A professor, now home safe in Nova Scotia after his Class Afloat ship went down last week off the coast of Brazil, said he has no intention of returning to sea.

'Surely they're looking for us by now.'— Maurice Tugwell

The tall ship SV Concordia was a student boat that combined a life at sea with high school and university courses. It sank 500 kilometres off the coast of Brazil on Feb. 17. All 64 people on board survived, but spent close to two days in lifeboats awaiting rescue.

Maurice Tugwell, who grew up in Alberton, P.E.I. and now lives in Wolfville, was teaching a university course on board the ship. He told CBC News Thursday there were times he didn't know if he would make it.

"One of the guys next to me he said you know, Dr. T are we going die? Well, I don't know...I don't know. We're safe right now and we're in stable conditions, we have rations. We have enough water for a week," said Tugwell.

"Surely they're looking for us by now."

A military helicopter from Brazil eventually spotted them bobbing in the water. The group was rescued and brought to shore, where Tugwell said everyone was able to call home.

"My son Steve answered and I said 'Hi Steve, it's Dad.' And I couldn't talk. He couldn't either," he said. "There are days when, well, my emotions are still fairly close to the surface by times."

Tugwell said his sailing days are over.

"When I put [my family] through those couple of days of not knowing what was going on, I'm not sure I want to visit that territory again," he said.

Classes for the students who were on the boat are set to resume, on land, in Nova Scotia the week of March 8.