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I was going to start posting again, but I'm going to sea...

Splunge

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Today was the day, I'm on watch right now, my schools training ship (the T.S. Kennedy if you care to look it up.) is still tied up. I was browsing my phone, bored as hell, as one might be expected to be on an 8 hour watch on a ship that won't move an inch, and so I decided to browse here and read stuff before I realized that there was too much to catch up on. And then I realized that I'll be away on sea term, learning the ins and outs of being at sea for almost two months coming up. So my plans this morning have been very short sighted. I hope all have been having a happy, healthy and safe holiday season!
 

Fairwaysplitter3320

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Today was the day, I'm on watch right now, my schools training ship (the T.S. Kennedy if you care to look it up.) is still tied up. I was browsing my phone, bored as hell, as one might be expected to be on an 8 hour watch on a ship that won't move an inch, and so I decided to browse here and read stuff before I realized that there was too much to catch up on. And then I realized that I'll be away on sea term, learning the ins and outs of being at sea for almost two months coming up. So my plans this morning have been very short sighted. I hope all have been having a happy, healthy and safe holiday season!
Very cool bud! Be safe!

TS Kennedy | Massachusetts Maritime Academy
 

azgreg

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Nice to hear from you again kid. Good luck in your training.
 

MCDavis

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Have a great time and learn a lot, Splunge!!

And another birdie leaves the nest... *sniff*...I'm so proud....
 

limpalong

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Got worried about you, kid! Hadn't heard from you in quite a while. Be safe! Learn a lot! When you get a chance, get back to posting on Shot Talk.
 

subsonic

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Learn all you can. Hopefully, there is an Old Salt or two that can teach you a thing or two.
 
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Splunge

Splunge

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Hey, didn't just get back, but I m just getting back into golf for the year. If y'all have any questions about my time away, and school and stuff, feel free to ask. I don't feel like writing out the whole thing, because it could be a novel.
 
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Splunge

Splunge

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Good to be back, any big news that I missed around here?
 

eclark53520

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Welcome back!

I wouldn't mind hearing some highlights if you wouldn't mind sharing!

The forum was down for like a week...everybody panicked and went to another forum...then it came back up and we're back. That's about the only big news.
 
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Splunge

Splunge

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Well I have a journal, I guess I could put that up, it's in digital format. Apologies for the double post.
 
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Splunge

Splunge

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Here is the part that I had in digital, the other part I had to write by hand, because my phone charger got nicked by some ass clown.

DAY 1:

Date:
Monday, 1/9/17

Time Written:
23:40

Location:
Somewhere off the coast of Delaware I think.

Today I said goodbye for two months, good by to Mom, good by to dad, good by to tom, good bye to the rest of my friends and family back on the safe shores of Massachusetts. People aren't the only thing that I said good bye to, I'm saying good bye to cold weather, cold water, snow, internet, and even good food.

My division had deck training today, we took a class on shipboard security, in which we learned about security measures aboard the Kennedy, as well as other vessels. We learned what to do in the event of certain security emergencies, such as terrorists, pirates, rats, or even rat pirates (Love you Han!). I even gave the instructor some pointers on how to do a more thorough yet still quick bag search, that I invented back in my days spent at Lelacheur park.

After we finished fighting off the rat pirates (BTW the captain of that pirate crew HAS to be captain Jack Scabers), we had lunch which wasn't that bad. And then we had a three hour lab about coastal navigation and piloting. We got to play with charts and Nav tools, and used them to finish a worksheet. It was kinda cool, but maybe not my cup o' tea, I'll leave all the maps and compasses to the deckies.

Dinner wasn't the best.

After dinner I played a lot of cards, while watching the Clemson v. Alabama game, but I stopped watching at halftime, when the score was 14-7 in favor of the Tide.

Two of the guys in our hold brought XBox's with a bunch of games, and two other guys brought mini projectors that can hook up to them, so we have movies and video games in the break room, for whoever wants them. I already won 10$ playing madden today.

I'm excited to sleep on the ship, because as I found out on mini cruise, the ship has a natural roll, even in the calmest of seas. So essentially I am getting rocked to sleep every night by a 16 thousand ton cradle. The only detriment to my sleep at the moment, is the guy that is snoring super loudly in the rack across from me.

It's time for me to turn in for the night now, I'm looking forward to the warm weather coming tomorrow, it was even staring to get into the forties this evening, they are saying it will be over 50° at MOFO tomorrow morning. I am not looking foreword to the rough seas that we will likely be encountering as we approach, and pass Cape Hatteras tomorrow late morning, and through most of the afternoon, but I could be the first real good test of my sea legs (But Lt. Dan, you ain't got no legs!!!!!).


Day 2:

Date:
Tuesday, 1/10/17

Time Written:
22:50

Location:
About 200 miles off the coast of South Carolina

Ladies and Gentlemen, the warm weather is here! It didn't get much below 50 today, as we went down across Virginia, and North Carolina, and we didn't get the rough seas that we were expecting as we passed Cape Hatteras. I was outside a lot today, for both classes, and to just hang out.

