Programs Blog

Friday, 1 August 2025

Noon Position:19°37.8’N 155°58.9’W

Ship Heading: 235°

Ship Speed: Ripping 1000 RPMs

Taffrail Log (nm): 509.3 nautical miles 

Weather: Sunny with scattered clouds, moderate wind, sailing from Honolulu, HI right on back to Honolulu, HI

Hello avid readers of the Sea Education Association Coral Reef Conservation: Hawai’i blog! My name is Zadie Waterfall and I’m going to share a few magical moment from the last few days aboard the Robert C. Seamans, fondly referred to throughout the post as Bobby, Bobby C, and Roberta. I will not be saving the best moment for last. 

The most magical moment that Bobby has brought us too, without a doubt, has been the spinner dolphins bobbing and weaving through bioluminescence around the bow at 01:00 one night. While A Watch was wrapping up a 19:00-01:00 shift, we were alerted by our most dedicated lookout that there was intense dolphin activity taking place under the head rig. Chief mate Sara took up the helm allowing the rest of us to go check out the activity. Upon arrival it was clear that the pod of spinner dolphins were surfing the bow waves and leaving greenish streaks of bioluminescence in their wake. The whole group had previously agreed that any unique animal or natural activity would warrant a wake up regardless of time of day so we hurried through the quarters alerting our peers to the phenomenon taking place. As more and more people arrived at the bow, the dolphins seemed to increase in activity until we had to jibe the ship and the dolphins ultimately returned to their watery depths. 

The only hard part about not saving the best for last is keeping up the engagement after an undeniably epic hook, but I’ll do my best. 

Roberta was anchored off the island of Maui for two nights where we performed a reef recon and survey. My dive buddy and I were lucky enough to see a total of six green sea turtles over the course of the two outings. During the recon we saw four separate turtles just swimming about, minding their own business. Their majestic movements were mesmerizing, it was hard to return to our surveying work and not just stare at them. During the actual survey, my buddy and I were performing a roving fish identification when another green sea turtle appeared. As we floated on the surface counting fish, the turtle rose up for a breath of air. However, instead of returning to the seafloor where it had come from, it hung out on the surface, seemingly checking out the fish with us. As we continued our survey, another turtle came up behind us. We watched as the two turtles acknowledged each other and swam off together into the sea. The visibility of this site was so clear that we could still see them until they became tiny specks in the distance. 

The last magical moment that I will be sharing with you today was an undeniable sighting confirmation of the infamous green flash. In the last few days, all three watches completed their aloft training for the crows nest. The alleged green flash has been eluding us for most of our voyage. We began debating whether or not it even existed. One evening, a watch mate and I capitalized on our completed training and went aloft. As we watched as the sun set, casting a golden halo around good old Bobby C., the orange sun appeared to turn greenish in tint. While it was definitely more of a sparkly green hint rather than a full on flash we definitely saw green. Although, now, I firmly believe that the green flash is an optical illusion and a result of the sun burning out our retinas just moments prior to the “flash” and the subsequent flash is simply our damaged eyes showing us what we want to see. It’s now a very hot topic of debate, but maybe it’s all in my head. 

Thank you avid readers of the Sea Education Association Coral Reef Conservation: Hawai’i for reading my blog post. 

Zadie Waterfall 
A Watch 
Colorado College