Hands-On, Interdisciplinary, Experiential
Your Ocean Classroom
Education You Experience
The voyage will feel a bit like throwing a National Geographic expedition, a TED Talk, a tropical island cruise, and a backpacking trip into a blender.
We gather daily for debriefing a concept that helps you better connect with the ship and the ocean during our voyage. No tests or assignments, just valuable lessons on deck that you will apply immediately to your duties as a crew member. In addition to our ship meetings, you will learn constantly while you are on watch.
Wonder is a living laboratory for how we can reimagine education. We believe that high school should feel more like a purposeful expedition instead of a slog. Similarly, we aim to create adult voyages that combine adventure, relaxation, learning, nature, and a sense of wonder.
What You Will Learn
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Nautical Charts & Navigation
We give each guest crew member their own small nautical chart and explain it during orientation. You will practice plotting positions, using triangles and dividers, and interpreting both paper and electronic charts.
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Marine Biology
We will do net deployments during your voyage and talk about the wildlife that live in the ecosystems we are sailing through. You will help us gather environmental data for the science projects we run aboard Wonder.
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Introduction to Weather
This will begin in advance of you even showing up to Wonder through our pre-voyage emails. Once you arrive, we will look over the forecast and talk about how the wind affects our voyage plan. We will teach you how to take hourly weather observations as part of watch.
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Sail Handling and Sail Physics
Sails can act like wings, flags, or kites. We will explain the benefits of each, how to identify proper sail trim, and how to set sails on a schooner. You will handle the sails frequently, giving you plenty of hands-on experience with the concepts we cover.
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Celestial Navigation
This begins with stargazing and star identification. Then you will learn the conceptual theory behind determining one’s position from the sun, stars, planets, and the moon. Then, weather permitting, you will have the chance to try taking a sextant reading.
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Oceanography
We will be gazing at the ocean constantly and actually use the ocean conditions to determine wind speed. We will talk about tides, currents, and ocean circulation since all three affect our cruise track.