Life At Sea

Having spent nearly 1/3 of a year at sea, there are days I would love to exchange my land-legs for sea-legs... and vice-versa.

8 weeks in the Pacific + 9 weeks in the Atlantic = a whole lot of blue .

My first @ sea experience was onboard a sailing vessel - SV SEAMANS. As an undergrad student studying at Dalhousie University towards a BSc in marine biology/oceanography I was itching to get out on the ocean and to do some 'real' science. I enrolled in a co-op program that allowed me to partake in a number of paid co-op positions, which ended up splitting up my degree and I found myself searching for course-work in the summer of 2012. While some pretty cool courses are offered to students in my program at Dal in the summer, I decided to do a little research online. I ended up finding some amazing summer programs at Duke University, at Bamfield Marine Science Center in BC*, and at Friday Harbour Lab in Washington, but nothing quite compared to the experience that the Sea Education Association (SEA) summer ocean exploration could offer - 1 month on the water. We were to sail from Honolulu to San Francisco over the course of 4 weeks and we were to learn how to do it ourselves. Without getting into the details of the trip too much, I will just say that I was hooked. Leaving the deck of the Seamans after an incredible 4 weeks with no land in sight was one of the hardest goodbye's I've ever had. Luckily, that was not my last voyage out at sea.

My undergraduate thesis work slowly began manifesting itself into my graduate thesis work at Dalhousie where I completed my MSc in Oceanography this past fall (2017). I was incredibly fortunate enough to work with a supervisor who believed in life outside the lab/office and highly encouraged sea-time. I ended up sailing three times on Canada's oldest research vessel - CGS Hudson. We were a part of a team from the Bedford Institute of Oceanography that conducts semi-annual monitoring programs of the Scotian Shelf. The North Atlantic was so different from the Eastern Pacific... but something about life at sea was entirely the same. Life onboard the Hudson and the Seamans was filled with incredible sights, amazing science and even better company. I learned that you quickly build a family onboard, with whom you will share these experiences not everyone will ever get to.

Finally, in my last year of my MSc at Dalhousie - while spending 3 months abroad learning some analytical techniques in Bremen, Germany - I received one of the best emails ever from my supervisor back at Dal -- "would you like to sail onboard the RV SONNE from Auckland, New Zealand to Darwin, Australia in April?" -- "heck yes I would!". Not only was this a sail between two of the coolest places I had never been to, but it was onboard a state-of-the-art brand new German vessel sailing with an amazing lineup of scientists from all over the world - needless to say, I was in.

*P.S. Both the Duke + Bamfield + FHL summer programs look amazing and I would encourage looking into them if SEA doesn't do it for you!