Hey everyone, Sarah Banks here.

We’re finally aboard the Robert C. Seamans, wahoOo!

The intrepid students of SEA Semester S-289: Climate and Society have all arrived to SSV Robert C. Seamans in Auckland, New Zealand after completing shore components in Woods Hole, MA and the South Island of New Zealand.

Students of Class S-289, Climate & Society, board the SSV Robert C. Seamans in Auckland, New Zealand on Nov. 14th after a one-week second shore component on New Zealand’s South Island.  The voyage ends in Auckland on Dec. 15th after port stops in the Bay of Islands, Napier, and Great Barrier Island.

Not so long ago, in the not too distant past, a younger version of myself embarked across the North Pacific on the SSV Robert C. Seamans. I was an eager and adventurous little explorer following a dream to sail across the sea.

Students and faculty arrived safely in New Zealand today, surprisingly energetic considering the long hours across the Pacific Ocean.

Dear old world, you are very lovely, and I am glad to be alive in you.” – Anne of Green Gables, LM Montgomery

Hey all!

Its Grace here, reporting from the New Zealand EEZ (exclusive economic zone) just one day away from Auckland.

“If I have courage, it is because I have faith in the teachings of my ancestors. With that courage you can travel anywhere in the world and never be lost.”

  - Mau Piailug

Dutch Blitz: A high intensity card game of skill, speed, and sometimes plain luck (very similar to Pounce if anyone has ever played that). But this is not just a simple game of cards. It is a way for so many of us to come together, take a break, laugh and have a small bit of everyday land life brought onto the ship.

Ropes and lines cascade down from the top of the mast, to the end of the spreaders, and all the way down to the deck, adorning our ship like a spider web that’s been stretched across the rig.