Credit: SML/Cornell University

Shoals Marine Laboratory, which began as an island-based marine sciences field station in the Gulf of Maine for college undergraduates, then expanded with noncredit courses for adults, now extends the welcoming gangplank for children and teenagers, ages 5 and above.

The new addition to the laboratory's roster of program offerings is called Kids Ahoy! Discovering Marine Science for the Whole Family. It is scheduled for Aug. 25-27, at a cost of $300, room and board and all activities included.

The island field station is operated by Cornell University and the University of New Hampshire on Appledore Island in the Isles of Shoals, six miles by boat from Portsmouth, N.H. "We call this the learning island, and you're never too old – or too young – to learn more about the diverse organisms with which we share this intriguing marine ecosystem," says Shoals Marine Laboratory director James Morin. "With all the field trips and interactive workshops to learn about life under the sea and along the shore, with all the snorkeling and stargazing and tidepooling – who knows what these kids will discover."

Details on adult and family education courses offered between May 16 and Sept. 8 – ranging from birding and marine mammal study to island horticulture, art and sea kayaking – are available on the Shoals Marine Laboratory Web site http://www.sml.cornell.edu or by calling (607) 255-3717.

Shoals Marine Laboratory's 2003 adult and family education program includes:

• Island Bird Study, offered May 16-18 during the spring migration along the Atlantic seaboard, for beginning and experienced birders.
• Birds of the Isles: Natural History and an Introduction to Bird Banding Techniques, Aug. 28-31, with hands-on instruction by certified bird-banders.
• A Garden Is a Sea of Flowers, July 18-20, celebrates Celia Thaxter's Island Garden, which inspired artists, writers and musicians when Appledore Island was a celebrated 19th-century summer retreat.
• Marine Mammals of the Gulf of Maine, Aug. 28-31, includes excursions to offshore ledges and nutrient-rich feeding grounds of one of the most productive habitats on the planet.
• Seascapes and Landscapes: The Isles of Shoals in Watercolors, Aug. 22-25, or Pastels and Other Media, Aug. 28-31, two weekend workshops on the island where impressionist Childe Hassam worked.
• Paddle to the Sea, Sept. 5-8, sea-kayaking instruction and exploration through seabird and marine mammal habitats of Appledore and other Shoals islands.

Sixteen college-credit courses at Shoals Marine Laboratory cover the waterfront, ranging from Field Marine Biology and Ecology, Biological Illustration and Underwater Research to Tropical Marine Science (conducted in Akumal, Mexico) and Seaweeds, Plankton and Seagrass. The lab also offers Field Marine Ecology and Environmental Science for Teachers and two programs for high-schoolers: Oceanography of the Gulf of Maine (in cooperation with the Sea Education Association, Woods Hole, Mass.) and Marine Environmental Studies. A full list of 2003 credit courses is available at: http://www.sml.cornell.edu/college/pc-home.html.