ALL FIELD TRIP AND NO HOMEWORK SEMINAR AT SEA PROGRAM IS A SHORT-TERM FLOATING UNIVERSITY.

Byline: STORY AND PHOTOS BY JAY SOLMONSON Staff Writer

ABOARD THE EXPLORER -- It wasn't easy being a college student. Back then, I learned about the world from the deepest oceans to the highest mountains to infinity and beyond -- while enclosed within four walls. It was learning by the books inside a classroom instead of learning by experiencing the big, wide world.

While my college professors were trying to unravel the mysteries of the universe for me, I'd unravel a daydream right out the door.

Last December, my wife and I shipped out aboard a floating college that was my daydream-come-true: all field trip and no homework.

The Institute for Shipboard Education's Semester at Sea program, sponsored by the University of Virginia, operates three study-abroad voyages per year for college credit. It throws in a short seminar between its fall and spring semesters for those of us old enough to need a refresher course or two.

And what could be fresher than two weeks cruising aboard Semester at Sea's MV Explorer? It's a 525-foot floating university, complete with classrooms, library, computer lab, student union, campus store, fitness center, swimming pool, medical clinic, professors and, when the post-graduate crowd is aboard, a couple of bars.

Our cruise visited ports on the west coast of Mexico, stopped in Guatemala and Costa Rica, and passed through the Panama Canal. Then we called at Jamaica and the Cayman Islands before concluding the trip in Florida.

Along the way, there was much to learn. The lecture topics included Mayan hieroglyphics, whales and other marine mammals, Spanish for travelers, plate tectonics in Central America, World War II, the Panama Canal, mariachi music, and the flora and fauna of the tropics.

This year's Seminar at Sea, scheduled for Dec. 27 through Jan. 7, will ply the Caribbean. Its lecture series will again include marine mammals and plate tectonics, as well as talks by Guy Garcia, author of ``The New Mainstream: How the Multicultural Consumer Is Transforming American Business.''

The field program will explore colonial castles in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, and a bird sanctuary in Trinidad, and just for fun there will be reggae and calypso dancing.

Although this was our first cruise on anything fancier than a tuna trawler, the modern ship exceeded our expectations. The double rooms were cozy but comfortable. The staff was exceptionally friendly. And the two dining rooms, although usually serving meals buffet-style, lacked the protein-on-the-hoof ambience of my college's dining commons. The meals included low-fat options, with no mystery-meat side dishes.

The pre-port briefings were a regular feature of the cruise. In them, a city's history, culture and character were summed up in a 30-minute presentation.

The lectures started to remind me of college, but there were escape opportunities -- to the mini gym, for example.

New Year's Eve was celebrated off the coast of Mexico, with a champagne toast at the bow of the ship under a sky full of stars.

In addition to lectures on board, there were a number of educational forays onto land.

Huatulco, Mexico, afforded one such stop. Unlike like other Mexican resorts, it is less about shopping and nightlife than eco-tourism.

Huatulco's countless coves, inlets and jungle landscape make it seem like a place hedonistic nature-lovers could cozy up to. We hopped a little tour boat and cruised by its nine pristine bays.

Antigua, Guatemala, meanwhile, proved thoroughly enchanting.

We were captivated by this 16th-century city, which has been knocked down more times than Rocky Balboa. The earthquakes and lava flows that destroyed the city time after time haven't deterred its faithful citizens from repairing and rebuilding.

Maybe that faith was responsible for attracting various religious orders from Europe. Friars, monks, priests and nuns have left their mark on the city, and many of the ancient convents, churches and cathedrals welcome tourists.

As we stood in Plaza Major, the main plaza in the center of town, we were surrounded by buildings erected long before the United States gained its independence. Looking south, the classically shaped Volcan Agua (``Volcano of Water''), rising 12,478 feet above sea level, reminded us of the capriciousness of Mother Nature.

