News

Author: Connor Beach, B Watch, UMass Dartmouth

Ship’s Log

Noon Position (Lat and Long): 17 º17.249’S 179 º21.395’E

Ship Heading (degrees): at anchor

Ship Speed (knots): at anchor

Log (nm): 392.3

Weather / Wind: Wind: from ESE and force 1, Sea is calm, also from ESE and minimal waves

Description of location: Anchored at Dere Bay, just off Koro Island

Shellback Alley, in theory, is one of the best bunk rooms on the Seamans, its location in the middle of the ship minimizes rocking when caught in bad waves. However, the absence of a ventilation tuba leading to the room has caused the nickname “Smellback Alley” to be thrown around. So, when we’re at anchor, I usually spend my nights up on the labtop where I get to sleep on the mainstays’l and stargaze for hours and hours. The nights at anchor are mostly clear and dry, but occasionally we’ll get a little rain here and there. Last night was particularly brutal, both my sleeping bag and pillow were soaked, and I had to sneak back to my bunk in the hot and musty Smellback Alley.

Today is day 2 at Dere Bay on Koro Island, we were awoken at 0600 today, and told our snorkel trips were going to be rushed and shorter because we were invited by the village on the island to come for dinner. Even with a short dive, Dere Bay continues to be the most beautiful reef I have ever seen in my life, the reef is in such pristine condition that it extends our data analysis time tenfold because we have so much coral to identify for our research projects. Our surveys today went swimmingly, all data was collected perfectly (as usual) and we all rallied to analyze data immediately after getting out of the water so we could get to the village ASAP to meet everyone.

Landing ashore at 1500, we walked through the village for a bit and moved to the school to give some gifts to the students. We received a warm welcome program from all the students, and we were all completely blown away. They sang different songs and danced for us, every child in the room had the biggest smile on I couldn’t help but smile just as hard myself. It was amazing to see all these kids with so much emotion and pride get up in front of us and go all out. Once we left the village we explored some more. The evening flew by, we were brought a delicious dinner, and then Evan (Evdog) got right to business on the dance floor and got us all on our feet and moving. Did you know the entire macarena song is 6 minutes long? I certainly had no idea, I thought it was only a minute or two, but we still ended up doing that dance for the next 6 whole minutes of my life.

I finished off the night where the day started, on the labtop, this time with a dry and clear night. I’ll never forget the stargazing I’ve done up on this roof. I don’t recognize a single constellation in the southern hemisphere, but it’s still unreal to see that many stars in the sky.

Love and miss you all at home, Mom, Dad, Jenna, Jon, and the twins, Papa and Oma in Ohio as well! This experience is something I’ll cherish for the rest of my life, and I’m thankful you all pushed me to do this.

Also, shoutout to Izzy’s family, she says hellooooo. Izdog is by FAR one of the coolest people I’ve met on this trip, she’s a taught me so much about this ship and the lab onboard 😀

See you soon,

Connor Beach, B Watch, UMass Dartmouth