When I graduated High School there was no college on the horizon, and there were loose plans to travel, but mostly there were half-baked ideas about what I was going to do with my life. One such plan involved a misguided attempt at enlisting in the Coast Guard, mostly because I wanted to be the captain of my own ship.

I never did join the Coast Guard. I’m a terrible swimmer, and the thought of being surrounded by all that water terrifies me. But it’s nice to dream.

Though the Tara was docked at the New England Aquarium for tours as apart of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) conference, stepping onto the research schooner as it rocked in the harbor brought all of those feelings right back home. Even the last time I was out on the water, I couldn’t help but think, Oh shit, there is a lot of water out there, and you can’t see anything underneath it, and that is a very, very terrifying place to be.