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.

So uhhh, tonight we saw aliens.

Just as I was settling into a relaxing anchor watch after a long day of customs, ice cream, anchoring, swim calls, delicious views, and overly sunny and sweaty cuddle puddles, some more excitement peered around the corner.

BOOK REVIEW: Ahab’s Rolling Sea: A Natural History of Moby-Dick
by Richard King, SEA Visiting Associate Professor, Maritime History and Literature
“Pursuing the White Whale, A briny exploration of Melville’s greatest work”
By William Howarth
The American Scholar

“In September 1891, retired District Inspector No. 75 for the Port of New York died at home on East 26th Street. Literati shrugged. Herman Melville, once known as ‘the man who lived with cannibals,’ was an antique footnote from the age of sail. His Pacific swashbucklers, Typee and Omoo, were long out of print, and his meandering seaborne epic Moby-Dick sank on publication in 1851, taking his writing career with it.”

Another wonderful day here aboard the Cramer out in the Sombrero passage just due east of the Sir Francis Drake Chanel.  Today students spent time collecting inventory for galley team, learning the intricacies of plate tectonics in the Caribbean and relaxing out on the course yard aloft for a beautiful sunset over Virgin Gorda.

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.

We’re moving towards the end, solidifying friendships, falling into easy routines, becoming confident and competent. More than skills and learning, our personhood is shining through, and as Megan mentioned at the end of our last watch, we are working towards bettering ourselves. Here we are:

A couple days have passed since our port stop in Dominica and we are now getting back into the rhythm of watch cycle and exploring our new responsibilities in Phase 3.

As the assistant engineer I have spent a long time familiarizing myself with our engineering spaces and the things we keep in them. We have vast, organized stores of tools, materials, knick-knacks, and thingamabobs so that in any problem-solving scenario we may have the supplies on board that we need to fix just about anything that could pop up.

Well, I am writing my blog entry a few days after I was signed up to write one, but better late than never!  One would think that when you say you’re going sailing for 6 weeks, that the days under sail, no engine, and a following steady breeze would be a given, but this is not always the case.

Hello again… another day here on the Cramer. OMMMMGGGGG this is such a beautiful place. We are so blessed to be able to live on such a beautiful ship.