Programs Blog

Date: April 15, 2025

Time: 2000

Location: 41⁰44.76’S 162⁰18.803’W

Weather: Wind from the SxSW, Force 5, seas 10-14ft

Hello from the South Pacific, this is Ella again!

We have had quite the journey to our current position in our first thirteen or so days at sea! Although, we faced some higher winds and seas, and had some bowls fly off the galley tables during dinner, spirits on the Robert C. Seamans are high as we continue our voyage to French Polynesia!

In the past couple of days we have set five sails, the most we have set so far: the storm trys’l, the main stays’l, the fore stays’l, the top s’l, and the jib. We also had our first “field day” on the voyage where we give Bobby C a good ole deep clean and all work as a company to deep clean our boat that keeps us safe. Georgia, Aimee, Rocky, and I, all danced and sang to the Mamma Mia soundtrack while deep cleaning in the galley; what can be better than that, right?!

Also, big news from the boat, we have already traveled 1000 nautical miles and all celebrated on the quarterdeck by doing the egg dance (if you know you know)!

My days have consisted of standing watch with my fellow A Watchers, enjoying delicious meals made by the wonderful stewards, reading, spending much time watching the sunsets on the quarterdeck, and watching the numerous albatrosses that circle our vessel in the mornings as I stand as lookout. I have particularly enjoyed standing at the helm and steering, learning new sail-handling techniques, and becoming closer with my fellow classmates and crewmembers. There have been many laughs shared over the days, encompassing all the good and slightly not great things that come with ship life. A great sense of laughter, teamwork, and joy is shared at meals after coming off watch, when we all work to haul a sail aloft, when we are mustered on the quarterdeck and Cap tells one of his jokes, or when a new creature is collected in the neuston net. We recently caught 27 Physalia (sea jellies) in the neuston net! So much happiness and joy comes from this group of people who are so passionate about the ocean, the research we conduct, the places we travel, and the people we can share this experience with. All these sources of good certainly outweigh the seasickness and accumulating number of bruises that come with ship life!

As we continue to sail in the South Pacific you may be wondering how we are navigating to French Polynesia! [In the previous blog entry you read an introduction from Andrew about traditional Polynesian methods.] There are numerous ways that we on our ship can ensure that we are continuing our planned cruise track. Although we do have GPS and other automatic navigational aids, we more often use our own charting and celestial navigation skills to navigate. Every hour, on the hour, we plot out course by taking our “DR” also known as Dead Reckoning. Dead Reckoning consists of calculating and plotting out our true course and the distance we have traveled in nautical miles from the last DR point. Like the DR, we can take a Running Fix, however, a Running Fix includes the current sun position. And lastly, if we are near land or another fixed object, we can take a Radar Fix. Using our radar, we can chart how far away in nautical miles the Bobby C is from a particular object of piece of land. We can then transfer this information onto our chart. Charting is used as our main source of navigation; however, we can navigate by the stars and the planets. Every day we “shoot our LAN” our Local Apparent Noon by using the sextants onboard. When using the sextant, you have to line the sun up with the horizon and then transcribe the angle found on the sextant itself, and then do a little math.

One of my favorite navigation skills has been using the stars to steer while standing at the helm.

We are well on our way to French Polynesia and have just crossed over the dateline and experienced the same day twice! We celebrated two April 14ths, including our celebrations of “Future Day” and “Past Day.” Now settled into ship life, and having overcome seasickness, I am quite the happy sailor! I am so grateful to be here. Here is to more laughter, joy, sunsets and sunrises, neuston tows, and navigation filled days on the Bobby C! Next stop French Polynesia!

Sending love, and laughter from SSV Robert C. Seamans and the South Pacific!

Ella (Sketch), Eckerd College, A Watch

Shoutouts:

To my family: Mom, Dad, Ethan, Eli, and Arya, I miss you all so much! I am thinking of you always and sending you my love from the high seas! Also, Dad! I am officially known onboard as “Sketch,” you would be proud!

To all the other people I love – I am so excited to tell you all about my adventures and share with you my stories of the sea!

Also, shout out A Watch for winning the pin chase!