Kia Ora from Napier! We are finally on land after three weeks of deep water sailing.

It is a little overwhelming. The Brigantine doesn’t rock too much, the ocean sounds different and you can walk on land. It is funny how you can get used to water in three short weeks and they say we are not made to live in the ocean. When we got dropped off at the dock gate, everyone ran to the black pebbly beach. Maybe it was a sense of freedom or maybe it was just our remedy to withdrawal from the sea.

Hi everybody! Today was an especially big day on the Cramer, with an added source of excitement/stress for all of us students. That’s right, today was the day our final research manuscripts were due. I woke up before six because it was too hot to sleep, waited for my seating of breakfast, then sat down at a laptop to continue working on my project. That’s how I spent the morning, at least until it was time for A Watch’s meeting right before lunch. We played “What If?”

The past few days of coastal sailing brings new a different challenges as well as joys to us onboard the R.C. Seamans. In one watch cycle I went from seeing not a single light at night to monitoring multiple lights from other ships, lighthouses, and navigation aids. Three weeks at sea, and we thought we were experts, but now with shoals to watch for, land and lights to take bearings off of, and other ships to navigate around, we feel like novices again.

Hello to those reading this!

We are currently sailing under a beautiful waxing gibbous moon. It is shining just bright enough that most stars are not as visible as they usually are. Tonight is an interesting one; I can feel many mixed emotions - stress to meet the deadline of our final research paper and excitement to reach Dominica in the next two days. A bet has been made for when we expect to see land and the winner gets to shout “Land ho!” As you can see, these are some pretty high stakes we’re betting for.

As we approach our anchorage, a pod of spinner dolphins dance in the bow. This is maybe the sixth marine mammal sighting today and it never ceases to amaze all onboard. Watching these beautiful moment I recount the eventful day I had before this. I am on A watch and we had the 0700 watch this morning. This was not a normal watch for myself nor my fellow A watchers as I am the first JWO for our watch.

We are more than 24 hours into our non-instrument run, and hence the unavailable current position. Hopefully the stars, wind, and seas have been guiding us correctly to our port stop in Dominica, soon to appear in a few short days! Just a month ago, most of us had never even set foot on a sailing ship; tonight, we are the ones steering the helm and calling the sail plans, all without the help of a compass or GPS. Of course, then there is the slim chance of making landfall on a different island or continent altogether.

Today was a day filled with animals and true signs that land is near.  The day was windy, twenty knots, and cool for most of the day, but that did not stop the animals from showing themselves. First there was an albatross sighting. Then we had whale spouts. The whales were not close enough or the spouts high enough out of the water to identify what species they were. And so the morning watch, my watch, carried on, including a deployment from the stern winch.

Today the stars have aligned, the trade winds returned, and clouds parted so that with a subtle nudge from Neptune - snatching the trailing spinner off our taffrail log that allowed us to actually track our mileage - we began our long anticipated non-instrument run. As if sextants and compasses weren’t low-tech enough, we’re trading them in for sticks, hand drawn star maps, and the subtle guidance of Mother Nature and Mama Cramer.

Hello good friends, dear family,
From the gallant Corwith Cramer
Sailing at six miles per hour
Across the vast and briny sea.

The last few days were occupied
Handling sail and deployments
Not to mention the assignments
That left the students sleepy-eyed.

Cheers and shouts filled the air this morning as a small group of whales surfaced so close to the ship!  It was almost as though they wanted to swim along with us for a bit.  What an incredible sight, the water from their breath condensing into a bursting cloud above the water!  These are the stories that I hear when I came up from the engine room this morning.  I had just missed it, but the excitement was palpable.  The whales were sei whales, small baleen whales that normally are more solitary.