The Program: It seems so long ago, on June 10th, that 22 students and three faculty met to begin S-287 Protecting the Phoenix Islands (aka: PIPA – Phoenix Islands Protected Area). That evening after a number of introductions and orientations it was explained to the students that the cottages were much more than accommodations.

At this point it is T- 2 days until we arrive back in American Samoa and the past day and a half has given me a somewhat odd chance to compare where I started to where I am now. For the past 48 hours we’ve been dealing with some of the roughest seas and conditions since the beginning of our voyage.

The waves have been getting rougher and rougher the past couple of days, approaching the heights they were in the beginning of the trip. The Easterly Winds are steadily pretty strong at around a force five, helping to build the swells. A watch had dawn watch this morning, Michelle, Silas and I were in lab.

Today’s blog is written by our I-Kiribati observer, Miita. In addition to his role as observer for the government of Kiribati, he has been participating fully in the student experience, beginning with classes in Woods Hole in June.

Living on the boat was very good since it was very comfortable in terms of taking shower in anytime you want. Food was good I like the food so much since I taste food that I never taste before and beside that we ate more a lot of vegetable on this boat. Sleeping was really good and I sleep well in my small bunk. This boat was very clean boat because we do a lot of cleaning on this boat and I love cleaning because I want to live in a clean environment. Those things are very cool to me since sailing in the ocean in a long time with that kind of exciting condition make me happy.

The image attached to this post is what led to the concept of this piece, and truly has left me at a crossroads. We just left Nikumaroro a few days ago, and I’m still wrestling with the idea that our return to Pago Pago (and effectively back home) is imminent.

It’s hard to believe an entire month has passed since the students of S- 287 landed in Pago Pago and boarded the ship that is now our home for the first time. It’s even crazier to think about coming ashore in just 8 days, and being a world away from these islands, which are some of the most beautiful and amazing places in the world.

Where to even start… Sheesh there are so many things I could write about, but I’ll keep it to just a few: Orona and the stars on the open ocean.

Orona was nothing short of absolutely spectacular, utterly unbelievable.

What an exciting night we had!

As the previous blog posts have mentioned, we anchored at Orona two days ago, and the plan was to stay there until tomorrow morning.

We arrived at Orona yesterday afternoon after an unforgettable time on Kanton.  Today started around 6am with a beautiful sunrise and tasty chocolate chip pumpkin pancakes.  After some quick chores, our watch group packed up the small boat and made our way over to the beach.

SEA Semester in the NEWS
Evidence and patterns of tuna spawning inside a large no-take Marine Protected Area, Scientific Report
Tuna are Spawning in Marine Protected Areas, MIT News

Can protected marine sanctuaries like the Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA) benefit highly migratory species, like tuna? That’s the topic of a report recently published in Scientific Reports.