News
Bingo the Beautiful Barn Swallow
Anna Merrifield, B Watch, Wesleyan University
Ship’s Log
Noon Position
20º 09.3’ N x 60 º 08.1’ W
Ship Heading (degrees)
165
Ship Speed (knots)
4
Taffrail Log (nm)
280.1
Weather / Wind / Sail Plan (from 1300 Watch Change)
Wind ExS F3, Seas NE 3-5, Sailing on a Port tack under the 4 lowers for a closereach, steering full and by.
Description of location
100nm North of Puerto Rico Trench
It has been a whirlwind past few days getting settled in on the Cramer! Us students are trying our best to learn all the new boat lingo and science techniques, all while taking in the beautiful stars and sunsets/sunrises. Little by little, I think things are starting to make a bit more sense (yay!) I started off my day today with morning watch in the lab at 0600. There was a gorgeous sunrise to kick off the watch, and after that we got started with some morning chores and then headed to the lab to do some science! We had a very exciting deployment day, where we basically sent down a bunch of fancy science instruments and nets into the ocean to collect data (and do some “science squats” while we wait).
The science lab has another very exciting update: yesterday afternoon a barn swallow flew into the lab! We named him Bingo, and the dawn watch put him in a box with some water. He stayed there all night, probably recovering from an exhausting migration. He was not very helpful and he pooped in the lab. But he is very cute! Now Bingo is hanging out on deck with us, so we have a new buddy!
After morning watch we had class, where we did some line handling practice of turning the boat around, and then learned how to use a sextant!
I think I was probably a couple hundred nautical miles off, but now I can at least say I know generally how to use one, which is pretty cool. After class I did some saltwater laundry and rinsed myself off while watching the sunset and hanging out with Bingo, of course.
It’s been crazy to be on a sleep schedule where you’re up at weird hours in the night. It’s super cool to spend a whole six hours watching the stars or the clouds move around in the sky. We’ve already seen some amazing sunsets and shooting stars, and I can’t wait to see more. I’m really excited to keep learning how to sail and do all the science stuff, and just get into the swing of things. To anyone at home reading this, hello! Hope things are going well, miss you and can’t wait to tell you all about it when I get back!
Anna Merrifield, B Watch, Wesleyan University