About 300 people had visited the 41m steel brigantine tall ship when it docked in Dunedin in December last year, during its first visit to New Zealand waters.
The ship is operated by the United States-based Sea Education Association (Sea), and serves as home and classroom for students participating in Sea's study abroad programmes.
The courses focus on oceanographic research, leadership and maritime history and culture, and the vessel has operated in Alaska, Mexico and Polynesia since 2001.
Dr Mary Malloy, director of Sea's Global Ocean Programme, said the strong public response was a ``really great thing''.
"It shows how much people are interested,'' Dr Malloy added.
Many of the latest visitors were families with young children.
The vessel was carrying six study abroad students, and the latest trip aimed to raise awareness of environmental issues, including impacts on the New Zealand coastline, she said.
Sea organisers had developed ``great'' links with staff at the University of Otago's New Zealand Marine Studies Centre and had worked closely with them over the ship's visit.
Among visitors to the vessel on Saturday was Prof Gary Wilson, director of the New Zealand Antarctic Research Institute and a former head of theOtago marine science department.
On the latest voyage, Sea staff and students had been joined by some Otago University staff and students to share local knowledge, organisers said.
Sea is based at Cape Cod in the oceanographic research community of Woods Hole, Massachusetts, in the United States.
