October 10, 2025 • 17 mins
Season 4 of the Educational Passages Podcast continues with our “Imagine This” series - Where the magic of miniboats come alive through the voices and visions of those who make it all possible.
Each episode will paint a vivid picture of discovery, connection, and curiosity — not just tracking the voyages, but exploring the challenges and unexpected outcomes behind them.
Now press play, close your eyes, and imagine this:
How can one field trip spark a journey that soars far beyond the classroom? Inspired by the TMS Sea Challenger, a group of middle school students from Massachusetts build their own miniboat—DMS Anita—and send it to sea aboard the R/V Endeavor. What follows is a remarkable adventure spanning two ocean voyages, unexpected landings, global connections, and a bittersweet homecoming aboard the ship’s final cruise. Guided by a symbol of endurance and exploration, this story celebrates how one classroom’s dream grew into a global journey of ocean exploration and inspiration.
Visit https://educationalpassages.org/boats/anita/ for more information about the boat and project, as well as https://educationalpassages.org/boats/tmsseachallenger/ and https://educationalpassages.org/boats/warrior/ for more information about the other boats mentioned in the podcast.
Educational Passages is a non-profit organization that seeks to connect people around the world to the ocean and each other through unique global experiences.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Cassie (00:06):
Welcome to the Educational Passages Podcast.
Educational Passages is anonprofit organization that
seeks to connect people aroundthe world to the ocean and each
other through unique globalexperiences.
I'm your host, Cassie Stymist.
Welcome everybody to Season 4.
Get ready to set sail on abrand new adventure as we launch
(00:29):
our Imagine This series, wherethe magic of mini boats come
alive through the voices andvisions of those who make it all
possible.
In this series, each episodewill paint a vivid picture of
discovery, connection, andcuriosity, not just tracking the
voyages, but exploring thechallenges and unexpected
outcomes behind them.
Now press play, close youreyes, and imagine this.
(00:53):
May 19th, 2023, Field Trip Day.
You and your classmates travelto Newport, Rhode Island from
Dudley, Massachusetts, an hourand a half on the bus.
You're traveling to meet theOcean Race boats and teams who
have been sailing around theworld because you've been taking
part in their educationalprogram.
Your collective mission is toinspire others to take action to
(01:16):
help the ocean.
While waiting for the sailboatsto arrive, you visit the
Exploration Zone, a tent of funand learning.
You learn more about sailingand programs who are all
dedicated to ocean education andexploration.
You meet Wisdom the Albatross,who is the mascot for the ocean
race.
You learn that it is based onthe world's oldest known wild
(01:39):
bird who is over 70 years oldand still successfully laying
eggs and raising chicks.
She's the mascot for the racebecause her long life and long
journeys make her a powerfulsymbol of endurance, resilience,
and the interconnected healthof the world ocean.
Towards the end of theexploration zone is the
University of Rhode Island'sGraduate School of Oceanography.
(02:02):
You learn about their researchand meet some of their
scientists.
You see plankton under amicroscope and touch a core
sample from the ocean floor.
You turn around and see aminiature sailboat, no longer
than you are tall.
You talk with the seventh gradestudents from nearby Thompson
Middle School who have the TMSSea Challenger mini boat on
(02:22):
display.
You learn that these studentsbuilt the boat in their school
in partnership with URIGSO, andthat is something you can do
too.
They also added sensors so theycould collect and contribute
information about ocean science.
Your teacher leaves theircontact information and you all
go watch the sailboats come inbefore going back home.
(02:43):
And just one week later, yourteacher is meeting with the
director of educational passagesto figure out how to bring the
mini boat program to yourschool.
Together, they write a grant tothe MIT Sea Grant STREAM
Program, and we're successful.
January 2024, the Miniboat in aBox kit arrives with everything
(03:05):
you and your crew need to putyour own mini boat together.
Twenty-six of you and yourfellow sixth and seventh graders
break into teams to do thework.
Launch, cargo, deck, hull andkeel, sail, media, and tech.
You meet every single Fridayafternoon for five months.
(03:26):
Everyone has a role, a task,and a dream to send your little
boat out into the world.