To celebrate the warm weather, I toasted up a stogie, and enjoyed the nice breeze that was rolling across the fantail, as well as the spectacular southern sunset. The sky was alight with reds, pinks, and even some interesting shades of purple, blue and green.

This morning we mustered on the helo-deck, and that's when I found out how warm it was. Right after muster and before classes, I changed into my short sleeve boiler suit for the first time of our voyage, and truly embraced the weather. It is such a relief compared to the arctic wasteland of New England.

Classes were pretty fun today, we learned about crane use and cargo operations, as well as the signals for crane spotters, to tell the operator what to do. To practice these signals, we had two man teams, with fishing poles to simulate a crane. We also had a knot tying class, that more or less went over the different knots whippings and splices that we learned during the fall semester. After that we had a fire fighting class, in which I learned some new things about firefighting, as it specifically applies to a ship, and then we went outside, and did some turn-out-gear drills.

Lunch was just ok, chicken patty Tuesday, the chili (which I used potato wedges to scoop up) was the redeeming factor.

Later in the afternoon, I bought my email card, and signed up for the excursion that Karoline bought for me. After I was done running those errands, I did some laundry.

The turkey at dinner was dry, and had too much dark meat, but the lasagna and beef stew were pretty good.

After my sunset cigar, I played some cards, and drank some Coffee. My net gambling earnings for the trip are currently +$55.

Had a little 1 round boxing match in the hold (don't worry Mom, there was no beef, and we were using gloves). Our Boxing matches are mostly for fun, so there wasn't really a winner or loser. But if the judges were there for my fight, I think that I would have lost in a close split decision.

Seaterm boxing record, 0-1-0, 0 KO's

Listening to Dave Matthews as I Finnish this up.

Not really sure what to expect for tomorrow, other than warmer weather as we ride along side Florida. We have been crushing at about 17 or 18 knots the whole time. Someone said that there might be some rough seas tomorrow, but I'm not really sure if they knew what they were talking about. No one is snoring next to me tonight, and it seems that everyone is pretty much still up. I think I'm going to start watching house of cards tonight before I call it a day. I'm just really excited to get some warm weather and a bit of that bright sunshine.

Day 3:

Date:
Wednesday, 1/11/17

Time Written:
20:48

Location:
I think we just got past the southern tip of Florida, maybe near the Bahamas.

Today was a pretty good day, not in the sense that a lot of great things happened, but more in the sense that nothing bad happened. Today was so even keeled, that I can't honestly think of one single bad thing that happened to me today, and now that I'm thinking more, I don't think I heard anyone complain about something bad that happened to them either.

Like they have been the whole voyage so far, the seas picked up just a bit more today, so the ship is rocking a good bit more than the last couple of days. Even now as I'm lying in my rack, I can have felt a big uptick in the rolling, as well as the beginnings of some pitches. It started to rain tonight at about 19:00, and I have heard from some others that we are expecting some heavy seas tonight. We won't be hitting the center of the system that we are passing through, but we are expecting 14', and possibly as high as 20' seas tonight, between 23:00 and 05:00.

Classes this morning were a bit boring, both being a lot about OSHA regs, and basic safety practices. We learned nothing new, because it was a light review of stuff that we covered in the fall. The afternoon classes were a lot better. One class that was about the US merchant marine, maritime traditions, ship types, and also the rank structure on merchant ships. I liked that class a lot, and it was taught by CAPT. Cunningham, who was the master of the Maersk Arkansas, the sister ship of the Maersk Alabama. The last class of the day was about weather, different types of weather, different cloud types, pressure, fronts, and several other topics. It was taught by two NOAA high up guys that are onboard with us. I thought the class was very interesting, and it was by far the most that I have ever learned about weather in one sitting, maybe even ever.

Lunch was pretty good, meatball sub, chili, hotdog and fries. (I used my fork to scoop the chili, so I could make a make shift chili dog)

I really didn't do much after lunch, played a game of madden, and a game of UNO. I didn't do any betting or gambling of any kind today, so my gambling total for seaterm remains at +$55

Because I was on the pre-inspection cleaning bill for our hold, I missed dinner, but I had a bowl of cereal about an hour ago.

I finished watching the first episode of House of Cards just before I started writing this, and all I can say at this point is that I'm very excited to keep watching.

That's all for now! Can't wait to experience truly tropical weather for the first time in my life tomorrow, so that's the big thing that I am looking foreword to. I also want to send an email out tomorrow, I can't wait to hear back from you guys back home.

Day4:

Date:
Thursday, 1/12/17

Time Written:
20:32

Location:
somewhere just south of Cuba

Today wasn't the best. It was far from it. I had two trash compactor watches today, one at 03:30-07:30, and the other from 15:30-19:30. The job isn't that bad, it mostly involved sitting around, waiting for people to bring trash down to the compactor room. When they bring trash in, we put it in the machine, press it down, and when the thing is full with compacted trash, we take the big bag, and bring it up to the garbage container up on top of 2 hold.

During the morning watch, nothing really happened, the seas were fairly calm, and no one was awake really to bring me garbage. I only had to bring one bag out to the crate. It was during the second watch that the shit started to hit the fan. In total I had to bring 5 bags up to the crate, now that's really not so bad if it wasn't dark, slippery, windy, sea spraying, ship rolling, and really really god damn slippery.

