Land Lubber No More!

My new position is the Alumni Relations Coordinator for Sea Education Association (SEA), a term abroad program for college, graduate, and post-graduate students interested in oceanography, maritime history, and nautical and marine sciences. Students attending the program spend 6 weeks at the shore facility in Woods Hole learning about marine science, maritime history, nautical science and developing a research project. The second 6 weeks of the 12 week program is spent at sea on a 134ft brigantine tall ship in the Pacific, Atlantic, or Caribbean. During the sea term, students work together to sail the ship, navigate using celestial navigation, and conduct research for the project using cutting edge scientific equipment. It's a difficult but extremely rewarding program, and, since I am not an alum, I am over-the-moon to spend 18 days sailing around the Caribbean.

Corwith Cramer, my future home for 2.5 weeks. Photo SEA

The sea term begins in St. Croix, USVI, where I will meet the ship, students, and crew. From there, we sail around the British Virgin Islands and make port in San Juan, Puerto Rico. After spending a couple days in Old San Juan, we'll haul anchor and head for Samana, Dominican Republic, taking advantage of the warm Westerly trade winds. I leave the ship in Samana and return Boston (works calls!), but the students and crew continue sailing and stop in Port Antonia, Jamaica, round Cuba, and finally dock in Key West, FL on January 2nd.

Close-up of a sextant used to calculate ship'd position by sighting celestial bodies like stars.

On board the Cramer, I'll join a watch: A, B, or C and will rotate spending time on Deck, Science, Galley, and Engine Room watches. During deck watch, which is 6 hours except for 1-6am when they are 4 hours, I'll learn to navigate, plot courses, use a sextant, set and furl sails, practice emergency drills and steer. On science watch, I'll learn to deploy neutson nets and other scientific equipment and help identify marine invertebrates (my favorite). On engine room watch, I'll be in the engine room helping with ship maintenance. Every Sunday, everyone on the ship dons a costume for field day, also known as scrubbing the ship from top to bottom. During downtime, which is not much time at all, I'll probably sleep, take pictures, and sketch (actually, part of the program involves sketching, drawing and painting).

Student navigational aid adorned with doodles.

Though I'll miss sharing Thanksgiving with family, I'm confident spending the holiday in St. Croix won't suck. While I am away, I will not have access to email or phone. SEA maintains two ship blogs, written by students, so you can follow the cruise track and read our thoughts and musings about life at sea: http://www.sea.edu/voyages/blog_cramer_237. The blog is updated on weekdays by shore staff, so please be patient!

Lastly, wishing everyone a great Thanksgiving! I'll return Dec 13 with stories to tell and pictures to post. I can hardly wait!

Inside Malevolence

Last month I (finally) posted pictures of our fine vessel. It's time to share our living quarters and the challenges associated with living with limited storage.

Looking towards the bow inside the main cabin. Thank you, BP oil spill, for the TV.

To recap: Malevolence is 42ft, which is a little longer than the length of our house in Reading. It's your typical 1980's mixture of brown earth tones and dark-finished wood. To defend myself, the lighthouse lamp is a remnant from the previous owner. He GORILLA GLUED it to the shelf along with the microwave. Sections of the carpeted floor lift for access to the two gas engines, bilge, poo tank, and necessary plumbing and wiring.

The dogs on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Sandy and Tia love the boat. Sandy particularly loves the carpeted floor. When we first introduced them to the boat...yacht...Sandy, delighted to find carpeting, twirled in circles and rolled around on the floor. Our house in Reading has wood floors throughout the house and Sandy, lover of all things soft and fluffy, hated the hard flooring. Naturally, Tia prefers the couch.

galley on the port side

Moving forward towards the bow, the galley, small but efficient, contains a fridge, ample cabinet space for accoutrements, pantry, microwave, range and stove. Two out of three burners work and the stove is kaput, but that doesn't slow us down.

Additional galley space to the right of the kitchen on the starboard side.

Another aside. The previous owner, an illiterate electrician, and, as we continue to discover, knows very little about electricity and wiring. He installed an inordinate number of light fixtures in the cabin which, from time to time, overload the circuits.

V-berth and bow. Anchor line is stored in a small space through the little door.

The V-berth comfortably sleeps two, though we're currently using it for storage and Chad's closet.

port head off V-berth and galley

The port head has a little shower and adequate storage space. It's about the size of a small house bathroom and surprisingly roomy for a boat head. Bad design: the walls are covered in carpet, even lining the shower walls.

Main cabin looking aft. In defense of myself once more, the tacky shell mirror is another remnant from the previous owner's kitschy decor. It must be integral to the stability of the vessel because we CANNOT remove it from the wall. You can see the master bedroom in the aft-most section.

Aft cabin and master bedroom. The bed can almost comfortably sleep two. Since Chad and I enjoy cuddling, it works for us. Unfortunately, the full-size mattress does not comfortably sleep two humans and two space-hogging dogs.

The master bedroom is quite roomy with enough storage space to fit one person's wardrobe. It contains a small closet, 12 small drawers and lots of counter top space. The aft portion (see the fan?) leaked during rainstorms and, as a result, harbored mold. Sealant and scrubbing solved the issue but, during chilly nights, window and hatch condensation remains a problem. A ceiling hatch opens to the aft deck, which is wonderful to prop open on warm summer nights.

Another angle showing ceiling hatch.

The starboard head with shower also opens to the master bedroom. Currently in disrepair, I chose not to include photos.

Port-side view for internal orientation.

That's our house! Later this month, we'll shrink wrap the top half of the boat with opaque, thick marine plastic to protect against ice and snow damage and accumulation. Extreme temperatures combined with freezing salt water will destroy the best of paint jobs. Snow and ice accumulation on an exposed deck is especially dangerous and affects stability. Many boats will sink, list, or flip over.

Once we wrap and winterize Malevolence, our storage capacity will increase and we can finally empty our cars! Currently, we store our winter coats and clothing in big plastic bins under the bimini top. Shoes, linens, reference and academic books, bikes, tools, vacuum and other necessary material are packed in the Dodge and Xterra. The longer we live on the boat, we're able to realize essentials and let go of superfluous belongings. It's pretty free-ing!