You work with the elementaryschool to collect over 300 sail
designs from the first andfourth graders.
You narrow it down to fourdesigns and paint them onto the
sail.
By March, you decide on a name,Anita.
(03:47):
This will put the boat at thetop of the list of all mini
boats in the program, since it'slisted alphabetically.
You take over the display caseand the main hallway to share
the project with the rest of theschool and your community.
You all work to create andcollect content for the cargo
hold.
Some of your ideas are stickersfrom local businesses, a
(04:08):
Massachusetts flag, localrecipes, and something from the
town itself.
Mia creates a hand crochetedalbatross, Mini Wisdom, to honor
the mission and mascot from theocean race.
The whole crew fills out ajournal with notes from each
crew member along with yourpredictions.
You install sensors so yourboat can collect information
(04:31):
about the ocean, like air andwater temperature.
You also install a camera onthe deck.
You test it multiple times tomake sure it is all good to go.
You sand the boat and paint it.
May comes around, one yearafter the ocean race field trip,
and you're ready to seal anddeploy your very own mini boat.
(04:52):
All systems are a go.
Your teacher arranges foranother field trip.
This time it's for you and yourcrewmates to bring your boat to
the URI GSO docks and drop itoff for the RV endeavor to take
it out to sea.
Your crewmates think it will goto Portugal, Morocco, France,
England, or South America.
(05:14):
One student thinks it will gocloser, Nantucket, which is in
Massachusetts.
During the drop-off, you get totour the ship and meet the
crew.
Lynn the Marine Tech and Lorithe chief scientist tell you all
about the research the Endeavorwill be conducting while
they're at sea during the cruiseEN716.
(05:34):
They are heading to the NewEngland Shelf Break and plan to
deploy a 48-foot-long acousticarray, as well as your mini
boat.
May 21, 2024, your miniboat waslaunched in the afternoon at
4:23 eastern, 145 miles south ofNarragansett, Rhode Island.
(05:56):
In an email, the crew said lotsof fun was had here for the
launch.
Thank you for the opportunity.
Within an hour of launch, we'vereceived the first image from
Linita at sea from her on deckcamera.
The data continues to come inhourly, each report showing a
new set of information about theocean and the conditions from
(06:16):
where your mini boat is nowsailing.
How about that?
You track the boat every day,but it's heading north.
It crosses the continentalshelf only two days after
launch.
Then it heads east, but onlyfor a day.
It makes a U-turn and goes westfor a day and then continues
north again.
After only one week at sea, shedoes not end up in Portugal,
(06:41):
Morocco, France, England, orSouth America, but she did
almost in fact go to Nantucket,just as Aaron predicted.
But instead, she went aroundthe west of the Martha's
Vineyard, as if waving to RhodeIsland on the way by, before
sailing right into FalmouthHarbor in Massachusetts.
By the evening of may twentyeighth, she had landed.
(07:04):
It was not the long Atlanticcrossing voyage that we had
thought, but still full of fun.
So now what?
Well, it turns out that a goodfriend of the Educational
Passages program lives inFalmouth, coincidentally just
down the road from the beachwhere Anita washed up.
Jim finished his dinner anddrove down the road to find
(07:24):
Anita sitting nicely on the sandand brings her safely home.
June arrives.
You and your crew decide theadventure isn't over.
You bring Anita back to URI GSOfor a second voyage.
Another field trip and tour ofthe ship takes place.
You get to see the CTD Rosettethat is going to collect water
samples during the EN 717cruise.
(07:48):
The cruise is for Rhode Islandteachers, and the Director of
Educational Passages joins thecrew to help launch your boat.
June 8th, 2024.
The ship is back out 140 milesaway, about 20 miles west of the
first mini boat launch site andsouth of the continental shelf
break.
It's World Ocean Day.
(08:08):
Clear skies all day.
The science team takes coresamples of the ocean floor, and
as they're towing for Plankton,they take a break to launch the
boat and three special drifterstoo.
After getting permission fromthe captain and with great
support of all the crew members,the Anita is lowered down off
the port side with line throughthe pad eyes on the deck.
(08:30):
Slowly it goes closer andcloser to the water.
