Programs Blog

Tuesday, March, 3, 2026

Noon Position: 15 ° 34.4’N  x  061 ° 27.7’ W

Ships heading:  84 °

Ship speed: 0 knots

Log: 529.8 nm

Weather: 28.5 °C with light wind and partially cloudy

Location: Anchored outside of Portsmouth, Dominica

Hello from Dominica! After a long 6-day journey, we have finally arrived. We dropped anchor at around 1500. The weather here is pretty nice, and it definitely feels good to not be moving.

We did so many things while we were underway. I am a part of B Watch (or best watch). Last night, I worked in the lab, and we did a Neuston Net deployment. Sonia and I dropped the net in the water, and we dragged it very slowly. The net collected lots of sargassum, which is like seaweed. It also collected lots of bioluminescent plankton which was neat. During the rest of the time in our evening watch, we told stories and wrote haikus about Big Mike, another group had gotten with the net. Our watch leader, Mike, was not too fond of the name. I think my favorite watch is either dawn watch (0100-0700) or the afternoon watch (1300-1900). The dawn watch is really cool because you can see so many stars.

I’m very excited to explore what Dominica has to offer. I am writing this blog post from the ship at anchor, and the island looks awesome. It is very lush, green, and mountainous island. Some of the peaks of the hills are even being covered by clouds. Tomorrow we are getting a tour of an old fort which I am very excited for. After that, we will have time to walk around town and hopefully eat some delicious food. 

Our time in St. Croix was also really great. We started in Christiansted where we went on a hike. The view at the top of the hike was breathtaking. We also saw some coral conservation organizations, which was fascinating. We then sailed for a day to Frederiksted. Frederiksted was a much different vibe than Christiansted. The culture was much more apparent, and it was definitely less touristy. We also did our snorkeling in Frederiksted. On our first day, we swam out to see where we wanted to do our surveys. The fish and corals were super cool. There were so many different species. The coolest things I saw were a sea turtle, a stingray, and a barracuda. On the second snorkeling day, we conducted our surveys. The weather was not ideal, so we had to wait an extra 30 minutes to get started. The waves were really big which made it hard to get to our location. When we got to our location, the visibility was too low, so we had to move, but we still found a good reef to survey. Since our watch went first, we had about 4 hours to relax on the beach. Some of us also went to a restaurant where I got mahi tacos. They were amazing.

I have had a great time so far and am looking forward for what is to come.

Shoutouts: Hi Mom, Dad, Abby, and Bella! I miss you guys and can’t wait to see you when I get back. Also sorry about the snowstorm.

Nate Andreasson, B Watch, University of Rhode Island