Programs Blog

Sonia Bradley, Starboard/A Watch

Noon Position
42°07.69’N Long 070°20.989’W

Taffrail Log
77.64

Ship Heading
Stellwagen Bank, motor-sailing north towards Gloucester

Weather / Wind
Sunny, partly cloudy, 23° C and wind is 8 knots.

Souls on Board

Hello! All of us students are beginning to settle into our daily routines aboard the ship, and our day watches are still split between the starboard and port bunk members to optimize sleep and ease everyone into the schedule.

Port watch deploys the carousel

During the night, we take a 1 and a half hour watch with three or four other students and during the day we either watch from 0700 to 1300 or 1300 to 1900. Now that we are anchored at nights, the night watch entails a few more steps than the dock watches, including radar checks and anchor checks every half hour. We are also responsible for waking up the next shift of students ten minutes before the handing over of the watch. Last night we were anchored off the coast of Provincetown and we could see many more stars than in Woods Hole!

We are looking forward to more beautiful night skies as we continue further into the open ocean. We have all been enjoying the amazing food prepared for us by our stewards, and for breakfast this morning we had oatmeal, then a morning snack of biscuits and cookies. We are also learning how to manage our time off-watch, with activities like games in the main salon, reading, journaling, napping and participating in science and sailing lessons from crew members. Whichever group does not have a morning watch spends the time after breakfast doing chores such as cleaning the floors, heads (bathrooms) and decks. Many students also take breaks from watch to help in the galley with cleaning dishes and after each meal everyone clears their dishes and sets the table for the next group.

Last night we enjoyed a beautiful sunset in Provincetown while going over emergency procedures on deck. We will now be transitioning to lunch in the next hour, and our Starboard groups will then go on watch and work on the science deck until dinner time. Although it has taken some adjustment to get used to our new sleep schedules and sharing our small spaces with others, we are all having a great time and learning lots of new skills and information aboard the Cramer. The beautiful views and time enjoyed together make all of the hard work and late nights worth it. Well that’s all for now, we will be back with another update tomorrow!