Once it splashed, it wasreleased and the boat is on its
own.
She sails right off away fromthe ship.
Moments later they carefullytoss three maker buoy drifters
as well to help study how thewind and currents will move
things at sea.
(08:50):
The mini boat heads east forthree days, exactly what we had
hoped to see.
The drifters follow slowlybehind, as expected as they
don't have sails to move withthe wind.
But then Anita goes south andwest, and ten days after launch,
she sails within two miles fromwhere she started.
Then she goes west and over theshelf break, but not back to
(09:13):
Massachusetts this time.
This time she went all the wayacross the Gulf of Maine,
heading northeast up to NovaScotia.
She stops about twenty milessouth of the tip of the province
and goes east.
By June 28th, she heads northand comes within five miles of
landing near Lockport the nextday.
Then she decides to keep going,now sailing northeast and
(09:37):
parallel to the coastline for 40miles.
Starting on July 1st, she makesa big loop, south for 50 miles,
then back up the same way.
On July 6th, she crosses theexact same line she made on July
1st.
And then just a few hourslater, 28 days after she was
(09:57):
launched from the RV Endeavor,and nearly 500 miles away now,
the FV Mary Bernice, whilefishing for halibut just five
miles off the coast, spots themini boat.
Captain Andrew Fudge and crewpick the boat up and haul it
onto the deck.
It's the same size as the fishthey were catching.
(10:18):
He calls the number on thedeck.
Educational passages staffanswer and ask him to bring the
boat in so that it can find aschool for you and your crew to
meet.
Even though it's summer, thenews quickly reaches
Massachusetts, and Nita's beenrescued again.
Captain Fudge keeps the boat athis house in Lockport, yes,
Lockport, where the mini boatalmost went to on its own
(10:40):
before.
And a new school year begins.
Captain Fudge connects us tothe local high school and brings
the boat to them.
In November, the studentsgather around the little boat to
read the notes and study thetrinkets from America, including
the crocheted albatross.
After a quiet school year thatfollows, you and your teacher
talk about bringing Anita homeso repairs could be made and a
(11:03):
third voyage be attempted.
The Lockport community arehappy to help make this happen,
and by the end of August 2025,your teacher was ready to drive
up to Nova Scotia to get theboat.
But we learn in early Septemberthat the RV Endeavor, yes, the
ship that launched her twicebefore, was actually up that way
(11:24):
on its final researchexpedition.
The ship would be retiring amonth later.
It was currently in St.
John's, Newfoundland, but hadactually stopped in Halifax on
the way up.
Your teacher asked Andrea GSO,what are the chances that the
Endeavor will port again inHalifax on its way back, and if
so, be able to bring home theAnita?
(11:45):
We can certainly make thishappen.
The ship arrives on September15th and departs on the
eighteenth, she said.
But therein lied the challenge.
How do we get the mini boatfrom Lockport to Halifax, a
two-hour drive by car?
Your teacher reached out to theLockport community trying to
see if anybody could bring theboat up, but no one was able to
(12:08):
make the trip.
The clock was counting down andthe ship was making its way
towards Halifax, but no one wasavailable.
Until someone at EducationalPassages remembered that there
are friends who repaired andrelaunched the Warrior, which is
another mini boat fromMassachusetts that went to
Halifax a few years ago.
They sent an email on September10th to ask in the off chance
(12:30):
that they had any contacts downin Logport.
Well, just four hours later,Graham's ask through the
Maritime Museum community camethrough, and he had found
someone to drive the boat north.
The boat was picked up at theschool and delivered to the
Bedford Institute ofOceanography, where Alice, the
chief scientist on this cruise,was to help get it on board.
(12:53):
Graham confirmed this onSeptember 15th by email.
It looks like everything is setfor Anita's return.
The Endeavor returns to Halifaxfor a quick stopover, ending
the very last expedition it willhave EN seven three six.
DMS Anita is loaded on board,and the crew make their
(13:13):
bittersweet return to the docksin Rhode Island one last time on
September 20th.
A crowd is gathered, includingstaff from educational passages,
to welcome the ship and crewback home one last time.
The flags are raised, thecannons salute, and sea shanties
ring out.
