Zoya Buckmire, of St. George’s University in Grenada, talks completing her final academic assignments and Caribbean Reef Expedition’s conclusion in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Gretchen Beehler, of Purdue University, describes snorkeling the coral reefs around Barbuda as part of SEA Semester’s Caribbean Reef Expedition.

The crew of the Corwith Cramer has arrived in San Juan to mark the end of SEA Semester’s first Caribbean Reef Expedition program.  All hands had a great time snorkeling and sailing in the waters of Grenada, St. Vincent, Montserrat, Antigua, Barbuda, and the USA. 

We have spent the last couple of days sailing our way to Puerto Rico. Last night was our last dawn watch for C-watch and the last watch we will ever have on this boat L. Dawn watch is always difficult but we kept ourselves awake with puppy chow and just making each other laugh. After six hours of making up songs and just being loopy, all our dreams came true when at 0640 a bunch of dolphins came to play in our ship’s wake!

“Wire ready!” I shout as I stand by the hydrowinch and prepare to lower two pantyhose stuffed with decorated Styrofoam cups into the ocean. It may not sound like it, but our last science deployment of the voyage is quite an emotional event. Students and crew alike spent the last day adorning their own cups with depictions of various sea creatures, coral reefs, beautiful Caribbean sunsets, and treasured memories from our journey

Aboard the Corwith Cramer travelling by sea, her lovely crew and I have seen Grenada, Tobago Cays, Canouan, Montserrat, Antigua and Barbuda. This past month has been filled with countless adventures and breathtaking moments too profound to ever forget. The feeling of sailing in the dark on a moonless night is amazing.

Halley Steinmetz, from UMass-Amherst, describes snorkeling the reefs around Montserrat and a tour of the volcano, as part of Caribbean Reef Expedition.

I have always enjoyed cooking food, especially for other people, but have never fancied myself an especially good “cook” or have had dreams of cooking professionally.

Yet, since November 18th I have spent the majority of my time in the galley, the Cramer’s kitchen, working as the assistant steward (cook). My job is to help the steward, Grady, with preparing the six meals a day we eat on board: breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, and midnight snack.

Beside the Corwith Cramer, Barbuda stretches out- low-lying and tranquil, encompassing half the horizon. The water is the kind of clear aqua blue that you would expect to find on a brochure advertising some type of dream getaway; and the sun warms my skin as I lean into a wind that hasn’t seen humans since it left the Sahara Desert to blow across the Atlantic.

Hello from Antigua!

We arrived here early this morning, around 0800, after one day’s sail from Montserrat. As we steered into this bay, four ridiculously huge cruise ships pulled in as well, making our 134ft tall-ship look like a toy boat. While we waited for Captian Chris to clear us into customs, we watched these gargantuan boats pass us by, each carrying thousands of people.