Fire Drill

Hello from the other side… of the Atlantic! Today we made our last foray into the city of Barcelona and continued our assimilation to life aboard the Corwith Cramer. We practiced emergency drills, capped by the emergence and donning of immersion suits, ran through the procedural deployment of scientific equipment using our shipboard hydrowinch system and celebrated our second shipboard-birthday (Kate) in two days.

In the afternoon we visited the Port Vell fish market. In class we had learned about artisanal and commercial fishing in the Mediterranean and to see those techniques in practice was truly grounding. We saw nets used for purse seining, clay pots fresh off of the pottery wheel to trap octopi, and long lines for harvesting hake. This market supplies fish and other seafood to local fishmongers and representatives of restaurants. We were present for the docking and processing of one of the fishing vessels’ cargo and for the auction of these fresh products to local vendors.

This past week has been full of these moments, where our time spent in the classroom leapt off of the pages of our notebooks and into the real world. Excitement aboard the ship is palpable as in only a few short hours we will be setting sail for Mallorca.

The stewards continue to impress, concocting vegetarian samosas and delicious butternut squash soup for dinner. We concluded our night with further exploration of the city and the final session of watch training.

- Spencer