MOSS LANDING >> The Western Flyer has returned to Moss Landing after a 100-day journey replicating the same voyage taken by author John Steinbeck and scientist Ed Ricketts in 1940.

After nearly nine years of refurbishing the ship, a new crew set sail from Monterey in March planning to follow the same route Steinbeck and Ricketts took, while stopping at multiple ports down the coast to host public events and conduct hands-on science education.

“Our mission is continuing this legacy that Steinbeck and Ricketts started back in 1940 of discovery and science and just being curious about the world and the ocean,” said Sherry Flumerfelt, executive director of the Western Flyer Foundation. “And doing that in a way that integrates both science and humanities … but our primary focus is really on getting students and the public excited again about oceans and science.”

The voyage covered 4,700 miles and made 22 stops throughout the Gulf of California, doing outreach in 16 coastal communities. The foundation partnered with 65 universities, government agencies, conservation organizations and other institutions to reach 700 students and thousands of other visitors.

The crew also focused on its own research, ranging from piloting a remotely operated vehicle to conduct intertidal surveys to examining plankton.

“The science was hands-on, collaborative and locally grounded, revealing not only the Gulf’s hidden stories but also new possibilities for the next generation,” the foundation said in a news release.

)The crew aboard the Western Flyer deployed remote operated vehicles to conduct research in the Gulf of California. The ship stopped at ports in Long Beach, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Puerto Escando and more. The crew had a big welcome and ribbon-cutting at La Paz, the capital of Baja California Sur. When the crew stopped in Santa Rosalía, they were greeted by children of the Yaqui tribe, who did a traditional tribal dance for the crew.

“We were sort of this symbol that brought people together … we were quite excited that it worked out that way,” said Flumerfelt, who boarded the Western Flyer at over a dozen different stops.

The goal of this first trip, said Flumerfelt, was to reintroduce the ship’s story to the communities along the Gulf of California and meet the scientific and conservation communities in the region.

The crew engaged students in bilingual marine science education and taught them the story of Steinbeck and Ricketts’ journey, which inspired Steinbeck’s book, “The Log from the Sea of Cortez.” The students were excited every step of the way, especially when looking at plankton through microscopes, according to Flumerfelt.

“I’ve captained a lot of boats, but nothing like this,” said Captain Paul Tate in the news release. “The history, the science, the students, the community — this voyage had a different kind of weight. You could feel it in your bones.”

The crew was critically aware throughout the journey of the historical significance of the ship they were sleeping, eating and working on. This history became especially clear in Puerto Escondido when the crew met the family of Leopoldo Perpuli, the guide who led Steinbeck and Ricketts on a bighorn sheep hunt that was detailed in chapter 16 of “The Log from the Sea of Cortez.”

Perpuli’s children and granddaughter told the crew stories of their father, saying he was always impressed by Ricketts and the 1940 journey. When the crew found a barnacle-covered shot glass dated to the 1930s, they took a shot with the Perpilis. Flumerfelt described this moment as “very magical.”

Looking forward and depending on funding, the foundation hopes that the Western Flyer will be able to take the journey every two years. For now, with the Western Flyer back at Moss Landing (off of Woodward Marine Market 10928 Clam Way), the public can visit Sundays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and student programs will continue running. For more information, visit https://www.westernflyer.org/

“You could feel it,” Tate said. “That sense of something larger than us — echoing back from the past and reaching somewhere new.

The communities we connected with, from major cities to remote fishing villages, brought a depth of collaboration and generosity that added a new dimension — one Steinbeck and Ricketts could never have imagined. And now we get to explore that ‘somewhere new’ together.”