The community comes together tocelebrate the last 49 years of
(13:36):
carrying thousands ofscientists, engineers,
technicians, students, andteachers to sea on 736 cruises.
As you see the shipapproaching, you smile because
you know that your mini boat,the one that started as a kit of
parts over two and a half yearsbefore, and has become the
adventurous explorer DMS Anaitais safely on board, heading back
(14:01):
to where both of its at-seajourneys started.
While the statistics of thesevoyages are as miniature in size
as the boat itself, they arestill quite noteworthy.
Thirty-five total days at sea,1,200 kilometers traveled, and
995 data reports collected.
(14:21):
Another field trip is plannedon October 1st for you and a few
of your classmates.
As eighth graders now, you arereunited with your mini boat as
it disembarks a ship and you arestanding on the docks once
again.
It almost feels like thepassing of a torch of some kind
to you and your crewmates tocarry on ocean exploration and
(14:41):
discovery.
You find the cargo hold empty,other than the tracking
technology, but that just meansit's ready to be filled once
again for new finders.
You reflect on the process andtalk about the gifts that were
left with the Brit Lockportcrew.
You remember the crochetedalbatross and how this journey
all began.
You remember the ocean race,wisdom the mascot, all the
(15:04):
learning along the way, thepeople you have met, and the
family you have broughttogether.
As you take a group photostanding in front of the RV
Endeavor, the same ship thatcarried your mini boat into the
Atlantic twice, the same shipthat has explored a million
miles of ocean.
You recall that the crew oncesaid that the Endeavour is also
called the Albatros, because itwas the oldest and longest
(15:27):
operating research vessel in theUniversity National
Oceanographic Laboratory SystemFleet.
As you tour the campusafterwards, you think of
becoming an ocean scientist, amarine technician, a biologist,
jobs you never even knew existeda few years ago.
Who would have thought that afield trip to the ocean race
(15:48):
would turn into all of this?
So now it's time to spread yourwings and fly, to soar as far
as you want to go.
As the endeavor stays home toretire, the open ocean awaits
you.
Endless possibilities.
On the bus ride home, you andthe crew decide together.
Let's keep going.
Let's set Anita's wings to thewind once again and see how long
(16:12):
and far she can go to inspireothers.
You have been listening to the
Educational Passages Podcast.
Educational Passages is anonprofit organization.
Please consider making adonation to help us continue our
work bringing people togetherto learn more about the ocean.
To donate, head over toeducationalpassages.org slash
(16:35):
support.
If you're enjoying thisprogram, please consider
subscribing to the podcast inApple Podcasts, Spotify, Google
Podcasts, or from wherever youdownload your podcasts.
Thanks for listening to the
Welcome to the Educational Passages Podcast.
Educational Passages is anonprofit organization that
seeks to connect people aroundthe world to the ocean and each
other through unique globalexperiences.
I'm your host, Cassie Stymist.
Welcome everybody to Season 4.
Get ready to set sail on abrand new adventure as we launch
(00:29):
our Imagine This series, wherethe magic of mini boats come
alive through the voices andvisions of those who make it all
possible.
In this series, each episodewill paint a vivid picture of
discovery, connection, andcuriosity, not just tracking the
voyages, but exploring thechallenges and unexpected
outcomes behind them.
Now press play, close youreyes, and imagine this.
(00:53):
May 19th, 2023, Field Trip Day.
You and your classmates travelto Newport, Rhode Island from
Dudley, Massachusetts, an hourand a half on the bus.
You're traveling to meet theOcean Race boats and teams who
have been sailing around theworld because you've been taking
part in their educationalprogram.
Your collective mission is toinspire others to take action to
(01:16):
help the ocean.
While waiting for the sailboatsto arrive, you visit the
Exploration Zone, a tent of funand learning.
You learn more about sailingand programs who are all
dedicated to ocean education andexploration.
You meet Wisdom the Albatross,who is the mascot for the ocean
race.
You learn that it is based onthe world's oldest known wild
(01:39):
bird who is over 70 years oldand still successfully laying
eggs and raising chicks.
