Programs Blog

We really do swab the decks.

April 11, 2026
I stand sunburned  by our clean, dry, and disinfected dishes. Drying power courtesy of the Sun. Photos courtesy of Sarah Kingston.

Field Day, 11 April, 2026.

Noon Position: (Lat and Long): 20 degrees 09.6’ N, 066 degrees 06.7’ W

Log (nm): 332.4 nm

Weather / Wind / Sail Plan (from 1300 Watch Change): Sunny and hot / ESE wind, Beaufort force 2 / Sailing on a starboard beam reach under the four lowers.

Description of location: Sailing above the Puerto Rico Trench

Today was our first “field day” on Cramer. It’s the new name for Saturdays. We spent two hours turning Cramer inside out scrubbing, polishing, and cleaning away all the hard-to-get-to grit that has been accumulating since we stepped foot on the ship. Some of the lovely tools that helped to do this include filth knives, toothbrushes, and five-gallon buckets of various soapy solutions. The sun beating down on the deck made the greatest dish dryer/disinfector of all time.

I am still adjusting to life at sea. There’s no way I could have fully prepared for it because living on a ship is a little like living inside a constant earthquake. Our two dining tables sway independently from the ship, which helps our food stay upright in the swells. Turns out, that’s pretty easy to adjust to when hungry. It’s not so easy to asdjest to while typing (thank you Sophie for proof reading and speel checking).

Our watch cycles are 18-hours long; six hours on watch, twelve hours off. Because our watch cycles are six hours shorter than the standard 24-hour day, I’ve sampled every possible sleep schedule in the last three days. Yesterday, I was nocturnal and slept when I could between dawn watch (ends at 0700) and evening watch (which begins at 1900). Today, I get to sleep during the nighttime, between the afternoon and morning watches.

I have collected a new color. In deeper water, the ocean becomes a more vibrant blue. Chirp, our depth finding tool that sounds like a bird trapped inside the hull, recorded a depth of 8,200 meters! In deeper water, the ocean absorbs more colors of light until only blue is left. Cobalt best describes the color of the ocean out here, but you really have to see it to believe how blue it is.

And happy birthday to my brother, Wilder! I’m thinking of you and everyone at home. You should come do this sometime.

Tennyson Stinson, A Watch

Cooling off aggressively with the help of the fire hose. 

I steer the boat.