Programs Blog

1300 on Friday, March 6th, 2026

Noon Position: 15° 28.319’ N x 061° 30.313’ W

Ship Heading: 104°

Log: 539.5nm

Weather / Wind: Wind ENE, force 3, calm seas, 3/8ths cloud cover, Cumulus and Stratocumulus clouds, with a temperature of 28°Celsius.

Description of location: Anchored off the coast of Pointe Michel

Hello Friends and Family!

What a treat it is to be writing to you today. We have been out, about, and around the past few days so I am grateful for the opportunity to sit down, reflect on everything, and tell you what we’ve all been up to. Today we arrived at our ancharage just north of Soufriere, Dominica and my goodness what a day! A-Watch was on deck from about 10:00, when we departed Portsmouth, until 13:00, the typical watch turnover time, where we set sails, did boat checks, and cleaned up Cramer for when we pulled in alongside the shore. Then, after a quick lunch and some chores, we headed up on deck for class.

Today’s class was a Port Stop Debrief with Craig, where we went over all of the things we noticed and experienced when in Portsmouth: the community, the local’s attitudes towards visitors, physical landmarks and their significance, and social interaction observations. As we were chatting over the loud main engine, rumbling below, someone peaked over the side of the ship and exclaimed, “Dolphins!” Everyone jumped from their seats, anxious to see the gorgeous animals. We raced to the bow to see if we could get a look at them playing in our bow wake. Marguerite and I leaned over the side, peering through the headrig and listened as the dolphins let out these high-pitched whistling sounds, as if they were saying hello to us.

Never in the history of my time as a student have I had a class be quickly concluded because of a dolphin sighting but I am pleased to say that has now been changed. After the dolphins headed back out to sea, we were arriving at our next anchorage location off the coast just north of Soufriere. All of the students and crew gave hands when striking and furling the sails and buttoning everything up on deck. I joined a few others to furl the mains’l, which was some heavy hauling but doing it together made it a lot easier. After a calculated anchorage at about 15:50, there were whispers roaming around deck of a swim call.

Quickly, everyone slipped on their suits and we all waited for Eric, our chief mate, to give us the go-ahead. I immediately made a bee line to the headrig, once again, and as the ship’s horn rung out, indicating it was okay for us to go in, one by one, we jumped off the waxy, black netting. Sonia, my swim buddy, and I were doing circles from the bow, to the ocean, to the ladder, and back to the bow. I slowly worked my way higher and higher up the rig until Kayla, one of the marine techs on board, gave me the confidence to stand at the highest point possible and jump off. It was an amazing view looking out over all of my good friends swimming below, the vibrant town of Point Michel, and our lovely home, the Corwith Cramer, all within my aerial view. I took a deep breath and on the count of three, jumped and landed in the remarkably clear water below.

Buzzing, we all slowly got back onto the ship, showered, then changed. The rest of the evening was filled with good conversation in the doghouse, haircutting on deck, sunset watching, guitar sing-a-long circles, a delicious fajita taco dinner, and some bracelet making tutorials. Overall, all is well down here and I think today was a day that will stand out as I look back and remember this voyage once it ends.

Shout outs to my people: Thank you guys again for checking in on me and reading my blog! I miss you guys so much and I can’t wait to see you all once I touchdown at the end of March. To my friends in Santa Cruz, Philly, SoCal, Florida, and every other corner of the world, I love you all very much and I can’t wait to catch up soon.

Peace peace,

Hads

Hadley Trautwein, A-Watch, University of California, Santa Cruz