Coral Tempest

Voyage 1

• About Us

  Our miniboat project is part of the junior and senior year (sixth form) oceanography course. Students are learning about how the ocean and climate interact with each other. Students have worked on assembling and preparing the boat and learning about robotic observation systems and global circulation, including waves, tides, navigation, weather forecasting and more!

  

  

  We named our miniboat Coral Tempest because our island home is surrounded by coral reefs and Shakespeare’s “Tempest” was based on the story of the settlement of the island when the Sea Venture was shipwrecked off the east end of the island after surviving a hurricane.

  The goal of our project is for students to learn more about weather, ocean currents, forecasting and navigation, while also gaining an appreciation for the size of the ocean and how hard scientific observations are. As a bonus, learning more about the various countries on the other side, as well as to see the ocean as an opportunity to travel rather than an obstacle to fly over.

  We would like to thank Bermuda Institute for Ocean Sciences (BIOS) for bringing our miniboat kit to the island aboard the RV Atlantic Explorer and for agreeing to deploy her while on a research cruise offshore when she is ready!
  

• Miniboat Progress Update

  Since our miniboat’s arrival in September of 2025, we have been hard at work, together and in our separate teams: Sail Team, Hull and Keel Team, Deck Team, Cargo Team, Launch Team, Media Team, and Tech Team.
  

• Testing in Hamilton Harbor - December Update

  Our crew headed out to Hamilton Harbor on December 6th for some sea trials. We tested for leaks as well as the speed of our mighty miniboat! Overtaken by an oceanography student in a Laser, the Coral Tempest got a taste of what it will be like when out at sea.
  
  Wind speed was recorded at 16-18 kts SW, while the approximate speed of our miniboat was 3 kts. A lot of fun was had and to make our outing even more exciting, the sensor pack inside our cargo hold reported data at the same time this first image was taken!

  December 18th Update:

  A local newspaper, the Royal Gazette caught wind of M/B Coral Tempest and arrived at Saltus Grammar School to interview the crew and learn more about the miniboat project! Read more in their article: Saltus Pupils Prepare to Launch Their Atlantic Research Vessel.
  

• January 2nd, 2026: All Sealed Up and Ready to Set Sail!

  After being on display at the local aquarium, students completed their pre-launch check-lists and loaded up their cargo hold with goodies for their finder to come across. Captains and crew are predicting she will land somewhere in Northwest Spain and some are hopeful it will land in the Azores!
  
  She is now all sealed up, including the GPS and MakerBuoy sensor pack systems to collect data.
  
  Stay tuned for more updates as M/B Coral Tempest will be launched very soon!

• January 14th, 2026: Launch!

  On January 14, M/B Coral Tempest was deployed out to sea by the crew of Bermuda Institute of Ocean Science (BIOS)’s R/V Atlantic Explorer. We are very excited that Tempest’s launch coincides with a research cruise out to their Bermuda Atlantic Times Series (BATS) station located in the Sargasso Sea!
  
  Read more about the launch in The Royal Gazette’s article “Saltus Students Launch Ocean Research Miniboat,” and Bernews’ article: “Students Send Mini Research Vessel Out to Sea.”
  
  “…participation in the global Educational Passages Programme places Saltus at the forefront of experiential marine science education and marks a significant milestone for Bermuda’s educational community.”

  Here is the first image captured from the miniboat’s camera right after departing the R/V Atlantic Explorer:
  
  Stay tuned for more updates as she starts her journey!

• January 25th, 2026: Update

  Coral Tempest has been traveling out at sea now for 12 days! In that time her Captain and crew have been watching closely and making predictions on where she will sail and how fast.
  
  On January 25th, she came as close as 2 nautical miles from the northern most reef, “North Rock” before the winds eased up and continued to push her eastward and looping North.
  
  Check out the images from the onboard camera as it has been capturing throughout her journey so far:
  
  

  Data from the Sensor Pack:

  The location reports from the main GPS will show on the map at the top of this page here (which updates hourly with new positions if available). Here below is where you can see the data reporting from the second GPS which is connected to a custom sensor package. In addition to reporting location with a secondary GPS tracker, this system is also collecting air temperature, water temperature, and orientation of the boat. Please note that the map below will only the last 7 days of data and may include invalid points and data. If you are interested in looking at the data in a different format from the whole voyage, contact us.

• February and March 2026: Updates

  February 3rd Update:
  In the first few days of February 2026, we watched as Coral Tempest took on some big waves and strong winds during a large storm system. After a rough couple of nights between February 1st and 3rd, with her being tossed around side-to-side and maybe even upside down, she came out of it presumably unscathed:
  
  
  She even got to capture a full moon as her consolation prize:
  

  February 11th Update:
  Right after last week’s storm system, Coral Tempest couldn’t catch a break and ended up in the midst of another high impact storm at sea. The last image captured from her camera was on February 6th. Her main GPS transmitter is still reporting, allowing us to continue to follow her track amongst the Atlantic.
  

  March 9th Update:

  Coral Tempest’s speed has slowed down significantly over the past few weeks leading us to believe her sail may be damaged or gone… Miniboat Captain Paul was able to connect with a ship that happened to be in the same area that Coral Tempest is in, the S/V Alex II, to see if they could attempt recovery.

  They enthusiastically agreed to try and help find and rescue Coral Tempest at sea with students aboard, as this ship is a part of the Class Afloat program. How hard is it to find a miniboat at sea…? Very. With no luck, Tempest is still at sea and can be tracked using our Path Analysis Tool (PAT)!
  
  Stay tuned for more updates!