Current position of the SSV Corwith Cramer. Click on the vessel to view position history. Use the layer tools, top right, to change the map style or to view data layers. Dates and times use GMT (Greenwich Mean Time).

SEA Currents: SSV Corwith Cramer

Eliza Malakoff, A Watch, Carleton College

Bastian using some creativity to keep safe from the sun while learning to play some sweet tunes.

After a thorough ship cleaning this morning, we hoisted several sails and, passing beautiful green hills and craggy basalt cliffs, entered the open ocean. The water slowly turned from the estuary's brown to a stunning clear blue as sheerwater and petrels - seafaring birds often seen far from coast - replaced orange-billed oystercatchers and cormorant-like shags. Now, the Bay of Islands is only a thin line on the horizon and the ship is bounding over waves and swells towards nearly two weeks of uninterrupted sailing.

We have been given perfect weather for this first day back at sea and enthusiasm is high - perhaps even higher than consternation about seasickness. The sky is blue, filled with light puffy Cumulus clouds, and the sharp New Zealand sun is bright. Guitar and ukulele music has lilted through the ship since we left, providing a fitting soundtrack to the beginning of this adventure. Even the ship herself seems excited, jumping through the ocean, occasionally sending sprays of saltwater to shower some unsuspecting soul on deck.

The rocking and rolling of the ship can be felt everywhere in our small quarters. Although at port it seems impossible that water will ever be close to the deck of the boat, out in the waves it seems quite natural to be buffeted up and down between the peaks and troughs. The rhythm is quite remarkable - somewhere between rocking in a hammock and the butterflies-in-the-stomach feeling of going over a steep hill in a car or dropping in an elevator quickly. Sometimes when the ship rocks, water sloshes into the portholes, swirling like a washing machine before the ship rolls back to the other side. This constant motion means everything that could slide must be fastened down: water bottles have designated bags and baskets, knives are placed beneath cutting boards and containers are lashed into place. Our dinner tables, on the other hand, are gimbaled, meaning that the surface of the table rotates to stay horizontal as the ship moves from side to side around it. While this motion provides quite a challenge to walking even short distances without stumbling, it is also lulling and a lovely way to fall asleep - which, certainly, we will need to be doing a great deal of over the next two weeks. Indeed, I too will soon be climbing into my bunk to catch a few hours of sleep before standing watch through the early morning.

- Eliza Malakoff, A Watch, Carleton College