Let me set the scene a bit: Two hold is right near the bow, it is the second farthest foreword hold. It takes up all the open deck space between the windlass, and the forward house. There is a large hatch combing over the top of two hold, that can open, so that we can load cargo into two hold. This combing is a raised rectangle on top of the deck, that raises about 4' off the main deck.

On my first run to bring trash out, nothing extraordinary happened, I just noticed that it was very dark (two hold is in front of the bridge, and we are not allowed to use white light in front of the bridge at night, under ANY circumstances), and very slippery. The next haul was where things started to go awry. I walked out to the bow, and got past the foreword most wall of the foreword house, and got nailed by the high winds that were striking the port side. My feet slid in place as I tried to hold my stance, but I was just being pushed by the wind. I had to wait for the ship to roll to the port side, so that I could use the downhill to walk against the wind. I then scaled the side of the combing, pried ope the crate, and tossed the trash into it. Climbing down from the combing, the ship lurched to the starboard side, and combined with the howling wind, I was swept right off the top of the hatch, and hit the deck, hard, right on the ass, and then proceeded to slide all the way to the gunnel, and hit that pretty hard too. I wasn't badly hurt, certainly still good to function. So I proceeded back to the compactor room. On top of nearly falling off again on the next run, when I was stepping off the combing, I ripped a huge hole in the crotch of my boiler suit, which I'll need to patch tomorrow, good thing I brought the sewing kit. And the third blunder that happened to me up on two hold tonight left me dripping with sea water. I was bringing what would be my final bag of trash up, and safely deposited in to the crate, and then safely climbed down from the hatch. On my walk back, a massive wave struck the port bow, aft about 3 points. It came all the way across the deck, and nailed me on the starboard side, if I had been 5 seconds faster, I would have been safely sheltered, by the foreword house, but instead, I now need to wash out my already torn boiler suit.

The seas were pretty heavy today, but it was pretty fun. Dishes in the mess deck were sliding around during lunch, when the seas were probably the heaviest, topping out at almost 15'.
During my mid-day break was the height of the unstable seas, which caused the Kennedy to roll more that 20° at some points. I got an excellent video of the ship rolling from the windlass, looking back toward the bridge, you can see the angles the ship makes with the horizon.

Lunch was pretty good today, pulled pork, potatoes wedges and chili. Dinner sucked, dry roast beef, and really dry penne, with meat sauce that I suspect may have had ketchup in it.

I have tomorrow off, my name is not on the utility bill for the next two days, and thank fricken god for that! I'm going to do my laundry, sew up my B-suit, and also try to get a bit of a tan on. We are supposed to get near Puerto Rico tomorrow.

No clue what to expect for the weather tomorrow, but I expect the seas to calm down a lot tomorrow, as we get past this low pressure system. All I know is that the weather keeps getting warmer and warmer, and I am NOT complaining. I'm going to sign off for now, every one is still up right now, because it is still pretty early, but I am beat tired, and need sleep more than I need air to breathe. It's been a rough day, but gentle sleep awaits.

Day5:

Date:
Friday, 1/13/16

Time Written:
19:54 (I have cleaning starting at 00:00 tomorrow morning, so I'm hitting the hay early)

Location:
Off the coast of Mayaguez Puerto Rico

Today was a good day. I had no duties today, so it was a total day off. Felt good to have a break, nothing to do but explore the ship, hang out, get chores done, and most importantly, soak up some of that warm Caribbean sun!

We steamed up to Puerto Rico today. We got close to land and began to slow down at about 11:00 local time. We dropped anchor at about 14:45. It was such a beautiful day. I saw two full arch double rainbows today, one early this morning, and the other some time around 16:00. I didn't get to snap a picture of the second one unfortunately, because I didn't have my phone on me, but it was a truly glorious sight. It seemed to span right over the coast of PR, like a gateway of sorts.

Lunch today was pretty good, pizza. I didn't have dinner, but I heard that it wasn't quite the best.

We are now beginning what is know to MMA as the 'Puerto Rico 500', for the next three days, we will be steaming around the island by night and early morning, and then stopping during the day to do anchoring drills. It will be great because it means that we can enjoy the sun and rays, and take our time. Everyone was out on the helo deck taking in rays, playing sports, or catching up with their loved ones with their newly recovered cell phone service. I made a call to a bunch of the family today, and it was really good to hear their voices.

The whole ship seems way more relaxed, it had seemed for a while, even though it had been warm, we weren't quite in the Caribbean yet. But even though we arrived almost two days ago, this afternoon marked the day that we were officially here.

I learned that the ship's computers in the computer room have HALO downloaded onto them, so that kept me entertained for a little while.

I did my laundry today, and even sewed up the hole in my long sleeve boiler suit that had been torn open last night.

I won't have any work tomorrow after 07:30, so tomorrow I will essentially have another day of sun and relaxation!

Not much to contribute today, so I'm going to sign off now. Today was a good day.

