Programs Blog

18 August 2025

Location (Lat and Long): 22 52.8N x 158 33.2W

Ship Heading: 355PSC

Ship Speed: 6.5kts

Weather/Wind/Sail Plan: Wind E/15kts, sky 3/8 Cu, sea ENE/6ft, four lowers with shallow-reefed mains’l

Author Name and Role Onboard: Allison Taylor, Captain

And we’re off the dock! It’s very exciting to be out here in the trade winds again after a very toasty turnaround week at the dock in Honolulu – August in Hawaii, what does one expect? It’s still plenty warm on board but somehow it’s more manageable when you’re sailing. Yesterday afternoon we motored along the south side of Oahu, heading west out of the harbor entrance, with beautiful views of Diamond Head and Waikiki. We set the stays’ls and continued up the SE coast of the island with remote mountain views, seabirds, flying fish, and a small pod of pilot whales! Rocky and Kayla, with their team (Olivia, Anna M & Irina), had the watch to start. As expected, the wind died in the lee of the island and then filled in again as it wrapped around the west point of the island, all while Ted and Kanoe had the deck with Bradley, Rosie, Maisie, and Alice. We set the jib and the first reefed mains’l around sunset with help from some others and sailed 5-7kts overnight with a very pleasant, rock-you-to-bed, motion. Some folks were feeling motion of the ocean, but not many, if any, fed the fish and they should all recover from whatever seasickness they felt in another day at most.

We’re on our way to Seattle with a crew of staff, but we’re all students here. Many of these talented and intelligent folks have upper level degrees and everyone has life experience to share. We’re looking forward to creating a tight-knit community onboard for the next month! Our mostly daily classes will cover training topics on sailing our ships and delivering SEA’s programs as well as other expertise by those interested. I expect to see more crafting, card games, and guitar playing in the days to come once we all get used to the routine of the ship. There’s at least one birthday on board so Brooke and Laura will get to show off their baking skills with a cake! They are already filling our bellies with delicious meals.

Skyler and Jordan’s watch, with Josefine, Anna P, Sam, and Jeremy, will be doing the first Neuston (surface) tow of the trip. We’ll continue these daily to count plastic for Dr. Kara Lavender Law’s ongoing projects. We’ll be heading into the neighborhood of the Great Garbage Patch in the North Pacific Gyre after we depart the tropics and the delightful trade winds there. There is no wind in the center of gyres so we will reluctantly have to use the motor again at some point. All of the engineering machinery is maintained by Dusty and Tadhg – many thanks to their efforts to keep everything working well!

That’s all for now! More updates coming soon.

Allison