Sea|Mester

On May 12th I returned from 103 days at sea with Sea|Mester where I sailed from Falmouth Harbour, Antigua to Nadi, Fiji via St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Panama, and The Galápagos.

My trip started in January 2021 in Antigua aboard Sailing Yacht Argo, we stayed in Antigua for 2 weeks learning the ropes, starting classes, and some amazing scuba diving there. We then sailed to Saint Vincent and The Grenadines, where we got to experience more fantastic scuba diving, beautiful hikes, and gorgeous sunsets. From Saint Vincent and The Grenadines, we sailed for 7 days to Colon, Panama. The watches for operating the boat were broken up into 3 watch teams with the students divided evenly into the 3 teams and each team having 1 or 2 staff members. We stayed at a marina north of Colon for 4 days before going through the Panama Canal.

Getting through the canal took 2 days, 1 day to go through each set of 3 locks on each side of the canal. Going through the canal, the boat was split into 4 teams, one for each line on the bow and stern of the port and starboard sides, each line had to be taken up as the water raised on the way up and eased on the way down and you were fighting the currents from the water being pumped in the locks moving a 150-ton boat.

Once we were in the pacific in Panama City, we started preparing for another 8-day passage to San Cristobal in the Galapagos. We also took on a mammoth provision of canned and dry goods as a contingency if we were unable to clear customs in the Galapagos. At this point we started talking about the end of the trip, originally, we were supposed to end in Tahiti in French Polynesia which is about 2000 nautical miles closer to the Galapagos than Fiji. Due to travel restrictions with Covid, we were not able to enter Tahiti and Fiji was the next closest location.

We set off for the Galapagos unsure where our final would be. At this point we had settled into the routine of passage, the schedule consisted of watch, classes, and free time/study time. The watches lasted 4 hours there was midnight to 4, 4 to 8, 8 to 12, then classes went from after lunch cleanup every day (usually around 1:30) to 4. At 4pm all the students must shower because we showered on deck using the fire pump with salt water then ricing ourselves with fresh water. After showers was the 4 to 6 pm 2-hour watch called dog watch, then dinner was at 5pm then another 6-8 dog watch and the final 8-12 watch. This repeated for every day of passage.

Once in the Galapagos, we had a densely packed schedule. The day after we arrived, we all went to the Charles Darwin Research Station where we got to see giant tortoises and see their processes for breading the giant tortoises. There were then 2 days of diving with the amazing Scuba Iguana dive shop split up by a tour of the highlands of Santa Cruz. The diving was amazing, we saw schools of spotted eagle rays, blacktip reef sharks, oceanic white tip sharks, and scalloped hammerhead sharks, as well as a school of garden eels, 2 frogfish, and much more. On the highlands tour, we were able to see wild giant tortoises, finches, and the beautiful geology of Santa Cruz including a cave formed by lava.

After an amazing week in the Galapagos our final destination had been decided and our trip had been extended from 90 to 96 days total so that we could get to Fiji and still have time to do activities there. we prepared for a massive 5400nm passage to Fiji, one that would end up taking 34 days to complete. We restocked our provision getting more canned goods to replace what had been used and 34 days of meat and produce for as long as it could last in the refrigerator.

This passage felt as if it would never end, partly because it was so long and partly because the exact amount of time it would take was dependent on the wind speed and direction. The first 2 weeks were cruising, after 10 days people lost track of time and everyone was just enjoying it day by day, it also helped that we were traveling at 8.5 knots and making better time than anyone had expected. After 2 weeks the winds died down significantly and significantly increased the estimated time remaining causing crew morale to worsen slightly. People found new ways to entertain themselves by holding movie nights with their watch teams and other actives to do in their time off.

2 days before our arrival in Fiji we were informed that Fiji had gone into lockdown due to an outbreak of covid and our flights had been canceled. When we arrived in Fiji, the mood was a mixture of excitement and concern. Everyone was ready for our 34-day passage to be complete; we had run out of flour and some other basic provisions.

We arrived outside of Nadi, the second-largest city in Fiji. Once in Fiji, we were under quarantine until we tested negative for covid which took about 4 days. After we cleared in, we went to Port Denarau Marina and had a party to celebrate the longest passage and longest trip in Sea|Mester history. We met a super cool man named Geoff who is the manager of Port Denarau Marina he told us all the best places to go while we were in Fiji. After we left the Marina, we headed up the Yasawa group, a small island chain off the north of Nadi. We were able to do some amazing scuba diving and amazing snorkeling on the reefs that at points sat in only 4 feet of water. There were amazing swim-thrus and fantastic biodiversity of coral and fish. We stopped on one small island and were able to go onshore and spend the afternoon on the most beautiful beach I have ever been on.