Day6:

Date:
Saturday, 1/14/17

Time Written:
00:40

Location:
At anchor off the coast of Puerto Rico

Today was a good day again. After inside cleaning this morning, I was able to sleep from 01:30 until about 07:00, and then I woke up for MOFO, before promptly falling asleep again until noon. It has been the most sleep that I have gotten since being on the ship, and it felt amazing to catch a bunch of Z's.

After my sleep, I went up to the helo deck to get some sun, and to watch some folks play some basketball. All the sports and activities that are going on on the ship have got me thinking about maybe trying to get a small seaterm golf club going for next year. It would be pretty easy, we can get a small hitting mat, a few clubs, and a whole bunch of those water soluble golf balls. Not to mention that we could go play for real in port!

Missed lunch, dinner was hot dogs while watching the pats game, hard to screw up a hotdog.

The had a projector to watch the pats game on the helo deck. Me and some buddies got great seats, because we got there early. Pats smoked the Texans, but I bet you already knew that. It has been nice to have cell service this whole time that we have been near Puerto Rico, so I can stay in contact with the family, and talk with them during the pats game, just like always.

Unfortunately for the journal's sake, this has probably been the least eventful day for me, but in a good way. Lots of down time can be good for the mind. Tomorrow will be Sunday at sea, which is pretty much a day off for the whole ship, except me. Because I have scullery. Somehow, someway, I got pinned with the absolute worst job, while everyone else will be out enjoying the weather, fun times, and the outdoor grilling that the cooks will be doing. Oh well, at least I'm getting it out of the way.

Day7:

Date:
Sunday, 1/15/17

Time Written:
20:33

Location:
Off the coast of Puerto Rico

Today sucked, I had scullery from 06:00 until 19:00 today, and missed pretty much all of Sunday at sea. Everyone on the ship had a nice relaxing day off, Chartwells broke out the grills, and had a big cookout for every one. They made phenomenal steaks for dinner, and that was the lone high point for me. I'm pissed off, tired, and I have watch beginning at 03:30 tomorrow, so I'm going to bed now. Hopefully tomorrow won't be so bad.

Day8:

Date:
Monday, 1/16/17

Time Written:
22:30

Location:
Good ways south by southwest of Puerto Rico, seaming very slowly for Aruba

Today was a pretty good day, we departed our anchorage in Puerto Rico, and we are officially steaming to Aruba! My division is on watch, and I personally am on deck watch, which isn't/won't be my most favorite thing that I do here, but at least it beats scullery.

We were at anchor until about 13:30 this afternoon, and my watch started at 03:30, so we were at anchor the entire time for my morning watch. After that, I ate a little breakfast, and then knocked out until about 11:30, at which time I ate lunch, which had some really weird meatball/noodle combination, that I can only pray doesn't make a reappearance.

My second watch of the day didn't start until 15:30 (I'll be on the same schedule for the next five days, on watch from 03:30-07:30, then 15:30-19:30), so I was able to hang outside, and get some good sun in.

My afternoon watch was much cooler than I anticipated. We were underway again, for Aruba, so there was a lot actually going on on my watch. When you on deck watch as a freshman, you rotate between 4 spots, the quarterdeck (worst place), stern lookout (not that bad, you can socialize), bow lookout (amazing for sunrise/set, which my watch has both of), and the bridge, which is admittedly, pretty cool. During my afternoon/evening watch today, I spent the entire time on the bridge. Being a freshman on he bridge entails two responsibilities, learn how stuff works, and man the helm. And let me get this on the record, driving the ship sucks. It is like the worst video game of all time, it kinda hard to describe exactly what it's like.

There were some highlights however of my watch, I learned how to read the X and S band radar screens, and learned their particular strengths and weaknesses. I learned how to interpret and use (sort of, more of a look but don't touch thing) the ECTIS system, which is our electronic nav system.

Being on the bridge at sunset, I was asked to help on of the deck instructors, Mr. Mayhoffer, to scribe readings from his sextant practical exam, that a large group of seniors were taking. I even, on a very rudimental basis, learned how to use a sextant/ how a sextant works. Mayhoffer took his readings very quickly, and almost every senior had a lot of trouble keeping up.

Not going to lie, so tired right now, that I don't remember what I had for dinner.

Lost five bucks in a game of poker tonight. Gambling total sitting at +$60, some work to be done. Bad loss, shoulda won, but I got greedy.

Keeping with the theme of celestial navigation today, just a little while ago, I got in from looking at the stars on the bow of the ship. Foreword of the bridge, there is no white light allowed, so it is totally free of light pollution, foreword of the wheelhouse. It is perfect for looking at the stars, and I have never seen so many. I took my first glance at the sky once my eyes had adjusted, and I was literally stunned, and I did not move for upwards of five minutes, completely transfixed on the sky. Before the moon rose was the perfect time to see the stars. The Big Dipper, the North Star, Orion ( the whole thing, not just the belt) was visible. And then I saw the southern cross. This is my first time that I have seen it, and it made me think of the song. But it was really really cool. In total I saw 3 shooting stars, one of them being the biggest and brightest one that I have ever seen. From our perspective, It went from almost all the way over the top of the ship, to almost the horizon.

