Matthew “Muscle Man” Alford busting out some pull-ups. Credit: Julia Calderone.

There’s a science to staying healthy on a boat that dishes endless supplies of savory meals, pastries, snack foods and deserts. We’re confined to a 284-foot ship with a daily commute of scaling a flight of stairs and walking a few dozen feet to our workspaces. This, combined with a typical 16-hour workday, makes an exercise routine a necessary part of the day.

For this reason, Matthew Alford spearheaded a fitness challenge—not only for our physical health, but for our mental wellbeing as well. Before we set sail, he emailed the team to pump us up about daily fitness goals: “For me, ships are like jungle gyms, so I’m going to set a goal of doing 200 pushups, 50 sit-ups and 50 pull-ups every day of the whole cruise,” Alford wrote.

One of the many snack stations on The Revelle. Credit: Julia Calderone.

Like a champ, he has stuck with this goal and we’ve all been roped into random workout flash-mobs. We’re lucky to have had mostly beautiful, clear weather to hit the decks for some serious sweat sessions. The Falkor has even challenged us to a fitness contest.

And not that it’s a real competition or anything, but when it comes to competing against the R/V Falkor, we’re winning. Just saying…

—Julia Calderone, The Revelle

The Tasman Tidal Dissipation Experiment//Supported by the National Science Foundation