Programs Blog

October 28, 2024

Location: 17° 43.46’ S 179° 06.48’ E … island hopping around Fiji

Weather: Lots of streaky clouds, peaceful warm glow with a light wind

Hello everybody! I return, this time writing from the majestic Robert C. Seamans. Wow has it been one heck of a time out at sea. Coming from the landlocked state of Idaho, the ocean is somewhat new to me. Besides the essential trip to my San Diego beach when I need a pick-me-up and hang out, the extent of the ocean for me resides still attached to land (which partly I’m thankful for). There’s been so much excitement just in the last few days getting underway again after departing Savusavu, Fiji. Only a couple hours ago on afternoon watch a pod of dolphins swam up the ship and rode the current under the bow while I was on lookout. Another pod came and said hi during our evening science deployment last night too! The past few weeks have been tough but very enlightening. To start off, Brooke, my wonderful history professor with us onboard established a friendly competition for a prize to the person who threw up over the side of the ship the greatest number of times during the trip and, put simply, I am winning that competition in a landslide. It is a whole new world out here, learning how to walk again in tune with the motion of the ship and trying to understand the new phrases and vocabulary of a sailboat, which sounded like a language of tongues at first. Despite the trials and tribulations of consistent seasickness throughout the last 3 weeks, the unending magic of the open ocean fills me with peace and simplicity every time I step outside. When I stare out to the blank horizon it is only me, everything else is faded. I find clarity. Maybe a different form than I expected, but clarity in what I miss, what is important to me, what I feel in every second of the day, and what my body needs to the most minute detail. Some of my favorite parts have become the everyday treat of sunrises and sunsets — they are incomparable. I love that the extraordinary people I’m with have grown so close and seen every state of me. And my couch story time and wild journal entry reading with Mira and Kiera have been my saving grace so far.

For this blog entry, I chose to write about meteorological events we’ve seen thus far. As of right now, these events are limited to numerous rainbows blanketing the body of an island mountain in Fiji or stripes of color jetting across clouds high up in the sky above somewhere random in the open ocean. Typically rainbows accompany rain, hence the name. It requires water droplets to be floating around in the air with the sun behind where you’re looking, and the clouds parting around the sun’s rays. Although it is rare to see a complete half circle rainbow arching over the horizon to your pot of gold, rainbows are actually full circles and if you were in an airplane, you could see the full rainbow circle within the atmosphere in absolute perfect conditions. The mechanics of how a rainbow forms involve the bending of light and refraction around a single water droplet. Light is refracted due to water being denser than an air particle causing light to travel slower through the water droplet. As the light reflects off the inside of the water droplet, its bends and is separated into different wavelengths of light. Wavelengths are separated based on how intensely it bends creating the magnificent colors of a rainbow. 

Fun fact: the colors of the rainbow will always be oriented with red on top (longest wavelength which bends the least) and violet on the bottom (shortest wavelength bending the most). A double rainbow forms when light inside the water droplet re-refracts, and the order of colors is actually reversed completely and appears as a mirror image to the primary rainbow.

To all my people at home, I miss you all so very much. Dad – You’d love it out here in raw nature with no distraction away from all of society. I wish I could show you, but I’ll have a Fiji rugby jersey for you as a little token of my travels. Give some love to Pumpkin for me 🙂 Mom – Thanks for your phone calls and infinite enthusiasm about everything, including calling me in the middle of a downpour in Fiji. And finally, shout out to my San Diego people: Anna and Camille, I love you both so dearly, and I am counting the days until we reunite. I can’t wait to do a semester photo swap and am so closely holding onto the excitement of all our next plans together!!! You already know I’m always thinking of you both, I miss you so so so much, see you soon!

Anika StanWiens, University of San Diego