Emmi Triplett, Quach (C Watch), College of Charleston

18 days and 1487 nautical miles into our journey and we have officially reached our halfway point! To celebrate and acknowledge this milestone, B Watch hosted an existential tea party on the quarterdeck for the crew to share their thoughts and feelings on the past and future components of the trip. We discussed what we’re proud of ourselves for and what we’re looking forward to in the next half of the trip. Personally, I’m proud of micro pipetting gels on a moving sailboat, and I’m looking forward to going aloft and setting more sails.

Sunset on the High Seas

To paint a picture of our suite life on deck for y’all on shore, I gathered some statistics:
Nautical miles: 1487
Sails set: 7
Lines learned: 91
Science deployments: 24
Leptocephali collected: 13
Hydroids ID’d: 38
Gel electrophoresis run: 11
Flying fish dissected: 1
Dolphins spotted: 11
Mahi mahi: 2
Whales: 0 🙁
Government surveillance drones: 42 (birds aren’t real)
Mysterious buoys: 5
Submarines spotted: 1
Gallons of freshwater made: 6272
Constellations learned: 6
Previously seasick students: 8
Currently seasick students: 0-1?
Books I’ve read: 1 (this is an accomplishment)
Friendship bracelets I’ve made: 8
Dawn watches I’ve stood: 5
Times I’ve showered: 3
Beans eaten: too many

Brown Footed Booby on the Bowsprit

Finally, parents may be glad to hear (and stop calling the office) because we made a sharp 180 degree turn and are now headed north and homebound.
Anyways, I had dawn watch this morning and have evening watch in a few hours, so I definitely need a nap. Bye for now!

P.S. Roxy don’t throw out our rainbows that Sailor ate, I heard we can send them to rainbow and they’ll replace them! And take our girl to 60 Bull for me xoxo