Semester at Sea, the world’s largest floating university, announced to its students on Saturday, February 18, that the vessel would be heading to Mozambique instead of Port Louis, Mauritius as initially planned.
This was after a huge cyclone formed in the Indian Ocean after the ship departed from the Port of Mombasa necessitating MV World Odyssey, which houses the university, to change course.
In its third calling to the country, MV World Odyssey docked at the Port of Mombasa on Friday, February 9.
“The voyage left Mombasa, Kenya, on Tuesday, February 14, and had planned to be in Mauritius February 22-25,” Semester at Sea noted.
Due to the cyclone, the students will now be forced to dock at Maputo, Mozambique on Friday, February 23 for a two-day stay.
“The MV World Odyssey will then sail to Cape Town, South Africa, arriving on March 2 – two days earlier than originally planned – and will depart as scheduled on March 9,” an update from the University read in part.
In the update, it was noted that the decision to alter the plans to travel to Mauritius moments after leaving Mombasa was made after consultations between the school, the ship captain and the voyage leadership team.
“The storm is expected to arrive in Mauritius on February 23, one day after the ship was scheduled to arrive,” it was revealed.
Sheltered from the cyclone, the students will continue their studies inside the ship.
All classes and field programmes that had been planned for Mauritius were subsequently cancelled with the school management scrambling to identify field program options in Mozambique.
The ship has 763 passengers on board, 585 of whom are students undertaking various career courses.
According to the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), while in the country, the students visited institutions of higher learning for educational tours, conducted excursions around Mombasa and visited various wildlife parks.
