Spend a Semester with the Sea Education Association

For students who are not content to sit back and let the cruise ship take them to places they will hardly get to experience anyway, there is another alternative. For students who want to sail the boat themselves, feel the sea spray on their face as they stare down a pod of whales and get their hands dirty conducting marine biology or oceanography primary research, there is Sea Education Association.

Based in world-renowned oceanographic community of Woods Hole, Mass., SEA Semester is a highly selective program accredited by Boston University and the world’s leading off-campus, ocean-centric Environmental Studies program.

SSV Seamans © Edward Mack | SEA

A semester with SEA is divided into two parts: a shore component and a sailing component. Each half lasts a little more than a month. During the shore component, students will learn the ins and outs of sailing and navigation, while defining their research project. They will also get to know their captain and their crewmates. The second half of the program is conducted onboard one of SEA’s two sailing vessels: the 134.5-foot brigantine SSV (sailing school vessel) Robert C. Seaman’s or the 134-foot brigantine SSV Corwith Cramer. The former plies the waters of the southern Pacific, from New Zealand to Hawaii while the later mostly sails the Caribbean. Both ships are sailed by a crew of 30 or fewer — primarily students aided by a small staff of professional sailors and scientists.

Furling the Job © Edward Mack | SEA

SEA is not a cruise. Students will be sailing, researching, swabbing the decks and cooking their own meals. It is a semester of work, and above all, education. But along the way they will experience life-changing events and be inducted into a sailing and science culture that they will be part of the rest of their lives. There is no other program in the world that will help students experience the sea like SEA Semester.