The next big adventure

Hello all, After a busy spring semster at Middlebury, I am in Woods Hole, MA starting on my way to my next big adventure. In a few short weeks, I will be boarding the Robert C. Seamans, 135' of exquisite million-dollar wind-powered research ship.

My 26 other shipmates and I will then sail said tallship from Honolulu to San Fransisco in 25 days while researching along the way. We are here in woods hole to learn to sail and design a research project. I will be investigating the effects of pH (read: ocean acidification) on the exoskeletons of calcium carbonate prodcing phytoplankton. For those of you interested in my journey, I provide the following link, by which you may watch me move across the big blue ocean, all 2,500 nautical miles of it.

http://sea.edu/voyages/index.asp

Right now the Seamans is sailing from Tahiti to Hawaii, but after June 22nd, it will be full of my class and headed off to San Fransisco. Daily satellite updates will show it moving across the ocean as we make progress. There is no internet to speak of on board, so most of my updates will come from here before I leave.

Our captain, Captain Chris, is exactly like what you would expect a sailing captain to look like. He's probably in his late thirties with a short beard, a pirate earring and an air about him that makes you want to snap to attention and say "Yes, sir!"

Our science professor, Professor Giora, acts like a man much older than he is. He seems to have so many thoughts running through his head as not to be able to pick out any one in particular to follow.

The campus is small, consisting of five houses, three of which occupied by my shipmates. Each house holds nine of us and we are totally responsible for ourselves. We shop and cook for ourselves and are expected to keep our space 'ship shape.' I got lucky and live in a house full of cooks. Madeline, from Aspen is teaching me to make bread and last night we made cheese ravioli from scratch. We have already been to the vineyard last saturday, spending most of the day reading on the beach.

There is a small beach near us, about a 15 minute walk. We go down together every night to watch the sunset and today I was even brave enough to go in for a swim with the boys. It was not as cold as Cordero, but colder than Bliss, so I didn't stay in very long. The weather is beautiful today, so it's a shame to be inside. I think I'll run along and finish my paper for tomorrow so I can catch the late afternoon sun.