Hello from the Robert C. Seamans!
It’s hard to believe it’s only been about a week on board! Every day we’ve had has been so full of activity and learning.
I’m sitting in the little library as I write this, watching the port light (window) get intermittently submerged in water as we rock. Surrounding me are many old books about sailing, cooking, and natural history. I was happy to find that many books can be found around the ship, as well as many small trinkets and treasures that are a delight to find. Many of us have been enjoying a book called Star Lore which discusses the many stories about constellations from different cultures. Rocky, our first mate, just told us that a squall is coming. Some rain will be a welcome respite from the heat.
We are currently motor-sailing towards Nuku Hiva. After leaving Tahiti, we started with motor sailing because we all had a lot to learn quickly and we couldn’t have all the sails up with full confidence. After Rangiroa, we have been travelling completely on sail power. We’ve had our main sail reefed (mainly because we aren’t fully trained yet), and we’ve also had the jib, fore stays’l, and main stays’l up. We can’t sail too close to the wind, so we’ve been travelling a little left of our intended route to Nuku Hiva. Now that we’re motor-sailing again, we can try to get back on route.
Some of us, myself included, have been experiencing some seasickness. This wears off after a couple of days for most but it did come back after our stop in Rangiroa, where we lost our sea legs. It can feel all-encompassing at times, but it, like everything, passes. It’s really heartening to see how we have come together as a team to step up and support each other.
We’ve had a lot to adjust to, and most of our first days have been learning how to live on a boat. It’s only now that I feel like I’m getting more settled, and I still have a long way to go. It’s exciting to be so busy with so much purpose.
Our stop in Rangiroa (5/12-5/13) was full of excitement. Rangiroa is a huge atoll; you can’t see one side from the other! Arriving through the channel into the atoll was gorgeous, and it was exciting to drop anchor. Many of our island focused research groups collected some great data. Sophie is going to describe the shark group’s progress in the next blog, I believe. Our spur and groove group and coral symbiont project also had some successful days. I got to explore the island a bit, and swim in the reef offshore. Zoe and I found a beach with many large crabs and skippable chunks of coral! I then helped Isabelle collect data for her coral eDNA project. It was great to explore the reefs. We all sat on deck after and helped her filter the water she collected. We saw some beautiful fish as well! Sophie organized a local shark conservation organization to tell us about their work, which was a great experience for us all. I’ll let her tell you about that.
There are nine sails aboard the Bobby C (actually technically 8 since we don’t have a course on board), and many lines (ropes) to learn. Watch groups have been going through them together in preparation for a competition to see which group knows them best. My watch, A watch, is certain to win. We also call ourselves ACE (anticyclonic eddy) watch.
As the first blogger, I feel a responsibility to let you folks at home know about our general daily life. We’re split into three watch groups with seven students, a mate, a TA, and a science person. We work on 18 hour cycles, with 6 hours of work followed by twelve hours of rest. The watches are dawn (0100-0700), morning (0700-1300), evening/afternoon (1300-1900), and night (1900-0100). In each watch, we will have a science team and a boat team. The boat team cycles through jobs that keep us safe and the boat running. These include:
- Helm: This person steers the boat! They are given a course to steer by the captain or mate, and use a large and glorious compass to keep us on track. There is a bit of a learning curve to keep from overcorrecting. I really enjoy this job. It’s meditative but also active. I just went up on deck to enjoy the rain and saw Isabelle at the helm completely drenched but with a huge smile.
- Nav/weather: This person keeps up our hourly weather log and our charting. This may be my favorite job because you get a good idea of what the waves, wind, and clouds are like at the moment. This helps us understand what’s going on in our surroundings. Because our speed influences the wind we feel (apparent wind), there are a couple of steps to determine the true wind. One of the ways to do this is to use the Vector Master, which I think is an awesome name. This person also updates our chart (map) with our location.
- Galley: We are eating extremely well here on the Seamans. We eat three meals a day plus three snacks a day, and there are always things to munch on. This creates a lot of dishes, and this person helps out our wonderful stewards with those dishes.
