Studying abroad in New Zealand, SEA Part 2 of 2

SEA semester is a very unique program in the fact that you are literally studying abroad on a tall ship sailing around whatever country your program you picked is in. I am in New Zealand living aboard the Robert C Seamans. She is a 134 ft. double masted beauty. Here is a post from December 10th during my program. I was barely on land and had no contact with the outside world for six weeks, it was an amazing experience. 

Auckland, New Zealand skyline at night

December 10, 2016. It is crazy how my days blur together and the next thing you know its four days later. Its like a bunch of memorable things decided to happen all at once. 

Lets start with the creatures that we have seen: sei whales, dolphins, pygmy whales, albatross, more dolphins and its just amazing! I am very happy I finally got to see some creatures because I was getting worried I was never going to see some.

Dolphins playing by the ship 

Woke up for morning watch one day and ate some crepes with bacon in them and then bam! Three whale spouts. The whales were decently close to our ship and they kept spouting and we could see their fin and such. It was a very neat experience.

During my galley day, back to that later, there was like 7 dolphins playing in the bow and I sat up there and watched them forever just having the time of their lives. It is so different watching them in the wild compared to anywhere else. It was a very special time.

The pygmy whales showed up a few days later and they were decently far away but we could still see their fins and spouts. There was a large pod of them following us for quite some time but then they left. 

Other things, we anchored last night in a harbor area because yes, we are FINALLY BACK BY THE MAINLAND! It is so crazy to see so much land again. Tonight we are anchored only 7 miles away from our dock in Napier. I cannot believe that we are already 3/4 done with this trip. We are going to be docked for a few days so I am very excited to explore. 

Swim Call while at anchor ft. my beautiful home, the ship

 

So back to my galley day. Galley in boat language means kitchen. So everyone gets one day in the galley to assist the steward in helping him create meals and prepare them and such. It is a long day it starts at 0500 and goes till 2000. The menu I had for the day was:

Breakfast: eggs and bacon

Morning snack: coconut raspberry muffins

Lunch: brats and mashed potatoes 

Afternoon snack: chips and dip and roasted almonds

Dinner: enchilada casserole

Midnight snack: chocolate marshmallow pretzel bark 

It was quite the adventurous day and very busy. Cooking for 34 people is not an easy task. 

SSV Robert C Seamans, my home for the six weeks