Students at SUNY-ESF who chose to study at sea this semester set sail on Saturday aboard the SSV Corwith Cramer to learn oceanography and marine biology.

Along with those classes, students studying with the Sea Education Association Semester will be learning conservation and social sciences, said Kimberly Schulz, the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry contact for SEA Semester.

The program requires 17 credits during the course of the semester or 12 credits during the summer, she added. Students spend the first six weeks in Woods Hole, Mass., developing independent projects that will be worked on during the time on the ship, she said.

Because ESF is affiliated with the SEA Semester, there are no application fees for students who are interested, Schulz said. Once accepted, students can apply for a scholarship of up to $4,000 from the school, she added. Each program costs a different amount, but most ESF students do not pay the full price, she said.

At sea, students learn many skills, including how to sail a boat, she said.

Students come up with some very interesting projects, Schulz said. She provided an example of a student who previously studied on the SEA Semester, who looked at the relationship between water temperature and El Nino in the Pacific Ocean.

The trip is made up of 20-25 students on one boat, with the captain capable of allowing more, if students are extremely qualified for the program, she added. Students share rooms with bunk beds and store their items in shelves above the beds, she said.

Above deck on the SSV Corwith Cramer is a lab and a navigation system, and below deck is where the captain, chief scientist, three science mates and three sailing mates reside, she said. Students alternate in helping prepare meals and keeping watch with a sailing mate, she said.

“It was the first time I had such practical experience of learning marine biology,” said Schulz, who previously studied on a SEA Semester. “Right in the middle of the Caribbean, there was a bloom of iridescent jellyfish. The chief scientist let us swim right in the middle of them.”

The trip will end in St. Croix in the Virgin Islands on Nov. 19.

Published on October 14, 2013 at 12:31 am