The Duke Marine Lab’s Biological Oceanography 2020 class was held aboard the new Duke University research vessel R/V Shearwater. The 77′ power catamaran is a all purpose research vessel with a cruising speed of >20 knots and better than 1000 miles radius. The research vessel had three crew along with the ten members for the inaugural at-sea class. The adventure started in Miami, FL and cruised around Florida visiting Key West, Dry Tortugas and Fort Myers among other locations before returning to Miami via the gulf stream. With a fully functional CTD equipped rosette, along with on-board sampling capabilities, the class carried out numerous onsite depth profiles and underway samplings to characterize biological variability (and its chemical and physical drivers) in this region of the Atlantic Ocean. A trove of data was brought home where everyone had a chance to analyze and interpret as part of broader oceanographic processes. In spite of (or perhaps because of) the close-quarters, everyone had an amazing time and earned their ranks as the pioneering research and educational expedition aboard this amazing vessel. We greatly look forward to more adventures in the future.