Bermuda Triangle

Alexis Clements, C watch

As we prepare for Halloween, what better place to be but venturing into the Bermuda Triangle, a small portion of the vast ocean that captures many peoples amazement with all of the mysteries it holds. When entering the Sargasso Sea, we experienced days of eerily calm, glassy waters, with no breeze to quench our sweat ridden bodies, but today, as we crossed the official line of the Triangle’s boundary, we got a refreshing breeze and a subtle wave hello from Neptune and its indescribably hypnotizing blue waters.

The closest thing to explaining these hypnotizing blue waters

Today, I woke up around 1100 after a long night watch, to be greeted by the hot sticky Salon, took a shower, and joined my watch above deck for a team meeting, we then ventured back below deck to have a quick lunch before we had to be back on watch. While on watch, I was JC’s (our engineer) shadow, we got to check off quite a few things on the daily check list he has. During class, we got to see flying fish majestically break the water’s surface, fluttering just above the waves, as a Mahi Mahi leapt close behind, working hard for its next meal. And now, here I am typing away after dinner to update all of our readers of our endeavors.

It has been a great time here on the Cramer, living my dream of trying to understand the ocean through science and data collection, while getting the added thrill of learning how to sail; we finally got the opportunity to practice celestial navigation, another curiosity of mine and many aboard the vessel, we use the sexton to shoot the sun, stars, and moon to calculate our position on this big blue planet, and plot our position based on estimated ship speed and course steered, a practice we call dead reckoning.

But overall, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t ready to come home yet, I think a few of us here can agree to that, the simple things are what we miss most, the comfort of our own beds, not falling into the shower walls when your simply trying to shampoo, seeing the faces of our loved ones and sharing stories of our adventures. Some of the hardest things for me to adjust to, is the humidity and the different foods, especially the sea food, coming from Colorado, I don’t eat much sea food at all, the smell is so unfamiliar that it’s almost unsettling… only about three more weeks left, I am soaking up as much of this experience as possible, and even though my project (Bioluminescence) has been tough and I have jumped through a ton of hoops, collecting as much data as possible, I cannot wait to see what comes of it.

- Alexis Clements, Student of the Earth

PS: To my family- I love and miss you guys, thank you for supporting me and helping me get this incredible experience, I cannot wait to tell you about these times when I am home, give all the animals love for me <3 Not going to lie, I’ve been a little home sick… To Tavion: I hope you got my package and loved it. I miss you so much, I think about you every day, I see your amazing smile in all of my dreams, and I can’t wait to share some of these recipes with you when I am home so we can cook them together. You are my rock, and I hope me being away isn’t too hard on you like it has been to me. I am beyond ecstatic to be closer to being back in your arms. Just remember, it’s not the days I’ve been gone, it’s counting down until we can be together again. I love you infinity.

PS: Happy Birthday Reuben! And belated Happy Birthday to Amy and Owen too. I hope you are all doing great. Love, JC

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHAELA!! Have an amazing day! Love you – Sophie

PS: Daddy-O! You da man!!!! Happiest of birthdays to you. You always inspire me to be industrious and humorous and true to myself. Have a great day and hope everyone is powering through the storms back in NOLA. Much love.