News

Author: Camilla Salwen, B Watch, Middlebury College

Ship’s Log

Current position
Anchored in Francis Bay!

Souls on Board

Hello to everyone reading this from A/C. Enjoy it. All I can say is who knew you could sweat so much while making excel graphs. Today felt exceptionally hot as we finished up our oceanography projects for our presentations tomorrow. I haven’t been keeping up with the blog, so I don’t know if you’ve been told this before, but we each are working on research on a topic of our choice. We’ve been collecting data throughout the cruise and are in the last stages of putting it all together and sharing our findings with the group!

View from below as Kayla and Camilla hang out on the top platform of the foremast

All the students spent the day as a “study hall,” working in various areas of the ship to print graphs, put information on posters, and work on writing our research papers. It was weird to have everyone awake at the same time; I’m so used to a third of the ship sleeping any time of day. Staff got to take trips into shore throughout the day, getting some rest and relaxation away from the students they’ve had to deal with for the past few weeks.

On that note, both the stewards were gone all day. Some might ask, how’d we eat? Shelby and Will 2.0 to the rescue! As student steward today, I somehow got the job of putting together morning snack, lunch, and afternoon snack. I recruited Brier to be my Will and we somehow followed all of Shelby’s instructions and got everyone fed. I even had the important job of starting the water for our pasta dinner. Despite not actually having to cook much since Shelby had everything prepped, it was still pretty exhausting and I continue to admire the stewards for their constant efforts to keep us full to the brim with delicious food.

This afternoon, as a nice study break, we got a swim callllll!!!! Another fun half hour of jumping off the bowsprit and trying to play volleyball in the water. It felt so nice to cool off and get moving after sitting on deck or in the main salon working on our laptops for so long. As we hung out on deck after the swim call and we saw Captain Allison and Jenna cutting Colin’s hair, we were all inspired. There is now a long list of people waiting for haircuts, with Steph, Megan, and I having gotten ours done today. Brier also had everyone take a snip from his hair and he’s going to have Jenna fix it up tomorrow at some point. We’ll see what style he ends up going with, there’s quite a few options in the mix.

Pod of dolphins swimming right off our bow a couple days ago.

Galley Cleanup (part of B Watch’s job today) was especially fun, because everyone was awake and we got to listen to music like it was Field Day!! We were jamming out to Taylor Swift, Paramore, and so much more as we scrubbed the dishes, floors, and surfaces, making our last Galley Cleanup of the trip that much more enjoyable. I’ll miss having 6 of us cramped into the tiny galley trying to do everything at once and as quick as possible while also trying to be quiet as to not wake anyone who’s trying to sleep. Trying to fit the galley mats back in their jigsaw positions in the dark at midnight is a part of this voyage that I won’t forget.

As the trip wraps up, I find myself thinking about what I’ll bring home from this experience. Is it a vast knowledge of pteropods, a type of sea snail in the upper layer of the water column? Is it learning to shower when the boat is constantly tipping, slamming you into the walls and sloshing around the water at your feet? Maybe. But, I know I’ve met 30 amazing people, stargazed more than I ever have, and watched sunrises and sunsets so vibrant they look like paintings. I’ve learned so much from these past few weeks on the Corwith Cramer and it’s insane to think that in just a few days, I’ll be packing up my bunk and stepping off the ship for good. I hope everyone at home is doing well and we all can’t wait to see you!!!

– Camilla Salwen, B Watch, Middlebury College

PS. To my family, I cannot wait to see you guys!!! I miss you so much!!! I hopefully will get to talk to you tomorrow, but not sure about that. Enjoy your last week and a half without me because I’ll be home soon!! Love you.

Contact: Douglas Karlson, Director of Communications, 508-444-1918 | [email protected]