Goodbye Kaikoura, pronto Dunedin!

Author: Katie Culp, B Watch, College of the Atlantic ‘24

Kia ora all!

We departed our anchorage at 1330 this afternoon, leaving Kaikoura, with its
snow-powdered peaks, green valleys, and lively crowd of dolphins behind in
swirling seafoam. Today was a most exciting day to be on watch all
afternoon. As a watch, we spotted three whales, many dolphins leaping and
flipping in the air, and one elusive shark! One of the whales was a sperm
whale that surfaced so close to the ship that everyone who was on deck at
the time got a close look and could easily make out most of its gray body
among the waves.

Kaikoura has one of the most beautiful landscapes I’ve ever seen, with
craggy green cliffs that drop right down into the sea. Yesterday afternoon,
as we all enjoyed the dolphins playing around the ship, rays of sunlight
beamed down on the mostly clouded landscape behind and lit up pockets of
hills and valleys, turning the land they touched a vivid emerald. As we left
our anchorage and began to move offshore I did my very best to take a mental
image of the tall mountains of Kaikoura—it hardly seems possible to
encounter scenery more stunning than this, my eyes marveling at all the
shades of bright blue and green one can notice from the deck of the Bobby C.

Today was also a big day because it was the day that a plan that had long
been in the works was finally put into action. The students and crew who
could grow facial hair had been diligently growing out their beards for this
very day, the day when they would all style their facial hair to match our
beloved professor, Dan Brayton. Those who, like myself, could not possibly
grow a beard in time for this special event, used eyeliner to draw on Dan’s
signature mustache and goatee. We then spent the rest of the afternoon
referring to each other as “Blue Dan”, “Helms Dan”, “Pigtail Dan”, “Mr.
Dan”, etc. because today, we were all Dan. As a matter of fact, it was not
uncommon for a shipmate to enter a room and address everyone in the general
vicinity with a nod and a simple “Dan.” No matter that Dan, himself, had
miraculously chosen this morning as the perfect moment to get rid of the
mustache and goatee we all so desperately wanted to emulate. As we surprised
him with our new facial hair he surprised us with a clean-shaven face! In
the midst of our shock and disbelief, someone merely grabbed the eyeliner
and drew the facial hair right back on him, crisis averted. Today we were
all Dan. However, stay tuned for more interesting and perhaps abstract
facial hair concepts in the coming days, the can of worms having been pried
open and not easily shut again.

Yeehaw,

Katie Culp, B Watch, College of the Atlantic ‘24





P.S.1: Chelsea would like to inform her family and friends that she was the
one who spotted the shark while on look-out. This would be a big moment for
anyone, but as sharks are Chelsea’s favorite animal this is a pretty big
deal.



P.S.2: A warm hello to my family reading the blog—I’m so tickled that you’re
following along in the adventure! I can’t wait to tell you all about it
in-person while delighting in all your adventures as well!