Programs Blog

March 14th, 2025

Location: Wellington

Our last full day in Wellington was action packed to say the least.

We took a journey to NIWA (National Institute of Water and Atmosphere, the New Zealand NOAA equivalent) to visit some SEA alum and hear from the scientists. On our journey, our long journey, we were consistently entertained by the novelty of our surroundings. We all took a special joy in seeing a dog walker with his gaggle of pups, politely scolding one of them by saying “I know you know better.” We are quickly realizing that New Zealand is quite the dog friendly place.

First sightings of sandy beaches got us excited to lay out in the sun. And so that we did, took a nap, did some watercolor, and read about semi recent artistic protests at the Te Papa museum we visited the previous day. It was the beach trip we were craving.

Across the street from the beach we spotted an empanada shop, our stomachs signaling us to head in that direction. We made the walk to NIWA, empanadas in hand. The walk started up a mountain, fortunately facilitated by stairs “tacking” back and forth. The view from the top was breathtaking for the beauty, but also the mere exhaustion of walking up nearly a thousand steps. Some spots along our path were even used in scenes of the Lord of the Rings, it felt as if we were Sam and Frodo making the journey to Mordor; up a fiery mountain, or maybe just a hill.

At NIWA, we were hosted by an SEA alum who kindly provided us with the company of NIWA scientists, and plenty of Kiwi snacks. L & P soda, Whittaker’s chocolates, sherbet fizz gummies, and a Kiwi classic chip and dip. Along with indulging in the snacks, we indulged in marine research presentations covering topics like phytoplankton, marine darkwaves, shellfish restoration, polar exploration, and the connection between science and art (Kelsey was especially excited about the polar exploration).

We returned back to the ship, exhausted (Kelsey took a second beach nap), but thankful for the day we had, and a long sleep to come before our 0500 to 0700 dawn watch. We woke the crew by chanting “the breakfast is coming” as if we were fighting for national independence from the croissants of our breakfast sandwiches.

–Kelsey McClung, A Watch, Olin College of Engineering and Izzy Kaufman, A Watch, Syracuse University

Shout outs:

Izzy: Mom, Dad, Garrett, miss you all dearly. It was so great to hear your voices on the phone, can’t wait to squeeze you all in person. Love you!

Kelsey: repeat shout outs, in case you missed my first blog 🙂

To Caroline: I miss you most of all, and I hope you are loving life and feeling like everything is all figured out. I’ve noticed my humor becoming more similar to yours, most likely because I miss your jokes and need to make up for their loss somehow. Don’t worry, they’re not as funny from me as they are from you.

To Beck: Fond memories of our adventures and late-night yapping keep me feeling like I can’t entirely abandon my life and start anew at sea. I am so excited to live with you this fall! Be bold, and happy Mountain Goats Monday.

Mom and Dad: I love you guys to no end. I wish I could update you every day on all that I’ve been up to. In the meantime, please look forward to a lengthy photo-album powerpoint, and updates on all I’ve learned about tall ships (and polar exploration).

I remember complaining to you once, Mom, about Microsoft Word grammar-correcting my Oxford commas. You texted me back, “This too shall pass.” Livin’ the high life with so little phone and computer time has made me more impatient with my computer’s hiccups and faults. A few times while typing this blog post, I thought and laughed, “This too shall pass.”

I want to let you both know that I am so incredibly happy and taking in stride changes and challenges that a few years ago would’ve knocked me down. Thank you for encouraging me to push my limits; it’s given me everything I need to make the most of my time here <3.