On another port call, an excursion was made to Costa Rica's La Paz Waterfall Gardens, a nature park and wildlife refuge of more than 70 acres. It includes a hummingbird garden and the largest butterfly observatory in the world -- as long as a football field and swarming with more than 20 species of butterflies.

Some confused my wife for an exotic flower and seemed ready to set up housekeeping.

The lecture on the Panama Canal brought that engineering marvel to life just as we prepared to cross the isthmus.

The first ship passed through the canal in 1914, and I don't think its passengers could have been more fascinated by the crossing than we were. We happily got sunburned standing on deck, watching the ship traverse the 50-mile canal in eight hours; it rose and fell 85 feet through a series of locks, gates and dams.

The pre-port talk on Montego Bay, Jamaica, hinted that caution was in order once on shore. We kept this in mind as dusk settled in and we walked briskly to Montego Bay's ``hip strip'' on Gloucester Avenue. Clubs and restaurants fronting the beach were welcoming beacons of hospitality.

It wasn't long before the smell of aromatic spices and the sight of frosty glasses of Red Stripe beer had us dropping anchor at an outdoor cafe overlooking the strip. We feasted on Jamaica's most famous dish, jerked pork.

The next day we visited Dunn's River Falls, which is totally touristy, but how often do you get to climb up the middle of a waterfall? So we joined the daisy chain and climbed up the falls with a guide. He packed our camera and photographed us along the way, and he gladly accepted a dripping handful of change at the end of the hike.

Our last stop before docking in Florida was George Town, Grand Cayman, where we avoided an invasion force of cruise-ship shoppers and hopped a boat for Stingray City, a snorkeling spot where relatively tame stingrays hover for daily handouts from hordes of snorkelers.

It's a cozy arrangement. Tourist boats squeeze into a shallow hangout for stingrays and stuff them to the gills with dead fish. For their part, the stingrays put on a good show, all but doing wing-stands to entertain their visitors.

Thankfully, we didn't have to swim for our supper. The captain hosted the entire passenger list at the farewell dinner. Our cafeteria was transformed into a restaurant, where escargot and seafood bisque opened the evening, followed by roast prime rib and ice cream.

Maybe our ship lacked the sweeping expanse of a smoky casino, a well-stocked minibar or the expertise of a sommelier, but for a couple of rookie cruisers celebrating their 25th year of lecture-free living, it was just what the professor ordered.

IF YOU GO

THE CRUISE: This year's 11-day Seminar at Sea will be conducted Dec. 27 through Jan. 7. Ports of call include Nassau, Bahamas; San Juan, Puerto Rico; St. John's, Antigua; Roseau, Dominica; Port of Spain, Trinidad; Oranjestad, Aruba; Ocho Rios, Jamaica; and Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

FARES: With an early booking -- by Aug. 1 -- fares start at $1,375 per person, double occupancy, for an economy inside cabin. A standard outside cabin is $2,175 per person.

INFORMATION: www.semesteratsea.com; [phone].

CAPTION(S):

9 photos

Photo:

(1 -- 2 -- color) Tourists explore the enormous ruins of a church in Antigua, Guatemala, above, during an excursion off the MV Explorer. The ship's cruise along the coastline of Mexico, tops, brings opportunity for sunset memories.

(3 -- 6 -- color) The main lecture hall, far left, on the MV Explorer, near left, is a casual and comfortable room. A younng passenger, center left knew just what to do at the chocolate buffet on the ship - fill up the plate. A butterfly, above, gladly poses for a tourist at La Paz Waterfall Gardens Park in Costa Rica.

(7) The MV Explorer, at dock in Costa Rica, stops at more than half a dozen ports during the 11-day Seminar at Sea.

(8 -- 9) University-style lectures, above, take place aboard ship, while port call may include making the acquaintance of a Mayan vendor in Antigua, Guatemala, left.

Jay Solmonson/Staff Photographer

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IF YOU GO (see text)