For the next week, teachers aboard the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 180-foot R/V Peter L. Wise Lake Guardian will have a rare opportunity to study with researchers on Lake Ontario. The Guardian, the only self-contained non-polluting vessel on the Great Lakes, won’t be back on the lake for about another five years, as it will rotate through the other Great Lakes, including Lakes Huron and Superior next summer. These and the U.S.’s other two “inland seas” - Lakes Michigan and Erie - form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth.

Around noon today, the Guardian began its week-long voyage at the Erie Canal Harbor’s marina in downtown Buffalo. Just about a week and a half ago, on July 2, this harbor was the site of a press conference to spotlight recent restoration efforts. To commemorate the event, politicians, including Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown and New York Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Charles Schumer, lined up along the Harbor’s “bowstring” pedestrian bridge, each carrying a little pail filled with a history-making brew of water from Gateway Harbor in North Tonawanda and the murky waters that flowed below their feet.

As the Buffalo News reported, Brown cheered at the event, saying, “We can finally proclaim that the 12-year, $53 million Erie Canal Harbor development project is finally complete,” as he gestured with his hands to coax audience members into applauding, which they obliged.

And so, it seems fitting that the 16 fourth - tenth grade teachers aboard the Guardian today begin their own journeys of learning here, at the harborfront. They will hopefully come away with more effective methods to coax (or, perhaps, entice) their students and colleagues to respect and enjoy downtown Buffalo’s waterfront as well other points along Lake Ontario’s shoreline.

This Center for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence (COSEE) Great Lakes cruise includes teachers from New York schools in Appleton, Buffalo, Chittenango, East Aurora, Silver Creek, Sodus, Syracuse and Williamsville, as well as from schools in Chicago, Michigan, Minnesota and Ohio.

Heading the educational expedition is New York Sea Grant (NYSG) Education Specialist Helen Domske, who has conducted similar workshops on Lake Erie as well as an excursion on Lake Ontario several years ago. Domske is working with teachers to develop journals and teaching tools to bring back to their classrooms. And teachers will have plenty of hands-on experience to draw from this week - from collecting and analyzing data to learning about the interactions of water, weather, aquatic life and parallels between Lake Ontario and the world’s oceans.

Throughout the week, we’ll be docking at ports in Youngstown, Clayton and Oswego, each with its own set of stops and experiences to share. We’ll see you on the Lake and on shore as the week progresses. Fresh from our emergency safety lessons on deck of the Lake Guardian in my immersion suit, this is NYSG’s Web Content Manager, Paul Focazio, signing off until tomorrow.