Not a day goes by on the Cramer which is uneventful. Today during our ship’s meeting, Bonnie started a game of boat clue. Each person on the ship picked a who (everyone aboard), what (a random object), and where (a spot on the ship) out of a bag.

Food is a big part of our life on the Robert Seamans: we eat three meals (each with two sittings), and three scheduled snack times directly in-between meals every day. With six scheduled food times and extra snack freely available, it kind of feels like we are eating and cooking like Hobbits from JRR Tolkien’s realm of Middle Earth. Each day our ship’s steward makes breakfast, second breakfast, elevensies snack, “lunchin”, second “lunchin”, afternoon snack, supper, dinner, and midnight snack.

Why do we become so excited when we see whale spouts? Or when a pod of dolphins can be seen swimming along the bowsprit? Or when the occasional Mola mola floats on by? As I peer off into the vastness of the open ocean, I see a beautiful desert; dynamic and fluid, yet, on the surface, practically devoid of life.

Two nights ago I did not sleep well.  Around 0230, I first awoke to the sound of the port jib sheet winch being cranked away on, we were gybing.  I could feel the heel of the boat increase and then I heard light rain hit the deck.  I lay there thinking about our arrival to Dominica and the excitement of coming up on deck in a few hours and seeing land, smelling land, hearing land.

The nature of our adventure means we don’t always get to experience every moment of every day on the ship. I woke up to stillness the day we arrived at Aotea Great Barrier Island having slept through our anchoring in Kaiarara Bay. After hoisting myself out of my bunk and making my way on deck, I found myself completely surrounded by lush, green, jagged hills, and calm water in every direction.

Hi everyone!

It has been quite a day aboard the Corwith Cramer! (Hopefully) As most of the parents and friends back home know, today the Cramer crew received the news that the remainder of our port stops have been cancelled due to more corona virus outbreaks in the Caribbean region.

Hello Friends and Family!

I am writing to you from my small home of a bunk, on the port side of the main salon.

As most students, my shipmates, aboard this research vessel would tell you, stepping foot onto the Robert C. Seamans was like walking into a whole new world. Stealing glances at the ship as we loaded our luggage onto it was intimidatin: the ropes (now dubbed “lines”) seemed tangled together and unmanageable; the crew members clamored their way onto the net at the bow of the boat (the bowsprit) like they didn’t have a fear in the world; Spring, one staff member, stood with bare feet on one of the yards about 20 feet above the boat, bending over upside-down to check the rigging.

Sea Education Association in the NEWS
“Microplastics research needs innovation, health focus”
By Marla Broadfoot
Environmental Factor
National Institutue of Environmental Health Sciences

Experts from the environmental science and health communities met Jan. 27-28 in Washington, D.C., to discuss microplastics, the tiny pieces of plastic now being detected throughout the environment. The workshop was organized by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) and sponsored by NIEHS.

It’s taken a little while for me to get around to writing this because I’ve spent what I’m pretty certain has been the last 48 hours counting sargassum in the lab. That’s not an exact number because time moves differently on this boat where days are 18 hours long instead of 24 and those hours really drag on when you’re separating Fluitans III from Natans VIII over the lab sink. But that’s not a bad thing.