She's the mascot for the racebecause her long life and long
journeys make her a powerfulsymbol of endurance, resilience,
and the interconnected healthof the world ocean.
Towards the end of theexploration zone is the
University of Rhode Island'sGraduate School of Oceanography.
(02:02):
You learn about their researchand meet some of their
scientists.
You see plankton under amicroscope and touch a core
sample from the ocean floor.
You turn around and see aminiature sailboat, no longer
than you are tall.
You talk with the seventh gradestudents from nearby Thompson
Middle School who have the TMSSea Challenger mini boat on
(02:22):
display.
You learn that these studentsbuilt the boat in their school
in partnership with URIGSO, andthat is something you can do
too.
They also added sensors so theycould collect and contribute
information about ocean science.
Your teacher leaves theircontact information and you all
go watch the sailboats come inbefore going back home.
(02:43):
And just one week later, yourteacher is meeting with the
director of educational passagesto figure out how to bring the
mini boat program to yourschool.
Together, they write a grant tothe MIT Sea Grant STREAM
Program, and we're successful.
January 2024, the Miniboat in aBox kit arrives with everything
(03:05):
you and your crew need to putyour own mini boat together.
Twenty-six of you and yourfellow sixth and seventh graders
break into teams to do thework.
Launch, cargo, deck, hull andkeel, sail, media, and tech.
You meet every single Fridayafternoon for five months.
(03:26):
Everyone has a role, a task,and a dream to send your little
boat out into the world.
You work with the elementaryschool to collect over 300 sail
designs from the first andfourth graders.
You narrow it down to fourdesigns and paint them onto the
sail.
By March, you decide on a name,Anita.
(03:47):
This will put the boat at thetop of the list of all mini
boats in the program, since it'slisted alphabetically.
You take over the display caseand the main hallway to share
the project with the rest of theschool and your community.
You all work to create andcollect content for the cargo
hold.
Some of your ideas are stickersfrom local businesses, a
(04:08):
Massachusetts flag, localrecipes, and something from the
town itself.
Mia creates a hand crochetedalbatross, Mini Wisdom, to honor
the mission and mascot from theocean race.
The whole crew fills out ajournal with notes from each
crew member along with yourpredictions.
You install sensors so yourboat can collect information
(04:31):
about the ocean, like air andwater temperature.
You also install a camera onthe deck.
You test it multiple times tomake sure it is all good to go.
You sand the boat and paint it.
May comes around, one yearafter the ocean race field trip,
and you're ready to seal anddeploy your very own mini boat.
(04:52):
All systems are a go.
Your teacher arranges foranother field trip.
This time it's for you and yourcrewmates to bring your boat to
the URI GSO docks and drop itoff for the RV endeavor to take
it out to sea.
Your crewmates think it will goto Portugal, Morocco, France,
England, or South America.
(05:14):
One student thinks it will gocloser, Nantucket, which is in
Massachusetts.
During the drop-off, you get totour the ship and meet the
crew.
Lynn the Marine Tech and Lorithe chief scientist tell you all
about the research the Endeavorwill be conducting while
they're at sea during the cruiseEN716.
(05:34):
They are heading to the NewEngland Shelf Break and plan to
deploy a 48-foot-long acousticarray, as well as your mini
boat.
May 21, 2024, your miniboat waslaunched in the afternoon at
4:23 eastern, 145 miles south ofNarragansett, Rhode Island.
(05:56):
In an email, the crew said lotsof fun was had here for the
launch.
Thank you for the opportunity.
Within an hour of launch, we'vereceived the first image from
Linita at sea from her on deckcamera.
The data continues to come inhourly, each report showing a
new set of information about theocean and the conditions from
(06:16):
where your mini boat is nowsailing.
How about that?
You track the boat every day,but it's heading north.
It crosses the continentalshelf only two days after
launch.
Then it heads east, but onlyfor a day.
It makes a U-turn and goes westfor a day and then continues
north again.
After only one week at sea, shedoes not end up in Portugal,
(06:41):
Morocco, France, England, orSouth America, but she did
almost in fact go to Nantucket,just as Aaron predicted.