Another magical thing that happens before the moon comes out and throws around too much light pollution, is the luminescent phytoplankton in the southern seas. They glow bright blue when they are disturbed in the water, but this glow is only visible in nearly total darkness. So foreword of the wheelhouse, we were able to look over the side, and see the bow of the ship break the water, and we saw the whitewater light up with brilliant blue sparks, like nothing that I have ever seen before. It was amazing.

I need to go to bed now, it's late, and I need to be awake for 03:30.

Day9:

Date:
Tuesday, 1/17/17

Time Written:
20:05

Location:
Slowly limping toward Aruba on a bearing of 198 gyro.

Not that much happened today to be completely honest. I am tired from watch, I slept threw lunch. Didn't learn much new on watch, spent most of the time on lookouts, bow and stern. It was a beautiful day, and this morning on watch, I saw 4 more shooting stars from the bow lookout. Total: 7

Time for bed, I'm too tired to write a lot about nothing tonite.

Day10:

Date:
Wednesday, 1/18/17

Time Written:
22:27

Location:
Drunkenly stumbling toward Aruba, at a blazingly fast 5 knots. We could literally lower one of the lifeboats and get there faster.

Today was a good day I guess. Nothing really happened.

Still on deck watch, which is starting to get really boring. By now they have figured out who is and isn't deck amongst us freshman, so I barely get to spend any time on the bridge. Granted I'm not a huge fan of the bridge, but it still beats most of the other positions. I didn't get to go on the bow lookout on either of my watches today, so that kinda sucked.

I did a little bit of quick math today, and figured out that I'll be on watch for our actual arrival in Aruba, so that could be exciting if I'm on the bridge Friday morning.

Only positive of deck watch is that I'm working on my tan even while on watch.

Best thing that happened today was the pyrotechnics demonstration on the helo deck. They showed us how to use smoke flairs, hand flairs, parachute flairs, and rocket powered line launchers. Pretty cool to see all that stuff get popped off.

Only three watches left, two tomorrow morning, and then Friday morning's, and then look out Aruba, because I'm pretty sure it will be a full blown war zone by the time we depart on Sunday. That place will never be the same.

Going to quit typing now, because I need to sleep, and then wake up at 0330 so that I can put up with more of the same old BS.

Day11:

Date:
Thursday, 1/19/17

Time Written:
22:31

Location:
Gently tip-toeing toward Aruba, as if to sneak attack the island with our invasion force of 600 thirsty cadets.

I just came from the bow, the light pollution from Aruba is clearly visible on the horizon. So close yet so far.

I have my last watch tomorrow morning at 03:30, and because they don't want to change watch teams while the pilot is on board, we will be on watch the entire time all the way up to docking, at like 09:30. We're getting like an extra two hours of watch. It is the literal definition of getting the shaft.

My division misses the first day in Aruba, so I'll be on extra scullery in the afternoon, and won't get liberty until Saturday. It's not that bad, everyone misses some time in every port except one. It might be for the best for me to miss the first day in the first port, because I'll be able to see what too drunk looks like, and I'll be able to set my limits accordingly.

Today was an alright day. On the morning watch I learned how to take an azimuth of a star, to calculate location. Pretty neat stuff actually. On the afternoon watch I got to learn more about how to use a sextant, and became fairly proficient at finding and identifying stars in the early evening. Seeing all the stars, and using them to tell me where I am, makes me feel like as long I can see the stars, I'll never be lost. They also make me feel pretty small.

Excited to finally arrive in port tomorrow. I'm sure it will be a good time, and hopefully no one is a total jackass, and does something that can effect the rest of everyone else's cruise.

Days 12,13 & 14

Date:
Friday, Saturday & Sunday 1/20-22/17

Time Written:
00:33

Location:
Off the coast of ARUBA BABY!!!!!!!!!!

Aruba has been awesome, and forgive me, but for in port nights, I think it might be best to just do one journal for the whole weekend, gives my drunk mind less to think about

Friday stunk, my division didn't have liberty, and I had scullery all day. But on Saturday, things started looking up.

Me and a big group of friends went to a place on Palm Beach, called Moomba, where we had a breakfast buffet. Then we found out that most people were over at Eagle Beach, so we started walking. Moomba is at the far end of Palm Beach, near the northern tip of the island, about 2mi from eagle beach. So me and my friends decided to buy a bottle of rum, and leg it. We walked on the sand the whole way, passing friends, and academy staffers. At one point we even saw CMR Kelleher, which was an interesting encounter.

When we finally got to Eagle Beach, we were greeted by a massive group of our friends drinking and hanging out at a beachside bar, with a lot of cozy chairs right on the sand. We bought some beers, and hung out for a while at this place.

It started to die down there when a lot of our friends left for the 'jolly pirate' cruise, which was just a nuts looking booze cruise on a mini pirate ship.

We headed back to Moomba Beach for happy hour. We met up with some more friends when we got to Moomba Beach, and even had some seniors buy us drinks.

Me and my buddy Kevin started trying to talk to some beautiful ladies who ended up being from Sweden, but we got shot down pretty hard, unshaken, we moved on.

