Programs Blog

Friday, 24 October 2025

Noon Position: 32°49.23’ N x 058°44.04’ W

Ship Heading: full and by (180°)

Ship Speed: 7 kts

Log: 1548 nm

Weather: Winds SW, Force 4, Motorsailing at 1400 rpm under the Mains’l and two stays’ls

Description of location: North Sargasso Sea (heading south)

Most of these blogs start from what you did first that day, however I want to write about my favorite moments so far. Currently we have been aboard for just over 2 weeks, and reflecting back I have done many things I could only imagine doing. Such as hauling in a main sheet, becoming an apprentice mate for a day, and reaching my hand into the galley sink to clear out the gross bits. All of which I have enjoyed learning about, for the most partJ . I was incredibly surprised how quickly trust was put into my hands as the first day aboard I was asked to take the helm. At the time I actually had no idea what the helm was but, with some guidance, I pieced it together. From then on helm has been a daily or even twice daily occurrence for my shipmates and I. This leads me to a favorite moment, the helm. Although a bit nerve racking and stressful at times, I quite enjoy the excitement. In addition watching everyone take turns struggling to figure out the movements was an enthralling hobby, however now everyone seems to have become professionals.

While in Boston, you may have heard, we arrived in hopes of avoiding a storm, which was successful, however left us with a few unplanned days not underway. It was announced that we would be taking a trip to the Boston Aquarium. Everyone was thrilled and then we heard we will be walking through the downpour for 35 minutes. Excitement did not dwindle, in fact we all rushed to our foulie gear and assembled our outfits. Pictures were taken on the dock as we started out trek to the Aquarium. This day has become a very fond memory of mine and you may have learned more details in Alex Skinner’s blog. Anyways, our day included petting stingrays, pressing up against the glass right beside the young kids who aged from 5-10, and lastly jumping in each puddle we came across on our walk. (There were many who brought bootfuls of Boston street water back to the ship) A surprise trip was exactly what we all needed to distract us from that dreary day!

As our voyage continued we began to make our way farther and farther away from land and into the Sargasso Sea. This meant our watches were now 6 hours on and 12 off instead of our tiny 1-2 hour anchor watches. My first watch was the morning watch which was a surprise to step on deck and be surrounded by miles of ocean. For me this was the first moment when I realized this was actually happening. We had already begun sailing, although no more than 100 miles offshore, and now it was a horizon of water as far as you could see. During the day the sights were amazing. However, as the sun set there was another surprise. If you let your eyes follow the main mast up to the very top your eyes jump to the nearest light and as they adjust you can’t help but notice thousands of stars that look almost too bright to be real. There is not a single place you can look were you will not see a constellation or a cluster of tiny bright lights. Earlier today at about 2045 I laid down on the quarter deck, probably in the way just a little, and looked at the stars. My goal was to find the big dipper as it is the easiest but it is very difficult out here with so many more constellations are visible!

During watch there are two categories, deck and lab. Although both are riveting and very much hands-on, I find myself in the lab even while assigned to deck, picking through the recent Neuston tow. Recently I have been assigned to lab which I have no complaints about. Our watches have included processing Neuston tows, ph samples, chlorophyll-A samples, dip nets, and sargassum ID. My most recent dawn watch I spent about half of it picking sargassum out of the tiny sieve used to collect the smallest of organisms washed off the pelagic algae. Tedious, yes, but super interesting. We found 14 eel larvae, 3 octopi larvae, which was my favorite part because Sophia and I (one of the marine techs) were able to identify that one of them was alive under the microscope. I watched as the color changing cells pulsated with a rusty orange hue. These were a bit more rare but some common organisms we find are copepods, krill, shrimp, salps, blue buttons, and jelly fish larvae. Oh, and lots of micro plastics, which is the topic for two of the research groups. So far my group and I (Carter Olivierio, Nate Cornell) have processed 24 bottle caps we deployed over the side and many, many dip net collections. The students had a meeting today with our “science teachers” discussing the next step to our projects, as we have hit the halfway mark.

Currently our track is heading east because we are setting ourselves up to be in a safe place when Hurricane Melissa breaks free from the Caribbean Sea and heads into the North Atlantic. Our weather report today from a couple of my shipmates stated that the hurricane is continuing to grow yet we are still unsure where she will be heading. Most of the adults, Captain Pamela included, said that our course line to the east and then south will put us in a great spot because we will be avoiding even the outskirts of the system. From what I can tell nobody is worried and we all have lots of trust in the pros so don’t be worried parents!!

Lastly I just want to say how exciting this trip is for everyone. We are all doing very well and excited to begin to head south to warmer weather and bluer seas!

Eliza P., B Watch

To Mom and Dad I love and miss you both so much and cannot wait to show and tell everything I have learned on this journey! Beatrice I am so proud of you for joining me at Proctor and miss you the most. Dad please give Stormy and Pepper my love and mom I have been reading so many books I can’t wait to tell you about. –Love Eliza