The students of C-253, Transatlantic Crossing, will join the Corwith Cramer on Monday, June 2nd. Their voyage will end around Saturday, June 28th, in Cork, Ireland.

Precursory note: Today’s blog has been brought to you by a group fondly known as the “other others,” or more commonly known on land as Jennica Deely, Marketing Coordinator, and Laura Mahoney, Admissions Counselor.

Despite our passion for SEA’s mission of exploration, understanding, and stewardship of the oceans, after nearly five months at SEA, neither of us had been properly introduced to the matriarch of SEA Semester, Mama Cramer. With that, we were sent packing to Bermuda over two weeks ago with nothing but unbridled enthusiasm and only a theoretical idea of what to expect.

Once upon a time in a land far far away from Bermuda there was a group of young adventurers….

Today we went to the New York Aquarium on Coney Island. We heard a talk about the Wildlife Conservation Society’s New York Seascape project, and their work with sharks and eels. We were treated to a behind the scenes look at the exhibits that are currently on display. Unfortunately much of the aquarium is still under repair from Hurricane Sandy.

Here were are docked in New York City, more than 1600 nautical miles away from our starting location in San Juan, Puerto Rico. I’’m sure the previous blogs have made it clear, but it has been an incredible journey through and through. Up until the very end my experience on Mama Cramer has been exceptional (thankful it’s not quite over).

It’s our last full day sailing and the surrounding sea is giving a fitting farewell. Morning watch began with a large swell, soaking several of us. It wasn’’t until this point that I realized foul weather gear may be a good idea for the 6 hours ahead of me. The temperature has also dropped consistently. I’’ve started wearing pants for the first time in the four week trip. It is weather like this that makes me eager to land in New York.

Before I start this blog entry, I have to give a very big thank you too all of my shipmates who allowed me to experience my graduation today. Although it may have not been with all of my friends ashore, my makeshift graduation ceremony will never be forgotten. All of you guys really out did yourselves; I truly love my “diploma”.

As I scroll through previous blog posts, I see yesterday’s blog already started some Mother’s Day shoutouts. But given the number of requests I had from shipmates all morning who knew I was writing today’s blog (and who

also, ahem, reminded me today is Mother’s Day), I can’’t let my post go without giving a ginormous shoutout to all the mothers of all the sailors aboard Mama Cramer. Happy Mother’s Day to all! Lots of good thoughts and love are flying toward you all from the North Atlantic Ocean.

The word “sleep” seems somewhat meaningless anymore. As we are coming down to the wire, students are fervently and faithfully chugging away at all of our assignments due as we hit the dock in New York. We have been reminded that as important as all of our school work is, this truly is the experience of a lifetime and we need to “be here.” That balance is a tough one to achieve and will probably be grossly undermined in the midst of our seemingly endless to do lists, but our efforts still persist.

It has been a momentous past few days aboard the Corwith Cramer. Today’s and yesterday’s weather were deceptively calm compared to the howling winds and 8-10ft seas we were greeted with last night. Weather does change fast at sea, particularly since we’’ve left the tropics behind.  The ever-changing conditions have been keeping us on our toes. Difficult to tell these days if it’s going to be hot and sunny or spraying and ominous when you wake up! In anticipation of the low pressure system we went through last night, we struck our mains’l and replaced it with a much smaller sail that is only set in high winds and rough seas - the storm trys’’l.

As we continue our voyage north, we have all become well accustomed to the spills and thrills of life and sea, including, but not limited to dining on gimbaled tables, showering in big swells, and running PCR’s in a lab that seriously rocks. One thing I have yet to master is cooking at sea. Yesterday was “Staff in the Galley Day”, in which G Watch (Galley Watch) cautiously turned over the galley to the mates, deckhands, and scientists while they got some long overdue R&R. With my mom’s chicken pie recipe in mind, (no, not chicken pot pie. Just chicken, no veggies) I enthusiastically volunteered to make dinner.