Around 2000 we decided to take a cab to this bar on the main city area, called Gusto's. happy hour there was from 21-2300, so many of us maritime'ers were there. Saw a bunch of friends that I hadn't seen during the day, and even made some plans for the second day in Barbados. I got back to the ship around 2300, safe and sound, and unbelievably, almost all the way sober! I got back on the ship, housed two bowls of cereal, and went straight to bed.

We set out on day two (day three for many) looking to see the other side of the island. We decided to try and rent ATV's, but after seeing the price/availability, we took that idea out of our head. We marched toward the beach with water sports on our mind.

We found a tent on Eagle Beach (coincidentally right next to that bar we we were at the day before) that was selling tickets for an open bar catamaran cruise, that did two diving stops. We were sold, because it looked super duper fun.

Our cruise was from 1300-1600. We showed up at the place we needed to be at 1230, and started putting on more sunscreen. We got on the shuttle boat that took us to the cat, which was a fun ride all on its own. But the party started as soon as we got onto the big boat. When we pulled up in the shuttle the 1st mate/ bartender (btw awesome position title) already had drinks in his hand for us, screwdrivers I think.

The cruise was great, we took in so much sunshine, and so many drinks. We got to our first diving stop about 45 minutes into the cruise. We were parked on top of a sunken German cargo vessel. When I hit the water, my flipper fell off, and started to sink, so naturally I went after it. I couldn't see it, more than likely because I was looking in the wrong direction, because the water was crystal clear. I resurfaced upset, because with one flipper I would only be able to swim in circles. I dove back down only with the intention of looking at the wreck, whose shallowest point was 10 meters. But about 40 ft further aft, sitting on top of the windlass wall, was my flipper! I resurfaced, and took the biggest breath of my life, getting ready to be a hero. Once I confirmed that my lungs were at maximum capacity, I pointed my head down, and started kicking. This part of the ship was significantly deeper than the bow tip. I finally got to the flipper about 50 seconds into my dive (because I timed it, like a genius) once I got there I decided to ignore the pressure in my ear, and take a look around the ship! It was super cool, and very wrecked. The ship didn't look like it was all that large, maybe about 3/4 of the size of the Kennedy. After 90 seconds my lungs decided that I really needed to resurface, so I ascended from the wreckage. I got back to the surface and was greeted by the captain of the boat, congratulating me, because as he said, no guests of his had ever dove to that deep on the ship. Still fairly unaware of my achievement, I asked how deep I dove, and he told me that it was more than 20 meters. I told him that I didn't do it voluntarily, I did it to retrieve my flipper, and he just laughed. After that we got the hang of using the rope swing, which was crazy fun.

The rest of the cruise was great, two more hours of drinks, music, dancing, attempted flips off the rope swing, and less exciting, and way shallower dives.

Our curfew tonight was 2100, so we decided to grab a water at about 1700, and walk around, to sober up. I made it back to that ship about 1800, with the intention of sleeping for about an hour before the Patriots game, but like a dumbass, I slept right threw it. BUT HOLY SHIT THE PATS WON, AND WERE GOING TO SUPER BOWL LI!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't even know who we're playing yet, I'd rather play Atlanta than Green Bay, Green Bay seems to be hot at the right time, and as playoff hockey has taught me, that is the name of the game.

Anyways, I woke up about 20 minutes ago, had some cereal, and a coffee, and decided to write this. I'm still pretty drunk, so I'm going to try to sleep it off now. Tomorrow we set sail for Barbados!!!!!!

P.S. I now have my own small world story, and I think that it might beat Hannah's. This guy named Roberto who is originally from the Netherlands, but now lives in Aruba, is practically best friends with Walter, the guy who owns Elliot's Hot Dogs. He stays at his house when he comes to New England.

Day15:

Date:
Monday, 1/23/17

Time Written:
21:06

Location:
Steaming slowly past Curaçao

Today was a good day, not much to talk about though. No hangover from the weekend, so that's a huge bonus.

My division had maintenance, and I'm on the deck side of cruise still. In the morning I helped put the mooring lines away, which was one sweaty friggin job!

Lunch was ok, I just grabbed a burger, and put chili on it.

Afternoon work was good, helped clean sickbay, and got to quit early for the day.

Dinner was good, pork and veggie stew.

Not going to lie, not much to report on. I think the whole ship is just recovering from one rough weekend on one happy island.

All in all, fantastic weekend, and a good day today, hopefully having a good rest of the week, as we steam to Barbados. Looking foreword to making more memories on this sea term. Can't wait to get the sand between my toes again.

It's crazy to think that we aren't even half way in yet, but I feel like I have been gone for so long. It's nice to be away, but I'm sure I will be happy to be back.

Day16:

Date:
Tuesday, 1/24/17

Time Written:
21:43

Location:
Still in the Deep South of the Caribbean, slowly but surely steaming east for Barbados.

Today was alright, not too great, but also not too bad.

I am still on my deck maintenance shift, so today I was chipping rust and paint. We are removing the old logo on the helo deck, that commemorates the 125th anniversary of the academy, that was last year. It is a sea term tradition to repaint that logo, so I guess it's kinda cool to be a part of that.

