Here begins a ripping good tale! It starts with 21 students, 11 crew, and one tall ship docked in beautiful Port Vell, Barcelona. We arrived yesterday between 1400 and 1600 to meet the crew and settle into our bunks.cozy. At 1608 we assembled at the aft of Mama Cramer for crew introductions and orientation from Captain Elliot. Remember to always take care of your feet!

Today marked our first official arrival via sail!  Exciting times were had for all this morning as the students, faculty, and staff congregated on deck to participate in docking the Seamans at Samoa.  Finally, the vomit-ridden night had passed, students were beginning to grow their sea legs, and a beautiful rainbow greeted us as we sailed into port.

As with any arrival to a new territory, we had to go through customs and wait to be approved before we were able to get off the ship.

The Global Ocean, SEA Semester class C-255 begins!
We now have a full company onboard the Corwith Cramer in Barcelona, with 21 students familiarizing themselves with their new home.  All are well and excited to begin the first “Global Ocean” program.

We will stay in Barcelona to work on research projects in the port for the next three days.  We will depart on Saturday morning, bound for Mallorca, through the Straits of Gibraltar, Madeira and the Canary Islands, with science all along the way and lots of activities in our ports of call.

This morning was spent doing safety drills, including MOB (Man Over-Board), fire, and abandon ship. While many of us were getting over some jet-lag, the crowd seemed genuinely excited to use the fire hoses and don our safety immersion suits. To paint a better picture of the safety suits imagine a thick red neoprene jumpsuit which transforms all body types into a Gumby-like figure. Luckily, our struggling to fit into these costumes coincided with a local Samoan church service, so we were provided background music which seemed to match our morning tone——joyous.

Today was our first full day aboard the Robert C. Seamans and all of us were excited, though some were grumbling through the 0600 wakeup this morning.

To begin the day, we walked over to the Hokulea boat and spoke with the crew of the vessel. The boat is a modern-day version of traditional Polynesian navigation canoes used to explore Pacific Islands.

Greetings to all of our blog readers! All S-255 students & their luggage have safely arrived aboard the Robert C. Seamans. Stay tuned for further blog updates after we all settle in and get underway.

S-255, Sustainability in Polynesia Island Cultures & Ecosystems, will depart Pago Pago, American Samoa tomorrow. The SSV Robert C. Seamans will tentatively make port stops in Samoa, Wallis & Futuna and Fiji, before their voyage ends in Auckland, New Zealand, around November 7th. A second shore component in New Zealand rounds out the program, ending on November 17th.

The first SEA Semester: The Global Ocean, will get underway when C-255 sets sail on Monday, September 29th. The SSV Corwith Cramer will depart Barcelona, Spain with tentative port stops in Mallorca, Cádiz, and Madeira. C-255 will end their voyage around November 8th, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.