Not so long ago, in the not too distant past, a younger version of myself embarked across the North Pacific on the SSV Robert C. Seamans. I was an eager and adventurous little explorer following a dream to sail across the sea.

Dear old world, you are very lovely, and I am glad to be alive in you.” – Anne of Green Gables, LM Montgomery

Hey all!

Its Grace here, reporting from the New Zealand EEZ (exclusive economic zone) just one day away from Auckland.

“If I have courage, it is because I have faith in the teachings of my ancestors. With that courage you can travel anywhere in the world and never be lost.”

  - Mau Piailug

Dutch Blitz: A high intensity card game of skill, speed, and sometimes plain luck (very similar to Pounce if anyone has ever played that). But this is not just a simple game of cards. It is a way for so many of us to come together, take a break, laugh and have a small bit of everyday land life brought onto the ship.

Ropes and lines cascade down from the top of the mast, to the end of the spreaders, and all the way down to the deck, adorning our ship like a spider web that’s been stretched across the rig.

Wow! The crew really went all out today to create a haunted ship experience for us. Complete with leftover ground sausage, beets, and ketchup over the victim and villain in the galley, screams, spooky lights, someone floating in a harness suspended from the ceiling (wow Ava!), and a lot of other hidden surprises.

Hello from the middle of the ocean! Clearly we’ve been here for some time, but every time I walk on deck to realize we’re surrounded 360 degrees by only ocean, it hits different. You would think that I’d have my sea legs by now, but it still feels like every ladder I climb is fighting me and winning.

Today I was the birthday junior junior watch officer, as the plebs (or students) say. Officially, the title is junior watch officer, shadowing phase, but since it was my birthday and we like to get creative on the Robert C. Seamans, I was crowned the birthday junior junior watch officer (B-J-JWO).

(First and foremost: Happy birthday, Mom! I love and miss you so much!)