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Tuesday (probably — who knows, who cares!), 13 October 2026
Noon Position:: 39° 25.8’ N x 069° 23.6’ W
Ship Heading: 240°
Ship Speed: 7 kn
Noon Log: 221.3 nm
Weather / Wind / Sail Plan: About 70°F with sun – the power of warm core eddies! / Force 2 out of the SW / Motor sailing under the mains’l, mainstays’l, and forestays’l
Location: Approximately 150 nautical miles east of the coast of NJ

It is said that the world never stops turning on its axis, but the microcosm that is the Corwith Cramer mostly certainly WILL stop to marvel at dolphins. In the few days since we have been underway heading off shore, the ship’s company has had the pleasure of not one, not two, but five dolphin sightings. Four of which have occurred while B Watch, my current assigned watch, had the deck, so I guess wearing my lucky humpback whale socks to manifest marine mammal sightings has proven effective! 

It doesn’t matter whether hands are ready to furl the jib or whether the ship’s company is seated on the quarterdeck for class time eagerly awaiting a nav report carefully prepared by students Piper, Cian, Baker and Shuggy; all it takes is a single excited shout of “dolphins!!” to ring through the air and a brief pause has been hit on our otherwise ceaselessly turning daily rhythm. Shipmates hurry to the bow, gasp, point, laugh, and exclaim in joy as the dolphins leap alongside, briefly sharing our course and gliding through the Big Blue with our ship’s company of 38. We thus far have seen three species: Atlantic white-sided dolphins, offshore bottlenose dolphins, and common dolphins. C Watch’s Molly even had the pleasure of seeing dolphins on the bow after dark on dawn watch, leaving trails of glowing blue bioluminescence in their wakes from all the bioluminescent plankton in the water. (What I wouldn’t give to have been there to share in that experience!) And the entire ship’s company saw a mom and calf pair riding the pressure wave of the bow during class time today, expertly maneuvering through the water alongside their pod-mates in astonishingly perfect synchrony.

Having previously worked as a whale watch naturalist, I feel confident in saying that where dolphins swim, joy follows. It is impossible to be upset when dolphins are leaping and calling to one another not even fifteen feet below you. I, for one, will always be found staring and grinning ear-to-ear in unabashed and unrestrained glee. The ocean is alive, and it is full of playful creatures just as curious about checking us out as we are about seeing them. Whether this is your first cetacean sighting or your thousandth, it is a treat each and every time.

Fair winds, following seas, and best fishes to all,

Natalia Sawicka, Deckhand/Program Assistant

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PS – To Mom, Dad, Jace, and Sebe: I love you guys so much! Can’t wait to tell you all about these next 2,000 nautical miles or so when I get back to shore. Hugs to all and please give Bean and Tess my love!

To Lexi: [brackets], babe, I love you! Sending you a kiss from the sea. :] I’ve been keeping up to schedule in Actually, Nevermind and giggling to myself in my bunk – Taylor Tomlinson really is a funny one. Looking forward to our sea-shore book club debriiiief in November. 

To Zoë: hugs to you! Hope the vibes are treating you right.

All my other friends and loved ones I sent this blog to: hi!! 🙂 You’ll be hearing me yap about this trip for probably literal hours on end, so this is your heads-up and fair warning! It’s so nice to be off the grid – guess I’ll find out what’s happening in the world in November!