Custom Voyages - FAQs

Quite a long time!

For us, it all started in the mid-1970s when Jim Stoll (founder of the original company) began a high school aboard two large schooners. Twelve years later, with children of his own, Jim moved back ashore to develop motivational programs for young adults. In the mid-eighties he once again headed to the water, to run the teen program ActionQuest.

In 1995, Jim was joined by Mike Meighan. A recent oceanography and marine biology graduate, Mike dreamed of creating a truly interactive educational experience. Using the principles of experiential education, Mike developed Sea|mester in 1998. Over the past 20 years, Sea|mester has operated more than 113,000 student days, issued over 16,000 academic credits, sailed in excess of 250,000 nautical miles and circumnavigated the world four times.

Sea|mester staff are dedicated experiential educators as diverse as the destinations they travel.

They come from all different backgrounds – Captains, Marine Engineers, Marine Biologists & Oceanographers. Some of our team came to Sea|mester to study abroad in college and found their way back realizing that their life’s work was right here. Regardless of how they arrived or where they came from, they all share a strong desire to teach, inspire, discover and evolve.

Learn more about our team

Managing risk is an enormous responsibility and something we take seriously.

The Sea|mester experience is designed to be adventurous, so to say that there are no risks would be misleading. However, awareness of these inherent risks is the first step in actively managing them. Our goal is to weave risk management throughout every activity, every day and we rely on our students to do the same, taking responsibility not only for their own safety but for the safety of their fellow crew mates.

Learn more about risk management

That depends a lot on your group’s educational goals, time constraints, and budget!

We can offer a trip as short as just a few days to as long as you like. We cut our teeth running full school years aboard and regularly offer college semesters of 80 or 90 days that cross one of the world’s major oceans.

You dream it, we’ll create it.

Yes, yet that depends on the duration of the voyage and academic option package that you select.

We are affiliated with USF, the University of South Florida, and we are able to offer four 3-credit college-level classes in:

• Nautical Science
• Marine Biology
• Oceanography
• Student Leadership Development

Depending upon your academic interests and goals, we can teach any number of these classes to your students. Additional costs will be dependent upon your choices. Please understand that since each course consists of a minimum of 45 contact hours, it’s not usually possible to offer accredited classes during Nano and Micro|mesters.

We own and operate three vessels, Ocean Star, Argo, and Vela, each capable of carrying between 16 and 26 students and chaperones.
Depending on enrollment we may even charter a smaller monohull or catamaran to sail alongside as part of a small flotilla.

Call us, and we will suggest options on how we can accommodate the size of your group.

That depends on certain factors such as:

• Voyage duration
• Group size
• Itinerary choices
• Academic and/or scuba package inclusion

Call us to discuss your time frame and budget, and we will try to create an itinerary to meet your needs.

All voyages, irrespective of duration or location include the following:

• Supervision & Instruction
• Full room & board
• Sailing instruction
• Island exploration
• Team building & leadership

In many cases, yes.

For reasons of safety and risk mitigation, we have a set of comprehensive Essential Eligibility Requirements that all participants (students and chaperones) must meet to join the vessel. These can be reviewed by clicking the link below.

If you are unsure whether our adventure is suitable, please call us to discuss your needs, and we will work towards accommodating them if we can.

Review our eligibility criteria

We own and operate three vessels, Ocean Star, Argo, and Vela. Depending on enrollment we may even charter a smaller monohull or catamaran to sail alongside as part of a small flotilla.

While each vessel varies in size and design, over the course of a voyage, the vessel becomes much more than just a mode of transportation, just the classroom or even just a home. Our students often tell us that the vessel in many ways becomes part of the team, part of themselves. Taking pride in how she looks and how she feels, the vessel becomes as equally important as any one of the living crew.

Learn more about our vessels