Programs Blog

Monday June 1, 2026

Sailing northbound outside Cape Cod

2030 ET

As the Whaling History and Whaling Conservation students settle into life at sea, northbound along the eastern edge of Cape Cod bound for Provincetown, the blog catches up with our interviews with students before they left, during their week of academic and nautical science preparations on campus in Woods Hole. Camryn interviewed Max Daucher on his birthday!

How does it feel to be turning 19 so far from home?

It’s definitely very surreal, but I’ve kind of established a family here away from my family at home. So, I think that was one of the first things that I was considering is, you know, like for me, I come from Pennsylvania, which is a little bit of a drive for anyone reading. A lot of the people here are from Connecticut or more coastal areas. So, being far from home definitely was something that I’ve been thinking about, but it’s been great. And the people here, super kind, everyone here, even the faculty and the staff, you know, everyone here is great.

What brought you to SEA?

Right now, I’m attending Lehigh University. I’m an Earth and Environmental Science major, and I’m hoping to later on pursue marine sciences and maybe one day end up back at SEA. But we’ll see if that works out.

 I’ve done some programs here in the past. I’ve always had an interest in marine sciences. So, when I was looking for things to do during my high school summers, [SEA programs] were  the first things that I found. And I’ve fallen in love with it ever since. Every time I come here, I meet another great group of people. And this time has been no different.

My first experience here was a pre-college program, which was strictly on land. So, it was a lot different for sure. But everyone was just as close-knit. Maybe not quite as close-knit as this group. Because it’s a pretty special bond that I have with some of the people here. I’d say that this one, now that I’m in college, there’s a lot more expected of me. Being a little bit older. I’m even older today! But I’d say it gets more and more enjoyable each time. 

This program is a lot more specific. Anything about whales specifically that got you here?

I’ve always had an interest more in macrobiology rather than microbiology. I think a lot of people do, because it’s a lot easier to learn. There’s less of a barrier to entry of learning. And whales in specific are so unique to that marine ecosystem. As we’ve been learning, just the way that they feed, their mating patterns, their communications. Everything about them is so unique to where they are. Compared to other animals and other mammals. So they’ve always been fascinating. So that’s probably the main reason that I came to this camp.

What did you do today?

Today we had a 9am class–or we were planning to have a 9am class–and then it got moved for the attendance of the symposium of the previous program, the Plastics and Biodiversity in the Sargasso Sea group, which I’m sure anyone listening to this little blog will know plenty about. And then after that we had a little bit of break for lunch, as we typically do. 

One of the main things that I did today was I went with a couple friends to the L.L. Bean store. That was fun. Just getting some necessities, getting some clothes before we get on the boat. 

And then we had some other classes. One of which was with one of the great teachers, professors here, Jan. Some of our other great teachers, Rebecca, who’s going to be the captain of our upcoming trip. There’s so many people here. But yeah, they all deserve their flowers, they’ve all been great.

So we’re all working on these almost popular science articles right now.  We’re communicating these papers to a more general public. How do you feel about the project you’re working on?

To be completely honest, it’s been a little bit of a shock coming into it. It was a lot to process at first. I’ve looked at academic articles in the past, but I think everyone here can attest to the fact that it has been difficult, to say the least. It’s nothing that none of us here are not capable of. Everyone here is very smart, otherwise we would not be here. But I feel great so far. We’ve just been working on our drafts. Mine specifically is about extraction of marine biomass. Tracked from the 1500s all the way up to 2019, specifically looking at the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Europe. So yeah, it’s been really interesting. 

In between the hours that we’ve spent very hard at work working on these articles, we’ve done a fair amount of treasure hunting, both on beaches and in stores. What is your favorite beach find? And your favorite store/fashion find?

That’s tough! My favorite beach find so far would probably have to be the sea glass that I’ve been digging up here and there. I think there’s something really special about a story being told by something that gets carried across the ocean. It’s always been really fascinating to me, the whole message in a bottle trope. Everyone loves that. And then my favorite purchase, I just got this sweater. And I’m really loving it. A little bit of a fun, selfish purchase for my birthday. 

What are you most looking forward to in the next day or two? 

I’ve been enjoying the classes, honestly. Although they have been tedious in a sense. Learning. Learning is fun. I don’t know, it’s tough to come up with these things on the spot! The professors here all really make it engaging. As the boat does approach, of course, I’m very excited for that.

Max having to wait to eat his birthday cake (in his new sweater) until he finished his interview! (Dane Whicker)