Curious Dacia goes to Sea!

Welcome to sea!  This is Dacia Harris, the teacher at sea, for this last leg of the project.  In addition, this is my first extended stay at sea so I wanted to share a little about what I have experienced at sea.

The watertight door between the wet lab and the back deck of the ship is a place where I have to duck.

For those of you who don’t know me, I am a 6’2” female.  I am very grateful to not have to duck everywhere to get places.  The only places that I have to duck so far are the watertight doors and my bunk.  The watertight doors have been interesting to try and maneuver my way through, being that they have small openings and are very heavy (we were warned that if we weren’t careful they could take off our arm) and the ship is always rocking back and forth.

The berth is actually much roomier than I had anticipated.  We each have a locker for our gear as well as drawers and cupboards so that our belongings are secured, on the off chance that we run into high seas.  The bunk is long enough for me to lie down flat (side sleeping is questionable as we rock, and you could easily end up on the floor).  You can see in the image, there are blackout curtains to help you sleep better.

I demonstrate the coziness of my bunk.

Another interesting concept is the head (bathroom). There are two toilets (one significantly smaller than the other — think airplane bathroom) and three showers.  Thankfully the showers are pretty tiny because when the boat rocks, you have something to “brace yourself.”  We are all sharing the head (about 13 people) – good thing we are all getting along pretty well.

The best surprise is the mess (kitchen/dining).  There are two wonderful guys who are providing delicious nutritious food for a crew of more than 30.  And while there is no soda (I know!) we do have juice, tea and water.  Remember hydration is KEY while at sea to prevent sea-sickness. Well that, and a patch, wristbands, and Dramamine (remember this is my first long-term at sea).  I will fill you all in more on what we are doing out here a little later.

Kelly did this drawing of a morning at sea. It is easy to embrace the morning after climbing out of your bunk and enjoying a delicious breakfast and hot cup of coffee.

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