Spring 2003 SEAmester East Journal
Sent weekly from sea by students on-board SEAmester ...
SEAmester Log, Part 1
St. Thomas
March 5, 2003
by Matt and Julia
Well, we are just over a week at sea now on our journey back to Long
Island and so much has happened already. First, just to let everyone know,
we are all well, except for a little bit of sea sickness, sunburn and
fatigue, but nothing serious. So with that out of the way, this is what has
been going on.
We all met down at the boat the first monday and right away we all knew
it was going to be a great time. Some of us arrived early and helped
provision the ship, repack the freezers and whatnot. We also got settled
into our bunks. They really weren't joking when they said how small they
are. I'm (Julia) 5'4" and I can almost touch my head and feet to both ends
of my bunk. Without delay, Captain J.B. Smith introduced us to the crew and
we toasted the trip with a little rum punch. Since that day, I don't think
any of us have looked back. We came down here knowing very few people on the
boat, now it feels like we have known everyone forever. We have a great
Captain, a great crew, and a great group of people, and we are all looking
forward to a great trip, not that it hasn't been already.
Just in the last few days, we have done and seen so many amazing things,
on top of sailing a 125' schooner. We set out from St. Thomas on a day sail
to St. John, where we had an incredible hike across the island, did some
snorkling, and even started classes. It was a quick stop in St. John
though, and we were soon on our way to Nevis on a two day sail. This is
where we really starting getting into the sailing part. It took a couple of
days, but most of us have got our sea legs at this point. After the sail we
spent one quick day visiting museums, hiking and exploring the island. We
even spotted a monkey out in the woods. We soon had to hoist the anchor and
head on out. This time we were bound for Antigua.
This sail was absolutely incredible. The first night out of Nevis, we
spotted a pod of dolphins racing along with the boat. The girls who were on
bow watch got really excited about this and scared the crew into thinking
there was a man over board situation. Fortunately, it was just the dolphins.
The next morning, right before wake up, we spotted a humpback whale and
three pilot whales just a shiplength off the boat. They proceeded to put a
show on for all of us and it made for a really excellent wake up. But the
most amazing was still yet to come. Later that afternoon as we were sailing
past Montserrat, we witnessed a pretty good eruption of the volcano on this
island. It threw a huge cloud of smoke and ash into the air that just
poured down the mountain side. It was a really incredible sight. Later on
that afternoon we arrived in English Harbor in Antigua and made quite a
show, coming in under full sail and showing off all of our newly learned
sailing skill(with the help of the incredible crew), and that is where we
are now. We hope this email finds all of you well and that it didn't make
you all too jealous. We have to get back to doing stuff though and stop
talking about the stuff we have already done, i am sure there is a ton of
stuff that i forgot, but it has been an amazing trip so far, and we are
looking forward to every day.
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