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"He didn't want it, but I insisted he take it," said Dahar, a dentist from Greensburg, Westmoreland County.

That present, a satellite phone, has been getting a lot of use since Wednesday when a 50-foot wave and foul weather battered the MV Explorer, a ship carrying about 700 students, including 110 from Pennsylvania colleges.

The vessel is part of Semester at Sea, an education program academically sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh and supervised by the Institute for Shipboard Education.

Unable to reach his father yesterday, Matt Dahar, a 23-year-old Pitt senior, called his sister Sara to let her know that he and the other students were fine -- a message she relayed to their father.

"I got my phone strapped to my hip waiting for his call," Phil Dahar said. With Internet and regular phone service out, he told his son to let other students use the satellite phone to call their families, too.

"I'm sure all their parents are just like me," Phil Dahar said. "I was going crazy until we heard from him."

The 591-foot ship left Vancouver on Jan. 18 for a 100-day trip. It carried 81 students from Pitt, seven from Penn State University, six from Bucknell University, four from Carnegie Mellon University, two each from Temple University and Gettysburg College, and one each from Point Park, Indiana, Lehigh, Kutztown and Shippensburg universities and Allegheny, La Roche and Juniata colleges.

The ship also is carrying 113 faculty members and 196 crew members, two of whom suffered broken bones when the wave hit.

Matt Dahar told his family the ship first encountered rough weather Monday night, and that many students are seasick and wearing life jackets.

"They're sleeping in the hallways and auditorium trying to stay away from any place where flying objects might occur," his father said.

Matt Dahar followed in his father's footsteps at Pitt. Phil Dahar received his dental degree at Pitt and wore Mike Ditka's No. 89 as a captain and defensive end of the 1965 football team.

The son, though, wants to suit up in the front office, not on the football field. He postponed doing Semester at Sea last fall so he could work with the Pittsburgh Steelers' NFL Punt, Pass & Kick program for children. But he left before he could attend the Steelers' AFC Championship loss to the New England Patriots.

"He's always been a good luck charm," his father said. "He was upset he didn't get to see the game."

His good luck was tested on the ship, though. Paul Watson, director of enrollment and marketing for Semester at Sea, said morale among the students is high.

"They are a resilient group," he said. "There's understandably a certain level of anxiety, but they're holding up well."

On the Semester at Sea Internet message board, one parent said her daughter told her many students were in their rooms watching movies.

"She also said that the staff started a food fight to lighten the mood," the mother reported. "I think that was a good idea."

The high seas and rough weather temporarily damaged engine controls, broke windows and toppled furniture. Coast Guard vessels were sent to help the Explorer, about 1,600 miles from Honolulu. The ship now is headed to Hawaii, and the Coast Guard expects it to reach there in several days, depending on how many main engines it can use.

Phil Dahar said the voyage will be a memorable experience for both father and son.

"It'll be an experience he'll never forget," he said. "For sure, I'll never be on a cruise."

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