Programs Blog

Thinking About the Voyage

June 02, 2026
Jude Daniel on the science deck of Corwith Cramer while training at the dock in Woods Hole. She is learning how she and her classmates will help lower scientific sampling gear into the water. That’s WHOI’s ship of oceanography, R/V Atlantis at the opposite dock. (Brooke Grasberger)

Tuesday June 2, 2026

At sea on Stellwagen Bank

1145 ET

The Whaling History and Whaling Conservation students are at sea today in the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. Fingers crossed they’ll see a whale or two! For now, the blog catches up with one more student interview before they left to go to sea, during their week of academic and nautical science preparations on campus in Woods Hole. Student Camryn Hartigan interviewed fellow student Jude Daniel.

Name, school, major?

Hi, my name is Judetalina Daniel, I go to UMass Dartmouth, and I’m a Psychology major and a Sustainability minor.

Will you tell me about what we did yesterday?

Yesterday we met with someone from the Conservation Law Foundation, and we talked about the right whales, and why they’re endangered, and steps you can take to just help. 

What are we up to for the rest of today?

Today, so we woke up, we cleaned, and we’re going to board the Cramer today. How am I feeling about this? I’m feeling nervous, but a little excited at the same time. I’m a little claustrophobic, so this is like a little bit out of my comfort zone. But I’m excited. Mostly.

We’re here on a program focusing on the history of whaling and whale conservation, so kind of combining science and history to face this problem of helping whales. What’s on your mind, or what’s something that you’ve learned about this interesting intersection of topics?  

I feel like I knew the basics of whaling, but I never, I didn’t really know Indigenous people’s involvement in it, or even African Americans, how they were involved, and how they helped the whaling industry. So I feel like that’s something really cool that I learned.

My paper for the magazine is on noise pollution in the ocean and how human activity is just disturbing marine life and their environment. It’s making it harder for them to communicate, making it harder for them to navigate, and just their overall survival.

What skills are you excited to gain through this program? About our upcoming time on the ship?

I’ve never been on a night watch before. 

What I’m most excited for about the boat is just seeing whale activity, the possibility of seeing whale activity and even, like, hearing them. I’m most curious about the scientific stuff we’re going to be doing or how involved we’re going to be in that.

Jude on campus, a few hours before going to move aboard the Corwith Cramer. (Camryn Hartigan)