First-year students in the MIT-WHOI Joint Program typically go on a 10-day cruise aboard the Cramer (the sister ship to the Seamans!) to get to know their cohort while getting some hands-on experience with common oceanographic sampling equipment. Unfortunately, COVID was still causing logistics issues when I enrolled in the program, so we had a 3-day cruise aboard the R/V Armstrong instead. We did a few CTD casts and collected plankton with nets, which reminded me of my time on the Seamans. It was nice to be back at sea again, though I much prefer the warm weather in New Zealand to the northeast in November…