as the anchor went down.