But instead, she went aroundthe west of the Martha's
Vineyard, as if waving to RhodeIsland on the way by, before
sailing right into FalmouthHarbor in Massachusetts.
By the evening of may twentyeighth, she had landed.
(07:04):
It was not the long Atlanticcrossing voyage that we had
thought, but still full of fun.
So now what?
Well, it turns out that a goodfriend of the Educational
Passages program lives inFalmouth, coincidentally just
down the road from the beachwhere Anita washed up.
Jim finished his dinner anddrove down the road to find
(07:24):
Anita sitting nicely on the sandand brings her safely home.
June arrives.
You and your crew decide theadventure isn't over.
You bring Anita back to URI GSOfor a second voyage.
Another field trip and tour ofthe ship takes place.
You get to see the CTD Rosettethat is going to collect water
samples during the EN 717cruise.
(07:48):
The cruise is for Rhode Islandteachers, and the Director of
Educational Passages joins thecrew to help launch your boat.
June 8th, 2024.
The ship is back out 140 milesaway, about 20 miles west of the
first mini boat launch site andsouth of the continental shelf
break.
It's World Ocean Day.
(08:08):
Clear skies all day.
The science team takes coresamples of the ocean floor, and
as they're towing for Plankton,they take a break to launch the
boat and three special drifterstoo.
After getting permission fromthe captain and with great
support of all the crew members,the Anita is lowered down off
the port side with line throughthe pad eyes on the deck.
(08:30):
Slowly it goes closer andcloser to the water.
Once it splashed, it wasreleased and the boat is on its
own.
She sails right off away fromthe ship.
Moments later they carefullytoss three maker buoy drifters
as well to help study how thewind and currents will move
things at sea.
(08:50):
The mini boat heads east forthree days, exactly what we had
hoped to see.
The drifters follow slowlybehind, as expected as they
don't have sails to move withthe wind.
But then Anita goes south andwest, and ten days after launch,
she sails within two miles fromwhere she started.
Then she goes west and over theshelf break, but not back to
(09:13):
Massachusetts this time.
This time she went all the wayacross the Gulf of Maine,
heading northeast up to NovaScotia.
She stops about twenty milessouth of the tip of the province
and goes east.
By June 28th, she heads northand comes within five miles of
landing near Lockport the nextday.
Then she decides to keep going,now sailing northeast and
(09:37):
parallel to the coastline for 40miles.
Starting on July 1st, she makesa big loop, south for 50 miles,
then back up the same way.
On July 6th, she crosses theexact same line she made on July
1st.
And then just a few hourslater, 28 days after she was
(09:57):
launched from the RV Endeavor,and nearly 500 miles away now,
the FV Mary Bernice, whilefishing for halibut just five
miles off the coast, spots themini boat.
Captain Andrew Fudge and crewpick the boat up and haul it
onto the deck.
It's the same size as the fishthey were catching.
(10:18):
He calls the number on thedeck.
Educational passages staffanswer and ask him to bring the
boat in so that it can find aschool for you and your crew to
meet.
Even though it's summer, thenews quickly reaches
Massachusetts, and Nita's beenrescued again.
Captain Fudge keeps the boat athis house in Lockport, yes,
Lockport, where the mini boatalmost went to on its own
(10:40):
before.
And a new school year begins.
Captain Fudge connects us tothe local high school and brings
the boat to them.
In November, the studentsgather around the little boat to
read the notes and study thetrinkets from America, including
the crocheted albatross.
After a quiet school year thatfollows, you and your teacher
talk about bringing Anita homeso repairs could be made and a
(11:03):
third voyage be attempted.
The Lockport community arehappy to help make this happen,
and by the end of August 2025,your teacher was ready to drive
up to Nova Scotia to get theboat.
But we learn in early Septemberthat the RV Endeavor, yes, the
ship that launched her twicebefore, was actually up that way
(11:24):
on its final researchexpedition.
The ship would be retiring amonth later.
It was currently in St.
John's, Newfoundland, but hadactually stopped in Halifax on
the way up.
Your teacher asked Andrea GSO,what are the chances that the
Endeavor will port again inHalifax on its way back, and if
so, be able to bring home theAnita?
(11:45):
We can certainly make thishappen.
