A newly formed land

Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai: An underwater volcano surfaced in 2015, joining two landmasses together. This is not uncommon in the Kingdom of Tonga for islands to form. Although these masses usually go as fast as they come, as the ocean erodes these soft materials quickly. Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai is different. This land mass is predicted to last 100s of years due to its solidifying crust. Inside the caldera of the volcano, a lake as been created. Although not as salty as the ocean surrounding it, we discovered there is an osmosis occurring through the small rocks creating the joining island. We also gathered this relationship with the ocean by finding hot spots around the crater lake. Knowing that if there was no osmosis occurring then the water would be much warmer. 

Pictured you can see the inside of the caldera and the different rates of erosion of the volcano. In the second picture is (from left to right) the volcano, the preexisting island Hunga Ha’apai, and the Robert C Seamans at the North side of the landmass. Coming to this new land form was quite amazing. Although it was shocking to see how much plastic pollution littered black pebble beaches. No humans live here yet man made products wash up everyday carried by the strong currents of the region. I was apart pf one of the teams that collected the debris yet during our time there, we tried our best to clean up as much as we possibly could. 

The past 6 weeks in 6 minutes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag5dBVSqm0M&feature=youtu.be

If a photo is 1,000 words, then a video must be a bajillion words. Here is a little peek into what it was like to sail and live on a tall ship to what we did in American Samoa, Tonga, and Fiji to some pretty awesome coral footage off the coast of a recently formed landmass, Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai. Thanks for giving it a watch!

Sailing through the South Pacific

Talofa, Malo e lelei, and Bula from the South Pacific!
I've just finished sailing nearly 3,000 nautical miles from Pago Pago, American Samoa to Auckland, Aotearoa (also known as New Zealand). Along the way, I stopped in Vava'u, Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai, and Nuku'alofa in the Kingdom of Tonga and Suva, Fiji.
When we're sailing the boat never stops. A Watch group is always awake to keep the boat on track to get to our next destination. And because this is a scientific sailing vessel, we would also be in the lab collecting data or processing it at all hours of the day. There were 26 students and we were divided into 3 groups. We had 6 hours on watch and 12 hours off to rest, eat, shower, read, journal, and do any homework we had. Through those 6 hours on you and your Watch would either be on deck or processing in the lab. While on the deck, one person had to be on the lookout (as pictured!), someone else at the helm steering the boat, someone was recording the weather, and another was on a boat check to make sure the lab wasn't on fire or something was out of place on board. We would be in those positions for an hour before switching off to the next task. If you were in the lab, you had a list of things to do depending on the time of day. Twice in a 24-hour day period, we would deploy a neuston tow to collect zooplankton. Once a day, we would deploy a hydrocast to collect water samples from different depths of the ocean to better understand the water we were sailing above. If you happened to be on watch during a time with no deployments needed, you would often be processing the data collected from the previous watch. Let me tell ya trying to do a 100 count of zooplankton with a microscope on a moving vessel is something else! The boat is moving, you are swaying, and the zooplankton sample is actively sloshing too!
There was so much going on while on the ship I don't know how I could possibly sum it all up!

First Sighting of Land

After spending almost 5 weeks at sea, we finally got closer to our destination, the Caribbean. About 24 hours before arriving at land, there is a little tradition on the ship where everyone onboard gets to guess at what time and distance we’ll have our first sighting of land. The winner got to disembark the ship before everyone else and got treated to ice cream by the captain. I sadly lost the competition by a LARGE amount, almost embarrassingly so (my sense of distance is apparently way off), so I had to wait an extra day before exploring Carriacou, which was our first stop. Carriacou was a beautiful little island very different from other Caribbean islands since it is not particularly touristy. The locals there were so warm and welcoming. They happily answered all our questions about the island and even invited us to their pre-Christmas celebrations.  The island had plenty of white sand beaches and opportunities for swimming and snorkeling, which was highly appreciated by the entire crew since neither of us had been swimming in the ocean for the past five weeks.

After a few days in Carriacou, we set sail one last time towards Grenada! Grenada was very different from Carriacou, it was a lively island with plenty of people and lots of tourists and things to do. Here we got to explore the city and several historical landmarks. So, we not only got to sail the Atlantic Ocean, but we also got to experience and learn about new cultures.

Grenada

Grenada

Grenada

Carriacou

Carriacou

Sailing The North Atlantic

After 6 weeks of classes in Woods Hole, it was finally time to set sails aboard the SSV Corwith Cramer!!

For my program, we sailed from Woods Hole to Grenada, which means we spent about 5 weeks on the open ocean without any stops, and then the last week was spent docked in Carriacou and Grenada. In my opinion, if you want to learn how to sail, this is the perfect program! Because you get 5 weeks of uninterrupted sailing experience!

The first week on the Cramer is very intense with a lot of safety training, seasickness, learning a new language, and learning how to stow your bunk so you don’t fall out when the swells pick up (and trust me, they DID). And when I say a new language, I mean learning what all parts of the boat is called, because boat folks have decided that kitchen is called galley, bathroom is head, floor is deck, walls are bulkheads, stairs are ladders, etc., and let’s not forget that each individual line has a different name! So, the first week is very confusing before knowing what everything is! But we used these terms every day, so I get into it super quickly. I learned more the first week on the ship than I have ever done before.

When embarking on the ship, you’re not a student anymore, you’re a part of the crew. This means you’ll do everything the professional crew does. Which entails standing watch, being at the helm, raising sails, and preparing food in the galley.

It might sound like a lot of work, but it's really worth it. While standing at the helm and/or lookout, I got to see some of the most beautiful sunsets and sunrises I've ever seen, and during the night the skies very so clear you could see the entire Milkyway. Oh and let's not forget the dolphins that frequently came to visit!!

Sunset

Rainbow!

Standing at the helm

Standing at the Helm

Standing at the helm

Music on the quarter deck

Furling the mains'l

Celebrating Halloween onboard the ship

SEA Semester – Ocean Exploration

For my Study Abroad semester, I decided to go sailing with SEA Semester. This program is quite different from others because it mixes normal school work with sailing experiences. I spent six weeks in Woods Hole, MA at the SEA Semester campus and then I spent six weeks aboard their school sailing vessel, the Corwith Cramer.  The best thing is, you do not need to have any sailing/boat experience, they will teach you everything you need to know!

For this post, I will explain what to expect from the shore component of the semester.

Their campus is located in Woods Hole, which is a beautiful quiet little town. You live on campus in houses together with all your classmates (you also share a room with 1-3 other people). You will cook, clean, and do basically everything together with your classmates to prepare you for living together on a ship. The houses are located right next to the main building where all your classes will be held, it’s not even a minute walk away.

Academics on this program is a little different from normal. To be able to fit the academic schedule within just 12 weeks, whereas 6 weeks are on board a ship, the first weeks in Woods Hole will be asking a lot of you. If you’re thinking about going on SEA Semester, know that you cannot expect everything to go by easy without any work.  But, the hard work pays off!! Because when embarking on the Corwith Cramer it will all be worth it and you’ll have the time of your life!

The main building where classes are held

Watching the SSV Corwith Cramer arrive in Woods Hole

My shipmates at a field trip to Boston