Andover’s Jaimes Southworth ‘21, Cedar Kiedaisch ‘21, and Chloe Makechnie ‘20 completed nine weeks at sea aboard the 135 foot schooner Roseway as a part of Proctor Academy’s Ocean Classroom program this fall. The crew of 21 students sailed from Boston Harbor to San Juan, Puerto Rico, making port stops and learning marine science, navigation, and maritime literature along the way.

Jaimes ‘21 shared midway through the journey the following reflection from a day at sea:
My day started bright and early when Cole woke me up for anchor watch. I was half asleep and confused but Cole soon said, “wake up Jaimes… there are Oreos for midrats!” I was awake for sure now. We are in Baltimore and that anchor watch was a chilly one…Chores came next (C-Watch had deckwash) and we munched down some breakfast fast. 

At this point I was anxious to set out for our first day in Baltimore. We were divided into our Humans of Port groups and began walking the streets. Olivia, Pete, and I ventured down to the farmer’s market and I bought a yummy bagel after all of the interviews. We went back to the boat for lunch and there was a wedding happening on the pier where we were docked! Anyways after lunch we walked for about 30 minutes to our IMET (Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology) tour…The day ended with a beautiful sunset (as always). We will see what awaits for tomorrow! I love you mom, dad, Joe, Hank, Ally, grandparents, friends, and more!

Below is an excerpt from a voyage log shared by Chloe ‘20:
We had a lovely sunset dinner on deck, and went into town for some ice cream with Brooks, and some explorations. Birgit, Tagh, Emily, and I stumbled upon a jazz band singing on little market street. We danced and danced until the band finished, and headed back to the ferry to get back to Roseway. Brooks came bearing gifts: letters from school! It was kinda like Christmas, and Brooks was Santa… anyways tomorrow we will set sail for Charleston around 09:30. I’m getting so excited for the long passage, being on the open ocean, storms, fish, seasickness and all!

Having our phones last night was definitely weird, and as much as I liked talking to my family and friends, it was overwhelming, and I almost wish I hadn’t used it so that I wasn’t pulled out of “boat life” at all. All is well though, and I am snapped back into the Roseway world again. When strangers on the sidewalks in our port stops ask us about what we’re doing and we give them the whole run down, are some of the times I feel so grateful for this adventure, and kind of realize how crazy it is. Right now it is 00:21 and I have anchor watch at 05:00 so I gotta get some sleep, goodnight!

Cedar ‘21 shared the following from life at sea:
It is absolutely crazy to think that there are only two weeks until this is all over, it feels impossible. Waking up I expected just a normal day, or at least as average as a day on Roseway can be. Boy was I wrong though. The day began with the morning watch with the one and only Billy Benson as JWO. We had literature class in which we presented our objects that we were placing in the dog – the message in a bottle is a green, tall, dog-shaped bottle…I spent my time doing the weather almanac, working on my ditty bag, and listening to Dr. Claire read Harry Potter to some of the deckhands and me…then it was time to send off the message in a dog bottle. I stood ready with the Polaroid as the dog was deployed. Matthew gave it a toss, the camera clicked with a flash, and the bottle was underwater. And… everybody cheered as the dog resurfaced and floated along in the wide open sea as we continued on. 

Almanacs ended and I went down below to prepare myself for watch. All of a sudden there was, you could call it, a ruckus on deck. After the cheering continued for a minute I decided to check it out. Land. Cole had finally spotted land after seeing nothing but water for eight days. After rejuvenating about land we mustered for watch and had a bland two hours. Afterward, Matthew, Brandyn, and I stayed up talking before I decided it was time to hit the sack.

Learn more about Proctor’s Ocean Classroom program at www.proctoracademy.org/off-campus/ocean-classroom