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Forget the dorm life. Students now have the opportunity to experience an entire college semester at sea.

Thanks to a recent partnership between the School of Marine Sciences and the Ocean Classroom Foundation, UMaine is now offering students the chance to live and work on the Spirit of Massachusetts, a 125-foot traditional sailing vessel and earn 12 credits in the process as part of the SEAmester program.

No sailing experience is necessary for the 10-week voyage beginning in early March from St. Thomas, a small territory in the Virgin Islands; it will end either in Rockland or the Darling Marine Lab in Damariscotta. John Petrillo, SEAmester head educator, will be on board with the students. Petrillo has completed 11 voyages as an educator at sea. According to Petrillo, the trip has an extensive travel itinerary.

“The boat will head south along the Caribbean as far as Trinidad. There will be at least four or five other stops in tropical waters before the ship turns north, following the eastern coast all the way back to Maine, with another three ports along the way home,” Petrillo said.

The planned schedule of ports is subject to change. Highlights include the Dominican Republic, Antigua, the Bahamas and Guadalupe.

SEAmester is far from a tropical vacation, though.

“There will be no running water, computers or cell phones,” said Petrillo; “Showers will be a distant memory by the trip’s end.”

Sari Weiss, a student who participated in the Ocean Classroom voyage in high school, reflected on her trip.

“You completely forget about the outside world when you’re on that boat. No one cares about showers or Internet. Having no music was hard to get used to but we made our own. We must’ve had five guitars on board,” Weiss said.

Elaborating on student responsibilities, Petrillo said, “Each student will be treated as a member of the ship’s crew from day one and will know how to properly sail her before the voyage ends.”

Students will stay busy, and sleep will be that much more precious.

Petrillo said that, in addition to himself, there will be two professional crew, six students and two teachers aboard. Watch and classes take place in four-hour shifts, with eight hours of sleep or rest afterwards. Classes are taught during day watches along with sailing responsibilities.

Subjects ranging from celestial navigation to native language and history will be taught by the professors onboard, while the captain and crew will teach the basics of sailing.

“The worst part was having to get up in the middle of a storm at four in the morning to go do watch for two hours at a time, watching for basically nothing. I don’t remember ever getting a good night’s sleep,” according to Weiss.

There are no restrictions on who can participate, according to William Ellis, Associate Dean of the School of Marine Sciences. “Right now, it is a fixed curriculum of 12 credits offered through the School of Marine Sciences.” He said that students who are not Marine Science students can still take the voyage, and he has been working with other departments to integrate independent study into the curriculum.

“We’re trying to allow ambitious students to complete a project in addition to the SEAmester curriculum for another three credits toward their respective major,” Ellis said.

The program is not cheap, according to Ellis.

“The cost, from a student perspective, tuition is exactly the same, along with a $12,000 voyage fee, that includes room and board. Ocean Classroom is currently offering a 20 percent rebate, which is about $2,400, for beginning the application process before Nov. 15,” Ellis said. “They get the classes and the labs as well as real boat experience. The first hand extended experience is unmatched. It is an absolute transformation for the students after the 10 weeks.”

Not to be confused with the Semester by the Sea program currently offered at UMaine, which consists of a fall semester living at the Darling Marine Lab in Damariscotta, SEAmester is a completely new offering at the university.

• DSIS to be used final time as students register for classes (November 8, 2007)
• Students invited to walk out of classes for peace (March 3, 2003)
• Mills: Cutting small classes can save UMaine money (May 21, 2010)
• Making paper sail (April 15, 2002)
• Football: Freshmen tandem help Black Bears sail (November 3, 2008)

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 12th, 2009, 2:12 am. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.