0700 hours

Ship's Position: Docked at Peckham Materials in Athens, NY.
Latitude: 42˚ 16.2' N
Longitude: 073˚ 48.1' W

Day Seven, and the final day of the video shoot voyage.

A change in the weather greets us this morning. The cool evening temperatures and high humidity have combined to blanket Athens Channel in fog. Good thing we didn't have any exterior scenes to shoot this morning!

As he's done each morning this week, Mr. Weisse rouses the crew by playing reveille on his trumpet.

0745 hours

Sharp-eyed readers of yesterday's log may have noticed that although the crew went into down to buy ice cream, we never did eat it. By dinner time, a new plan had emerged -- cake and ice cream for breakfast!

(Mr. Wolfe does also provide biscuits, yogurt, and waffles for crew members with more discerning palates.)

The crew's last meal on board turns into a combined birthday celebration for Alex and Nick.

While the students serenade them on their party horns, Alex looks pleased, and Nick looks ready to crawl back into bed.

Yes, it's just another ordinary meal here on the Half Moon.

During breakfast, we joke that for lunch, we'll give each student a scoop of powdered sugar and send them off with their parents.

While the crew finishes breakfast, Captain Reynolds calls Jack forward for his official shirt ceremony. Jack is the only non-alum in the student crew, but "the orange" the captain now officially declares him a fully qualified crew member.

Visit Jack's crew profile to see him receive his shirt.

0915 hours

After breakfast, the students rummage their gear, moving it off the orlop deck to prepare both for their own departure and for a final scene.

1015 hours

Regular duty roster responsibilities continue as well. In the galley, Alanna helps Mr. Wolfe catalog the remaining food - some will need to be eaten or taken home today, but some can be held in the freezer until the ship's next voyage in a few weeks.

1030 hours

The video crew has set up shop on the orlop deck. One deck up, the main cargo hatch (where meals are served) has been opened to allow for additional natural light. (For safety reasons, the open hatch is now also cordoned off and guarded by a student.)

Down below, Captain Reynolds directs Jack and Tahari through a scene in which they prepare graphs for their "research project's" final presentation.

Jason mans the boom mic for this scene.

In the meantime, temperatures outside are already rising sharply, and the monring fog has burned off.

1130 hours

Idle crew huddle around a fan in the foc's'le to avoid the heat. The video lights on the orlop set turn that deck into a hothouse. Tahari says it best when he finishes his part in the scene: "It's an incubator down there, and I'm ready to hatch."

1200 hours

As noon approaches, the students have been offloading gear -- the ship's and their own.

Parents have arrived to reclaim the student crew. Their sons and daughters bring them on board for a tour of the ship.

As the student crew rejoin their families and return home - be it north, south, or east - the video voyage officially comes to an end. Thanks to the many crew members and shore supporters who made this possible! The ship's next voyage will be a pair of sailing training weekends in August; check back for a schedule if you'd like to join us.

1445 hours

By midafternoon, the majority of the student and senior crew has gone home, but we hold on to Nick for pick-up shooting of two brief scenes. First, he takes us through a demonstration of fire and bilge duty in the galley.

1745 hours

Last but not least, we put Nick in a pair of thick rubber boots and send him out into the nearby wetlands to finally film the "freshwater environment" scene our students had scouted out in the Zodiak.

And that's a production wrap! For the crew, the next destination is home. As for the video footage, it's heading into the editing room. But the post-production process is yet another story...