- Lookout: Okay, this is actually my favorite job. We are required by the coast guard to keep a lookout at all times. This person stands at the bow and watches our horizon, clouds, and surrounding water. This can be a great break from being constantly surrounded by people, and you get to stare at the ocean for an hour. It’s striking to see the horizon stretching out anyway you look. We really only have each other and this ship. I have enjoyed singing while on lookout, as have many others on my watch (like Jonah and Chloe). When we get some sporty conditions as we did yesterday, the bow bounces a lot and the person on lookout gets the feeling of riding a bucking horse or a rollercoaster. It’s so so so fun. In calmer moments, it is equally as beautiful. Maya described sitting on lookout as the sun rose, and being deeply moved by the beauty of the beams of sun through the clouds.
- Boat check: For every hour of every day until we disembark, we will have someone check the entire boat. This involves moving loose gear and checking on important equipment. In our engine room, which houses stuff like our main engine, generators, and water maker, we write down a bunch of numbers and report to the engineers if there’s anything out of the ordinary. The engine room can get very hot (when I did my second boat check in morning watch today, it was at 120 F). But this makes it all the more refreshing to step out on deck and feel the cool ocean breeze.
- Depending on the time of day, watches also have responsibilities like cleaning and handling sail.
I include this information to give you an idea of what life looks like on board, but also so that any worried parents or friends know we’re staying safe. We wear harnesses whenever we’re on watch, and clip in if we’re ever at lookout, throwing up, or throwing compost over the rail. We have also gone over what to do in emergencies. We’ve drilled man overboard, abandon ship, and just did fire before I sat down to write this. We have special safety measures at night so that the mate on watch is aware of everyone on deck, and in sporty conditions we put up lines for stability and sometimes each wear a satellite device for if we need help. Our captain is a wonderful, kind, and very trustworthy and experienced person that we are lucky to have. Okay, there you go worried parents.
The science team on watch does science! We have mostly been learning the ropes but are just now getting into the groove of two daily CTD (conductivity, temperature, depth) casts and net tows.To deploy these instruments, we have to stop the boat by heaving to. I learned how to do that today! We’ve also been learning how to measure pH and do titrations for alkalinity. These measurements will be important for my, Henry’s, and Sicada’s project on the carbon cycle across ocean conditions. I’m specifically looking at salps (google them!) which play a huge role in pumping carbon to the deep sea. We have a couple on board right now! Also on board we have a damselfish named Osmosis Jones who ended up in our saltwater pipes! We recently caught a fish in some of our lines (a wahoo), which is exciting for the projects who want to know about fins and biodiversity. It’s also exciting for the rest of us since we all enjoyed fresh poisson cru with rice and salad at lunch today! This species can often be found with two parasites in their gut. There is a story Barb was telling us about two lovers who were cursed to live inside of a wahoo forever. These parasites are now intertwined in our tank with Osmosis Jones. Also as I was writing, we just caught another wahoo!
Science also involves hourly bird counts for 15 minutes. These are useful for our biodiversity projects, and we’ve been lucky to have Boris Worm on board leading these counts and providing insights about diversity and conservation.
We have a daily all-hands class at 1430 which includes reports and lessons from our faculty and leaders. Today, we learned about star navigation from Cap. I’m really excited to get started on that. He showed us a cool device called a Star Finder. This name is only rivaled by Vector Mastor.
I brought some oil painting and watercolor supplies and am excited to get starting on leading art workshops. It's been hard to find time outside of sleeping, eating, and watch, so I’m looking forward to finding that time once I’m more in the groove of our schedule. We have lots of visual artists, musicians, and poets on board. I think reflecting on this experience through art is really important.
When we do find free time, you’ll often see people hanging out on deck journaling, sketching, and chatting. This group of students and crew has been really fun to get to know and I’ve had some lovely conversations so far. I’m inspired by the wonderful group of people I get to learn and gain insights from. I’ve really enjoyed showers on deck. I had a great experience showering at night on the bow. There was a bit of a squall. The waves, rain, stars, and bioluminescence made it magical.
Night is beautiful on board. There are so many stars from one horizon to the other. Bioluminescent plankton make our wake and surrounding waves glow. It creates a beautiful symmetry.
I’m currently feeling tired, grateful, and content. I can see myself getting very attached to this boat. I’m about ready to get a nap in before dinner so I’ll leave it here. Thanks for tuning in and you can look forward to some more great blogs now that we’re a bit more settled in!
