SSV Corwith Cramer.
For those of you who don’t already know, I made landfall last Friday in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands after 2,654 nautical miles and 37 days aboard the SSV Corwith Cramer. It was an emotional but brief farewell from the Cramer as I dashed immediately to the airport, shipmates’ tears and fresh anchoring sweat still wet on me. And then it was over.
I boarded a small plane in St. Croix and flew 3,500 miles in less than 13 hours, rendering the inefficiency of my last voyage almost laughable.
Perhaps, laughable is a good way to describe the voyage aboard the Cramer overall. Laughable in its true humor and joy, laughable in some of its more minor flaws which seemed larger at the time and now appear minute, and laughable as a defense against the honestly difficult and distressing parts of the journey that I need to somehow positively resolve.
Unfortunately, the time for processing and digesting what was probably the hardest six weeks of my life thus far was rather stunted by my own brilliant forethought and proactivity, which pushed me immediately into my next adventure. With just enough time to see a few of the people I love in Tacoma, exchange warm weather clothing for PNW gear, have a minor emotional breakdown, and practice walking down sidewalks in straight lines to shed my sea swagger, I departed the Puget Sound campus once again after only 38 hours. Needless to say, transition is not easier when rushed.
I am now in my dorm room at the Friday Harbor Laboratories in the San Juan Islands, just a few days after my layover in San Juan, Puerto Rico, already two days into my zoology, botany, and research apprenticeship classes through the University of Washington. I could tell you about that, but I think we can all agree that the last six weeks of my life, recently described as the hardest thus far, probably deserve at least one blog entry before blazing forward. Perhaps two.
So, let’s talk about it. Following the mantra my mother taught me in middle school, it’ll be three good things for every bad one.
Starting tomorrow.
Humans are wonderful things. Thanks C-233.
I can’t believe it’s over, and I can hardly believe it happened.