Programs Blog

Sunday, 22 March 2026

Noon Position: 18o 13.171 63o 04.354

Ship Heading: 119o

Weather: Sunny, 29.5o C

Anchored at Crocus Bay, Anguilla

Hi from Anguilla!

We are currently anchored at Crocus Bay, and let me tell you, it is beautiful! From the SSV Corwith Cramer, we have seen so many sea turtles, brown boobies, and all sorts of wildlife.

The past couple of days have been a blast! We have had some free time to explore the island, and I’ve spent it laying on the beach here in Crocus Bay and swimming in the water. The best part? Getting food from a beachside restaurant delivered to our picnic table right on the water. Life couldn’t get much better!

We have also been busy with coral reef surveys. We first started off at Sandy Hill Bay where, sadly, many of the corals were dead compared to previous years. At Sandy Hill Bay, Kate and I did our zooplankton tow together, and wow, there was so much sargassum. Sorting through all of it was a pain later that night, but we did see some pretty neat stuff under the microscope!

We have all been working hard to wrap up our research projects while also spending as much time as possible soaking up the sun. My favorite thing recently has been working on top of the doghouse! Next week, we have our poster presentations for high school students in St. Croix, so Kate and I are busy designing that.

Anguilla has been amazing, but yesterday was my favorite day here.

We started the day with reef recon at Shoal Bay with our watches. Jack and I towed another zooplankton net for my data and, thankfully, collected much less sargassum than at Sandy Hill Bay. The water was gorgeous, and it was so fun spotting fish while we swam with the net.

Once we got back, we rinsed our gear and helped give tours to Anguilla sailing school students (ages ~12–20). It was really fun teaching them about SEA and our research onboard. After the tours, we headed back to the beach on the small motorboats and got to sail with two of the students. Koa and I teamed up with them, and we had such a blast sailing around Crocus Bay and Little Harbor. We talked about their sailing experience and life on Anguilla; it was really cool hearing their perspectives and day-to-day life on the island.

Eventually, we had to say goodbye, and once back on the Cramer, we helped with more tours for local high school students.

After such a busy day, Mira, Maya, Koa, Sam, Kate, and I all sat on the head rig, talking about how great the day had been. We watched the water below us, spotting small fish and even a few barracudas, while boats sailed by and waved. The sun was setting, but Kate and I still had work to do.

After dinner, we processed our zooplankton tow and found tons of copepods and mysids. I am absolutely loving being in the lab! It was the perfect ending to a great day.

But the night wasn’t quite over, I still had a two-hour anchor watch from 0100–0300. It was tough getting out of bed, but completely worth it. While checking on the boats around us and doing hourly engine room checks, we got to look up at the stars. Jack and I saw two shooting stars and so many constellations.

Overall, Anguilla has been incredible, and I’m sad to leave so soon. Tomorrow we head back to St. Croix!

Emma Acri, A-Watch, Cornell University

Shout-outs:
Sending love to Mom and Dad, I can’t wait to explore St. Croix with you! Love you, Tommy, Mimi, and Grandma! Shout-out to all of my Cornell friends, I miss you guys sooo much and can’t wait to see you! I miss you, Alyssa (let’s go St. John’s)! I can’t wait to share all my photos and stories from these amazing islands.