Last Monday I was on my first cruise, and I am happy it was just as it was advertised: neck breaking work which required hard hats and harnesses to prevent getting swept overboard, shoulder high waves sweeping over both the work deck and onto us, and food which would have made prison inmates revolt instantaneously. I was on my first cruise on the “Prince Madoc”, the university owned 120 ft. research vessel of the Anglesey based School of Ocean Sciences in Menai Bridge, Wales, UK.
Instead of going on a new kayak expedition this winter, I decided to enroll in the one year Masters program to study Oceanography here on Anglesey, a program one of my new neighbors here on Anglesey pointed out to me shortly after I moved here, and we went together to the “Open Day” of the university last May and I applied for the program the same day. While an expedition may look like a different sort of challenge, studying Oceanography feels in many aspects similar to a kayak expedition, with the difference that the challenge to study Oceanography lasts a full year and there are no days off due to gales and storms. One common aspect is that my Kokatat Expedition dry suit and life jacket are still being used, either on the small research vessel or on the Prince Madog, and proves to be the ideal deck clothing when working in gale force winds on the exposed work deck of the Prince Madog when deploying side scan sonars, boomers, or to take water and bottom samples.
The MSc Oceanography program at the world renowned School of Ocean Sciences is the biggest challenge I have embarked on and I am very happy I did it. It feels like a great academic program for kayakers since it explains so many aspects and phenomenas we experience daily when out kayaking. It also attracts likeminded people I feel very comfortable with, which is probably the most important benefit of the School of Ocean Sciences: Both the teaching staff and the fellow students are all lovers of all sorts of water sports, a good sense of humour, and have an extreme passion for the oceans. - Marcus Demuth