The morning shift wasn't all that bad, the after house mostly shaded the deck in the pre noon hours. We were taking turns needle gunning the rust off of the deck. It's not that bad of a job, it's just really loud, and takes a while. We got to quit at 1100 for lunch and rest.

Lunch was just ok, Chicken Patty Tuesday, they made sweet chili, and that was a solid highlight. We had break until 1300, so I had a solid hour and a half to read/work on my tan.

The helo deck we returned to at 1300 wasn't the same one that we had left at 1100, it was noticeably hotter, and the shade had completely disappeared. Sitting on the deck to needle gun or wire wheel was now not an option, because the deck was a stovetop, and it seemed that we were the meal dumb enough to cook ourselves to a crisp in the afternoon sun.

When you are on the ocean with a tropical sun high in the sky, and you are surrounded by metal on all sides, there is no such thing as enough sun screen, the best thing that you can do is cover up the places you don't want to burn. I took a spare rag, soaked it in water, and wrapped it around the back of my hard hat yoke, so that it draped over and covered the back of my neck. It left a cool feeling on my whole backside, and kept away the sunburn. I was now Walter of Arabia, lord of the helo deck.

Chipping rust and paint with pneumatics kicks a lot of dusts up. My arms and face were black, other than around my eyes that had been covered by my sunglasses (thanks T!). My white undershirt was red/black from the v shaped opening in my boiler suit, and my boiler suit itself was just an interesting shade of blue/brown. The collar on my undershirt just came out of the laundry, and is still stained rust red, so I snapped a pic.

After I got to quit for the day, I took a COLD shower, and sacked out HARD.

I woke up for dinner, which was a mistake.

I got my haircut after dinner, and then checked my email, and decided to resend the one that I sent to mom. Then I looked at the stars until it was time for me to go to bed. It's a bit late, and I need my sleep for another day of maintenance. I hope the new logo on the deck will be Pat the Patriot! They put Flying Elvis on there two years ago.

Total shooting stars seen: 12

Day17:

Date:
Wednesday, 1/25/17

Time Written:
20:33

Location:
Moving at light speed toward Barbados (kidding, only doing like 12kts but that's way faster than our crawl to Aruba)

Pretty easy day today, deck maintenance was helping out Sherie Ridley, who is the master hold keeper for the ship. Basically we went around to all of the officer's rooms, helped empty the trash, change the sheets, and replace the toilet paper. I learned that she runs the show on the ship. The place would be absolute chaos without Sherie. This is her 23rd cruise with MMA. She was thankful for the help, and let us knock off an hour early in the morning, and two hours early in the afternoon.

Lunch was ok, just ok. B- lasagna, and hotdogs that I made into chili dogs.

Dinner was nothing to call home about.

Not really an eventful day today, so I won't talk a whole lot about nothing.

The seas have been wonderfully calm, and the ship isn't rolling at all. Pretty nice to me, but a smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.

Can't wait to get to Barbados, already have plans for the whole weekend, so I'll give y'all the after action report, so we can all evaluate the damage together. The one thing that I will say is that I need to jump off a cliff. There are a lot of places to do that in Barbados, I'll do my best to get a video for the folks back home.

That's all for now, can't wait to get back on the beach.

Day18:

Date:
Thursday, 1/26/17

Time Written:
21:18

Location:
Just passed St. Vincent & St. Lucia a few hours ago, super close to Barbados.

Can't wait to get to Barbados. Nothing much happened today, we had our midterm exams for seaterm, which for me was the Deck test, and it was super easy. That was all we had today, so after that I got some good sun in.

We had Captain's inspections tonight, and then the pre port briefing, which was all the warnings and stuff for Barbados. Should be a great time.

I already have some awesome memories from Aruba, and I'm hoping to make my three days in Barbados Legendary. The whole point of these ports is to have a good time and I'm looking forward to making the most of it.

Not much to right about again, waters are still calm, boat's still not rocking. Sacking out early tonite, to get plenty of rest for a long three days in Barbados.

Day 19, 20, 21

Date:
Friday-Sunday 1/27-29/30

Time Written:
23:45

Location:
Tied up in Barbados

Man, what a weekend, what an island, and what a good time. Barbados was an absolute blast, so glad my three days of liberty were here. Not to mention that everything was way less expensive in Barbados than Aruba.

On the first day, we set out from the ship looking for a beach, at first we thought we wanted to go to crane beach, which is about a 45 minute cab ride from the ship, but when the cab drivers wanted 20 bucks a head to get there, we soon realized that what we wanted would be much closer to the ship. So we took a cab for cheap to a nearby beach on Carlisle Bay, right near a place called The Boatyard. We sat on the beach, and had a pretty good amount of beer.

After a while, a guy came up to us and asked if we wanted to do a small snorkel trip, and get to dive a shipwreck. Having already done that in Aruba, I was all down for it, not to mention it was less than half the price. Also, there was no bar at all, which I knew was the better choice for me after my Sunday in Aruba. So we went on the boat and had a great time. I got to dive my second shipwreck of the trip, and the boat was two stories, so we got to dive off the upper deck! Nothing beats doing flips off the top rope.

