Programs Blog

November 21, 2024

Location: Auckland

Weather: Cool and cloudy

Greetings from Brooke and Talia, here in Aotearoa New Zealand—our program has now come to an end!

The last week or so has been filled with action and activity, both in terms of the ship life and academic pieces of the program. As we finished collecting our data, students shifted into working on completing their final research papers, and during a ship’s meeting with high seas and the ship heeled over to the side gave presentations at the “Ocean Sciences at SEA” conference! Each student made a whiteboard poster presentation, spoke about their research and its outcomes, and took questions from the attentive audience. Seeing everyone communicate the research that had stretched from the shore component to our lab and science deck on the ship was wonderful.

We also had some celebrations in our last days at sea—one was an “unbirthday” exchange of gifts; our second scientist Katherine selected a date where nobody on our crew was born, and we made gifts out of materials that were available on the ship to exchange with each other (accompanied by a truly massive cake formed from all the different dessert batters of the last six weeks). Some of the gifts included: a crocheted jellyfish from Mira, a watercolor piece of marine life from Hatuey, a rice-filled shark made by Willow, a hand-knitted hat from Isabella, a sail-canvas star lamp crafted by Tim, and more!

We (and more specifically B watch) saw Auckland early in the morning from the deck of the Seamans, a small collection of tall buildings ahead of us. We passed by container ships, by Rangitoto Island, and then in a chain of ferries and smaller sailing vessels passing in and out of the city’s harbors. With Anika at the helm we maneuvered into the floating dock in Jellicoe Harbor, and once we were docked and had cleaned our ship it was time for a final celebration. Our students and crew had a chance to show off their talents and celebrate the past six weeks of SEA at sea! 

Over these past weeks we’ve had a chance to practice oceanographic research, communication and communal living, and connect with the sea as lived through our many similar-and-different experiences aboard this floating home, school, and workplace. It has been an absolute pleasure to get to work with each one of our students, and we thank them and the crew of the Robert C. Seamans for an amazing trip. Goodbye, S318!