Programs Blog

Date: Wednesday, 18 March

Log (nm): 994.8

Weather: sunny with winds from the east

Location: Anchored in Crocus Bay, Anguilla

Hello to anyone who is reading this!

Taking you back to Dominica…This is Samantha McPherson reporting from the Corwith Cramer! We have been anchored in Dominica for several days now. Before that we stayed in St. Croix, spending time in both Christiansted and Frederiksted. Between our stay at these two islands, we were traversing the open ocean.

Starting at the very beginning of this amazing journey, we arrived in St. Croix by plane on Febuary 18th. I was amazed when I first saw the island of St. Croix from my plane window. The sea was a bright turquoise. Beaches made up the perimeter of the island with lush greenery inhabiting the more inland areas. Upon landing, I was greeted by the warmth I had been so desperately missing during the cold snowy winter I had experienced back in Falmouth. Before my classmates and I gathered on the Cramer for our first introductions with the crew, we strolled around the town of Christiansted. Never in my life have I seen so many chickens roaming the streets. I met my mate and scientist for the first stretch of the trip, Obie and Kayla, as well as the other crew. All were incredibly nice. Once everyone was acquainted for the day I worked as quickly as I could unpacking the items I had brought for my month-and-a-half stay into my tiny top bunk. The next day I was thrown into a learning environment completely different from anything I had experienced before.

Since that first day a lot has happened. Our first shore excursion was to The Nature Conservancy, where we learned about the ongoing efforts to grow new coral on land so it can later be planted in existing coral reefs. We hiked Goat Hill with Professor Olasee Davis. This hike provided an amazing view of the east side of the island. Immediately after we visited the East End Marine Park, which protects 60 square miles of water along the coastline. We then moved anchor to Frederiksted. During this we got our first taste of what would be expected of us when sailing. While on watch (which lasts 6 hours for each watch group) one person was on lookout at all times, another was on helm, Three were to be in the lab processing data, and most others were there to aid in the galley and/or complete the required hourly boat checks (Once we were at sea, navigation and daily reports were added to our on-watch duties). Once in Frederiksted, we visited the Feather Leaf Inn which houses its own coral restoration project. Later we got a tour of the town from a tour guide named Robin before being set loose to explore on our own for the rest of the day.

Emma, Kate, Shea and I got food before quickly rushing to the beach to snorkel. While swimming through the clear water off one of Frederiksted’s sandy beaches I saw a strange shadow in the water. When I ventured closer, I realized it was a sea turtle! My friends and I had never seen one before and had been hoping we would during this trip. It was a common topic of conversation. I quickly called everyone over and we all shared our excitement over the turtle sighting. It was later determined to be a green sea turtle. On that same day we saw about four more turtles, an eagle ray, and a southern ray. They were all amazing. We later visited our first survey site, Cane Bay. Our first reef site data collection was hectic, but it gave us good experience for our next site which went a lot smoother, though we sadly did not see any more turtles.

Next thing we knew we had left St. Croix and were on our way to Dominica. The first night, while on lookout, I saw dolphins swimming along the bow. My following watches took place at different 6-hour intervals throughout the 24-hour day. I spent time in lab doing deployments, counting zooplankton under a microscope, processing water samples, and sorting through sargassum. While on deck I steered, aided in sail maneuvering, acted as lookout, and participated in boat checks. The site of the endless expanse of ocean that surrounded us was amazing, but by the end of our 5 days at sea I was happy to see land.

We docked first in Portsmouth in Dominica. There we visited fort Shirley before having another free day. We spent the day exploring the town and visiting restaurants. The following day we got a tour of the Kalinago Territory. We learned about basket weaving, bracelet making, farming, and cassava bread making. We then visited Dr. Lennox Honychurch who gave us a lesson on the history of Dominica. The day after we left Portsmouth to anchor near Soufriere Pinnacles, our next dive site.

For the snorkel survey we split up the tasks that had to be completed for our dive evenly among the eight members of my watch. I was doing the fish counts. We set out at around 1100. We were snorkeling for about an hour. The water was murky near the surface so it was hard to see anything in extreme detail, but once you dove down you could see everything. There were so many more live coral, sponges, invertebrates, and fish compared to the other locations we had previously snorkeled. I did my best to record all the fish I saw. We got back to the ship around 1230 and quickly ate before going on watch. In the lab we worked on inputting all the data we had collected in the field into the excel sheets. Almost everything was completed by the end of the day. The rest of the day consisted of reading, relaxing, cleaning, eating, talking, and playing cards.

In the following days before we set out for Anguilla, we visited Nature Island Dive in Soufriere where they are working in coral restoration and completed our second snorkel survey at Scott’s Head, which I found out is apparently home to many many nearly invisible stinging jellyfish.

Back to today’s date…Now we are in Anguilla. We arrived early, so we have more free time to both relax and catch up on academic work. I have been seeing sea turtle after sea turtle. I realize now how much I have missed true relaxation. I will forever cherish these few days I spent with my friends lying on beach sipping a cold diet coke. Of course, we are back to learning and working, now.

This trip has been an amazing experience so far. I would love to revisit and explore these islands more thoroughly in the near future If I am able! I know I will have many fond memories looking back.

Shout out to my family at home. Happy belated birthday dad! I love and miss you guys so much! I have poor internet connection so don’t be worried by my lack of correspondence. I hope everything is going well back at home and I cannot wait to catch up with you guys. If any of you are able to, you should come to St. Croix at the end of my trip! I could show you all the places I went and we could spend some nice relaxing days at the beach. I love and miss you guys so much. Make sure you tell Chooch I said hi!

Samantha McPherson, C-Watch, Rochester, NY