CONGRATS to our friends, Fritz and Lulu de Lange, whose daughter Pamela is currently enrolled in SEA Semester: Colonization to Conservation in the Caribbean, a study abroad program through Sea Education Association in Woods Hole, MA, while away from studies at De La Salle University Manila. Pamela is one of 22 undergraduates from diverse U.S. institutions who will spend this spring term investigating and comparing sustainability issues across multifaceted Caribbean islands, including Cuba – all from the unique platform of a tall sailing ship.
Pamela has just successfully completed SEA Semester’s six-week shore component, earning academic credit for curriculum in oceanography, nautical science, and maritime studies. Students took advantage of their proximity to local institutions such as Brown University’s John Carter Brown Library and the Marine Biological Laboratory Library to access rare archives from centuries of previous Caribbean voyages in an effort to inform their own place-based research.
The class now begins their sea component aboard SEA’s 134-foot sailing school vessel, the Corwith Cramer, in the Caribbean. Over six weeks Pamela will sail on the tall ship from St. Croix with planned multi-day port stops in St. John, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba and Jamaica. During that time, the students will confer with local experts and conduct field-based research one a wide variety of interdisciplinary topics. Also integral to the student experience is training in natural history illustration and journaling. Each student will chronicle their voyage through field sketches, recognition drawings and navigational directions, technical diagrams, scientific data recording, personal accounts, and storytelling. During most port stops, students will participate in snorkel-based coral reef surveys. They will also have the opportunity to conduct marine mammal surveys and visit the Marine Mammal Sanctuary of Silver Bank in the Dominican Republic.
As with all SEA Semester programs, Pamela will also help provide weather observations to a national database, learn to chart the course of the vessel using celestial and serve as the Junior Watch Officer (JWO), taking full command of the vessel during a watch.For more information, visit www.sea.edu, where you can track the vessel, along with student experiences, on the blog, which is updated each business day.
Sea Education Association (SEA) is an internationally recognized leader in undergraduate ocean education. For 45 years and more than one million nautical miles sailed. SEA has educated students about the world’s oceans through its Boston University accredited study abroad program, SEA Semester. SEA/SEA Semester is based in Cape Cod in the oceanographic research community of Woods Hole, Massachusetts and has two research vessels. The SSV Corwith Cramer, operating in the Atlantic Ocean, and the SSV Robert C. Seamans, operating in the Pacific.
