Seamester: Caribbean to Tahiti Voyage via The Galapagos - 90 Days

I would tell future students to really embrace life aboard a sailing vessel. Being at sea is a great time to get a break from the internet and just focus on the people you are with and to live in the moment. Being away from social media was really refreshing and eye-opening.

Also, we were able to have so much fun, even with typically mundane tasks. We liked to call chores/work, “type 2 fun,” which were things that are not ordinarily fun but can be made fun when you do it with a group of people and enjoy the simplicity of life on a sailboat. That made things like doing the dishes, scrubbing the hull, and organizing provisions an experience to remember. Some of my fondest memories were made while cleaning up after mealtime in the dishy pit singing sea shanties.

There are two types of days: (1) days at sea and (2) days at port. During days at sea, you will be part of a watch team. You essentially are 4 hours on watch, 8 hours off watch. The watch schedule is 8am-12pm, 12pm-2pm, 2pm-6-pm, 6pm-8pm, 8pm-12am, 12am-4am, 4am-8am. Lunch is at noon, classes are held after lunch, followed by deck showers, free time, and then dinner is at 6.

At port, the schedule varies, but the program manager will often have activities planned like hikes, tours, and volunteer opportunities during the day. Classes are usually at night during days at port. You also learn how to SCUBA dive when anchored.

Each day everyone has an assigned job. Some of the jobs include skipper (writing the trip log), chef, sous chef, freshies and salties (the dishwashers), headmaster (bathroom cleaner), bosun/deckies (clean the deck), breadmaker, and gopher (transfer meals from the galley to the deck).

Before I began my journey, I was pretty nervous about meeting all new people and how everyone would interact. I was also nervous that I would not be able to keep up physically because I was not as fit as the majority of the participants. However, you can do activities at your own pace and will be encouraged but not pressured by the group.

Group dynamics can sometimes be challenging, but by the end of the trip, we were a cohesive team that worked well together and encouraged each other. Some of the activities were challenging, but they were always rewarding and I always felt accomplished after I completed something that I hadn’t done before.

Before I began my Sea|mester journey, I thought that the Galapagos would be my favorite port of call. Don’t get me wrong, it was amazing seeing all the wildlife and SCUBA diving in some of the coolest locations. However, stopping in a remote atoll in the Tuamotu Archipelago in French Polynesia, was such a special place to visit.

The Atoll was remote, only accessible by boat, and peaceful. It was the last stop before Tahiti and was a great way to wrap up the trip. We visited a pearl farm and took our last dive there. I think the remoteness of the atoll and the absence of tourists really made me appreciate being on a sailboat, able to travel to remote destinations.