I’m not sure I’m cut out for this, I think to myself as I am buffeted by wave after wave, gingerly skirting the reef to avoid being knocked into sharp corals and spiny urchins. I squint through the turbid water, trying to identify fish whose names dance at the edge of my memory. I frantically flip through ID cards, looking for the pale, yellow-striped fish meandering below me, mocking me with its unbothered manner. Distracted, I fail to notice the swell that crashes over my snorkel, leaving me sputtering at the surface.

As we arrive back into the Hauraki Gulf where this trip began, I have been reflecting on helm duty. Since we left the dock in Auckland one month back, I figure I’ve logged well over one full day at the wheel (as has every trainee and intern aboard). For interns, this includes additional stints driving during our daily class and other all-student activity. This short chunk of time is just enough to make me dangerous (if that) – and it has taught a few key lessons.

Hi Momma (and everyone else who’s reading this),

I know I’ve been able to talk to you a few times since boarding the Cramer, but I want to make sure you’re still reading all the blog posts! I hope everything is going well at home, I can promise you they’re wonderful here in the Caribbean.

SEA Semester in the News
Taking the classroom to the sea
Sasha Nyary
Mount Holyoke News

The experiences of two SEA Semester students from Mount Holyoke, Sal Cosmedy and Mia Sigler, currently sailing aboard the SSV Robert C. Seamans with class S-283, The Global Ocean, New Zealand, are described in an article on the college website.

These past couple of days have brought us fair weather, which is a pleasant change from the wild weather that we’ve seen for most of the rest of our trip. Although we welcome the calm and sunny days, I think a lot of us are hoping for some wind.

A Reynolds number (Re) can be used in aquatic science to quantify the viscosity an organism experiences. An organism with a lower Re experiences more viscosity than an organism with a higher Re. Part of the Re formula includes the size of the organism, smaller sizes contributing to smaller Re (more viscosity) and larger sizes contributing to larger Re (less viscosity).

Jonathan Harris, C-112, is the winner of the 2019 Armin E. Elsaesser III Fellowship. Jonathan, a geologist and former SEA crewmember, is an education and outreach coordinator at Mississippi State University. Harris was selected from a field of 13 applicants.

Hello land creatures who may be following our voyage, I am the CRX Reef Specialist and my name is Kalina Grabb. I am an SEA alumnus (S250) and currently a Ph.D. student in the MIT/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) Joint Program in the Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry department under Dr. Colleen Hansel. My specific research is on reactive oxygen species that are associated extracellularly with coral (more explanations to follow).

This past weekend, S-283 enjoyed a long port stay in Napier. While in the area, we continued our Conservation and Management class’s project known as the Human Uses of Ocean Space Consensus. As a part of this, we found that Napier’s port was the most commercial out of the few port stops we have done so far.

Context: Often when I think about past disasters I categorize them as sort of “old news” since most of these incidents occurred outside of my lifetime. Montserrat is unique in that it has experienced deadly levels of volcanic activity within the last few decades. The Soufriere Hills Volcano which covers most of the southern portion of the island went through periods of intense activity through the 1990s and 2000s.