Greetings,

Today, the SSV Corwith Cramer docked in Christiansted, St. Croix, USVI, completing the C-288 voyage from Woods Hole, Ma to the Caribbean.

Much has happened for the Corwith Cramer and her crew over the weekend.  We shifted anchorages to Rendezvous Bay, held final Oceanography Presentations and celebrated everyone’s creativity with a Cramer Art gallery.  That was Saturday!

From beach to asphalt to jungle, within ten minutes we conquered all these elements on our way to the old sugarcane mill. The rotting wooden steps that we needed to traverse the hillside were the final obstacle in our way until we reach the old, run down entrance of our destination.

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.

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.

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.