A Very Pleasant Surprise

Yesterday we took our 8th grade class trip to Cape May, NJ. All the teachers were a bit on edge for this trip for several reasons, the foremost being that our trip company had already messed up our dates. The previous day, we had gathered all the kids at school at 7:45, only to realize by 8am that we had no bus, and when we called the tour company they told us we were in fact scheduled for Friday the 29th, even though our confirmation said Thursday. Needless to say, we had a lot of very angry 8th graders to deal with.

However, on Friday when I got to school, our coach bus was just pulling up to the school, which was clearly a good sign. Our 8th graders all showed up on time, and there were no major incidents as we boarded the bus (except for the assistant principal running up right as we were about to pull out- she was supposed to be chaperoning and only barely made it). The kids all looked great and seemed to be excited (although whether that was to go whale-watching or just to be out of school, I'll never know) On our hour and a half bus ride to the Cape May zoo, the kids were quiet, and the chaperons got to relax up in the front of the bus.

At the zoo, which is in the middle of a park in Cape May, I got the dubious honor of trying to find the entrance to the zoo, which was surprisingly unclear. However, I followed the parents with young children and it seemed to be a good bet, as we did make it to the zoo. It was unfortunate, though, the number of looks our kids were getting from others, as if at any second they would fulfill all stereotypes associated with urban black teenagers. They were being really great, so its truly unfair that people always expect the worst from them.

At the zoo, I had my group of 5 of my favorite 8th graders, and I loaned one of them my camera since she wants to be a photographer when she gets older. She did a great job of taking photos, like these:

I think that's a snow leopard in the background.

Another good one:The kids got to see a lot of cool animals, from giraffes to lions to different creepy crawly reptiles.

We were back on the bus by noon to drive over to the Cape May whale-watching company. Thankfully, the day was getting nice and sunny out, and the boat was really nice- carpeted floors downstairs, and padded benches and lounge chairs on the top deck. All our kids headed for the top deck, and were putting on "We're not freaked out" faces until the boat began to pull away from the dock, at which point I was able to take a great series of photos of freaked out kids that I have promised not to share :) There were a few schools on board, and of course, immediately all the kids started to get rowdy, but after the teachers and I spoke to them once about how that was a) more likely to make them fall overboard, and b) more likely to make them seasick, they chilled out. The kids were fine on the boat, and ate their free pizza as we headed down the Cape May canal, but as soon as we got into open water, they started to freak out. They wanted to know where we were going and how the captain knew where to go when there was nothing to look at, especially since it was very foggy out. I tried to explain some of these things from what I remember about navigation from my boating course, but it didn't do much to allay their fears that we were already hopelessly lost at sea. Plus, we had about 3 kids who were already looking green, so the teachers were beginning to worry that this would be a bust.

However, all that changed when we stopped to look for dolphins. Even our toughest boys were running from one side of the boat to the other to try to get a good look at the dolphins we had found. According to the boat captain, we saw about 100 dolphins over the course of our trip, and a few calves. Here are some of the shots I got, although I was always a split second too late for the best photos.
Unfortunately, we didn't see any whales, but the kids LOVED the boat anyway. They all said it was their favorite part. A lot of them liked standing out as far as they could get on the prow trying to touch the splash, and giving me minor heart attacks when I kept thinking they were going to fall overboard.

We ended the day with a stop at Old Country Buffet, where they announced that it was the birthday of one of the girls in my homeroom, which was exciting. Feeling sleepy and full, we made our way back to Philly, and the kids even cleaned the bus without having to be asked. We were super impressed, and I'm glad we were able to go on a trip, despite how much the 8th grade has driven me crazy this year.