Programs Blog
Bat in the Bananas

Tuesday, 5 August 2025
Present Position: (Lat and Long): 41 deg 57.2’N 069 deg 33.9’W
Ship Heading (degrees): 173
Ship Speed (knots): 3.7 kn
Log (nm): 157.6
Weather / Wind / Sail Plan: Partly clear, Beaufort Scale Level 3, sailing through Stellwagon Bank with the four lowers with a reefed main
Description of Location: Off Stellwagon Bank
A watch was up at 1am today for the first dawn watch of the trip! We spent most of the watch drifting at around 1 knot with not a lot to do at the helm. The lab team, on the other hand, was hard at work with chlorophyll-a filtrations and zooplankton counts. Some whales seemed to be near the boat, as whale calls could be heard sporadically during the watch. After the beautiful blood-red sunrise between the clouds, we were relieved by B watch, who did some deployments for data (all while A watch was fast asleep below deck).
We woke up at around 1415 hours to get ready for class, which is when a large portion of the crew suffered from an unfortunate wave of seasickness. Our medical officer Marcus gallantly battled this onslaught with well-timed doses of nausea suppressants and ginger chews. We are glad to report that everyone survived.
A concert occurred on deck at around 1530 hours to raise spirits. Pro crew Sophie, Annie and Jeremy serenaded us with sea shanties (flute, fiddle and guitar respectively), much to the delight of everyone in the vicinity.
At 1900 hours, A watch took to the deck to discover a new friend hiding in the basket of bananas. Gernando the bat was promptly caught by our resident bat-whisperer Jeremy, and now resides in a white bucket labelled “BAT: DO NOT OPEN”. Though Gernando was the most adorable thing many of us have seen in a long, long time, his residence in the bananas led us to the unfortunate decision to throw all food from that area overboard.
Waves are high but spirits are higher (we’re having a ton of fun)!
Lea Kandl-Zhang, Abigail Licht, Maeve Khost, Nat Watson, Watch A
PS: Mama + Papa, if you are reading this, give Axel and Tristan a hug for me! Especially on 8/8, I’m bummed that I’m missing Axel’s birthday but I can’t wait to hear about all of the steak he got for dinner :). I’m having fun so don’t worry about me, but I miss you all and can’t wait to see you guys soon. Say hi to Waipo + Waigong for me. Love you! Bisous <3 — Lea (I can’t put an accent :()
P.P.S: Mom & Dad, miss you lots but having fun as well! Please save some peach pie for me, if there’s any left. I hope you’re at the Jersey Shore having fun and can’t wait to join you there when I get back! Lots of love, Maeve



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Programs
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- Ocean Exploration
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- Climate Change and Coastal Resilience
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- Ocean Exploration: Plastics
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- Pacific Reef Expedition
- The Global Ocean: Hawai'i
- The Global Ocean: New Zealand