The ship arrives on September15th and departs on the
eighteenth, she said.
But therein lied the challenge.
How do we get the mini boatfrom Lockport to Halifax, a
two-hour drive by car?
Your teacher reached out to theLockport community trying to
see if anybody could bring theboat up, but no one was able to
(12:08):
make the trip.
The clock was counting down andthe ship was making its way
towards Halifax, but no one wasavailable.
Until someone at EducationalPassages remembered that there
are friends who repaired andrelaunched the Warrior, which is
another mini boat fromMassachusetts that went to
Halifax a few years ago.
They sent an email on September10th to ask in the off chance
(12:30):
that they had any contacts downin Logport.
Well, just four hours later,Graham's ask through the
Maritime Museum community camethrough, and he had found
someone to drive the boat north.
The boat was picked up at theschool and delivered to the
Bedford Institute ofOceanography, where Alice, the
chief scientist on this cruise,was to help get it on board.
(12:53):
Graham confirmed this onSeptember 15th by email.
It looks like everything is setfor Anita's return.
The Endeavor returns to Halifaxfor a quick stopover, ending
the very last expedition it willhave EN seven three six.
DMS Anita is loaded on board,and the crew make their
(13:13):
bittersweet return to the docksin Rhode Island one last time on
September 20th.
A crowd is gathered, includingstaff from educational passages,
to welcome the ship and crewback home one last time.
The flags are raised, thecannons salute, and sea shanties
ring out.
The community comes together tocelebrate the last 49 years of
(13:36):
carrying thousands ofscientists, engineers,
technicians, students, andteachers to sea on 736 cruises.
As you see the shipapproaching, you smile because
you know that your mini boat,the one that started as a kit of
parts over two and a half yearsbefore, and has become the
adventurous explorer DMS Anaitais safely on board, heading back
(14:01):
to where both of its at-seajourneys started.
While the statistics of thesevoyages are as miniature in size
as the boat itself, they arestill quite noteworthy.
Thirty-five total days at sea,1,200 kilometers traveled, and
995 data reports collected.
(14:21):
Another field trip is plannedon October 1st for you and a few
of your classmates.
As eighth graders now, you arereunited with your mini boat as
it disembarks a ship and you arestanding on the docks once
again.
It almost feels like thepassing of a torch of some kind
to you and your crewmates tocarry on ocean exploration and
(14:41):
discovery.
You find the cargo hold empty,other than the tracking
technology, but that just meansit's ready to be filled once
again for new finders.
You reflect on the process andtalk about the gifts that were
left with the Brit Lockportcrew.
You remember the crochetedalbatross and how this journey
all began.
You remember the ocean race,wisdom the mascot, all the
(15:04):
learning along the way, thepeople you have met, and the
family you have broughttogether.
As you take a group photostanding in front of the RV
Endeavor, the same ship thatcarried your mini boat into the
Atlantic twice, the same shipthat has explored a million
miles of ocean.
You recall that the crew oncesaid that the Endeavour is also
called the Albatros, because itwas the oldest and longest
(15:27):
operating research vessel in theUniversity National
Oceanographic Laboratory SystemFleet.
As you tour the campusafterwards, you think of
becoming an ocean scientist, amarine technician, a biologist,
jobs you never even knew existeda few years ago.
Who would have thought that afield trip to the ocean race
(15:48):
would turn into all of this?
So now it's time to spread yourwings and fly, to soar as far
as you want to go.
As the endeavor stays home toretire, the open ocean awaits
you.
Endless possibilities.
On the bus ride home, you andthe crew decide together.
Let's keep going.
Let's set Anita's wings to thewind once again and see how long
(16:12):
and far she can go to inspireothers.
You have been listening to the
Educational Passages Podcast.
Educational Passages is anonprofit organization.
Please consider making adonation to help us continue our
work bringing people togetherto learn more about the ocean.
To donate, head over toeducationalpassages.org slash
(16:35):
support.
If you're enjoying thisprogram, please consider
subscribing to the podcast inApple Podcasts, Spotify, Google
Podcasts, or from wherever youdownload your podcasts.
Thanks for listening to the
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.