Once we got back ashore, we decided to go back to the ship and get changed and showered to go out for the night life. Everyone in my group from earlier in the day didn't want to go back out, so I met up with a new group, and set out to hit the town hard. We started out by going to dinner at this fancy-ish restaurant called Brown Sugar, which wasn't all that good.

The night really began once we got in out next cab, and it wasn't the destination that made it interesting, it was the cab itself.

We walked out of brown sugar, and immediately saw a cab van approaching down the side street that we were on. But this was no ordinary cab. When the pulled up, a guy manning the sliding door whipped said door open and the five of us were nearly knocked clean off our feet by the blasting Reggae music. He asked us where to, and we told him we were headed to the St. Lawrence Gap, a nice street with several clubs and bars. He told us to get in, and that it would only cost $2 US. We got in and immediately realized that this cab was nearly at capacity, which was only about 9 people. They had several customers on board, and were shuttling them all over Bridgetown. Once we got in, driver included, there were 10 people in the van: driver, doorman, and eight passengers.

This van is slightly smaller than an American minivan.

We then proceeded to take off like a rocket on steroids toward the end of the side street, where we promptly stopped on a dime. The door whipped open, and three more locals got it, agreed on a destination and squeezed in in between and next to us.

People in van: 13

We zoomed around the corner and onto the main road, where we nearly jackknifed a much smaller car, but our driver was quick in the mind, like the mighty viper. Her took off bobbing and weaving through traffic like the night bus in Harry Potter. Somewhere up the road he slammed on the breaks again, at the corner of another side street, where we took on five more passengers, 4 of whom made seats in between already squished people, and the wall, the other without asking sat right down on some lady's lap, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

Body count in van: 18

We then whipped out into traffic and proceeded along the highway threw the danger zone, before abruptly stopping again, and taking on 3 more people, 1 who squeezed into the passenger seat with the driver and two other passengers. The other two stood in the doorway with the doorman, one was a lady with child, who promptly placed her infant into another seated passenger's hands, simply because she didn't feel like holding the baby. The man had no protest, and honestly barely reacted other than moving his arms to accommodate the swaddling package.

Sardines in can: 21

Again our trusty steed of a van charged back into the stream of cars and vans, and took off like Burt Reynolds in Smokey and the Bandit. I had been aware of the people situation in this van, but I was really eyeing it now, because the van was carrying a pretty heavy port list. This problem never phased our talented Bajen Grand Prix champion of a driver, who didn't let this hinder his mastery of a late nineties manual. He was one with his machine. We stopped one more time to take on two more people, who found seats on the laps of people in the second to back row.

Monkeys in a Rum barrel: 23

That was the most we would have in the van at one time, we lost 6 at some really sketchy looking club (including the mother and child). And then took on 4 more a short while down the road before being dropped off at the Gap.

The gap was a good time all in all, cheap beer, great music and dancing, not too many crazy stories to speak of, just a really good time. There was a free shuttle that the ship bought, that brought us back to the ship for free, which was nice.

That cab ride to the Gap was one of my top 5 best experiences in an automobile. I even got a video when we were at max capacity, but it's hard to tell exactly how many people are in the van.

Made it back to the ship safely, ate some food and took a long long sleep, to prepare for a good Saturday.

We got lib starting relatively early on Saturday, so we set out to go on a tour of the Mount Gay Rum visitor's center. The place was right across from where we parked the ship, so it was easy to find. We were the first ones in line to buy tickets for the tour, on which we got lots and lots of excellent rum. Mount Gay is the oldest registered commercial rummery in the world. It has and English charter for business that has a signing date of 1703. Hilariously enough, the original founder of the distillery's name is John Sober, but the man who is crediting with perfecting what we now know as rum, was Sober's best friend, Sir John Gay, who ran the plant in Sober's stead for several years. Gay died, and due to his contributions to the rum, Sober named the brand in Gay's honor.

After the rum tour, we found a cab for $30 US total to get 5 of us out to Crane Beach. Let me just get this on record, Crane Beach is the second most naturally beautiful place that I have ever been in my entire life (#1 is the Wachau Valley in Austria). The waves were huge, the sand was soft and beautiful, and the cliffs and rocks were incredible. There was one cliff to jump off of where we were, so we did that several times. I even got my first jump on video. Beer was cheap there too, added bonus!

After a long long day of beaching boozing, body surfing, and diving off of a cliff, we were all tired, and settled on $35 for a cab back to the ship, where we stayed, and slept, and slept some more.

Sunday was a blast, there was so much to do and see in Barbados as opposed to Aruba. We took a short and cheap cab to The Boatyard, which was right next to the beach we were on on Friday. The Boatyard was an excellent deal if you planned on spending the whole day there.

I spent 25 bucks for all inclusive entry, which included a $20 drink credit, and full access to the high dive rope swing, ice burg climb, and several water trampolines. The place was a blast, lots of jumping in the water, tons of friends from maritime there, and cheap food and beer. I had a flying fish sandwich there, and it was unbelievably good. The flying fish is a Bajen specialty. After we had called it a day at the Boatyard, we did a small self tour around down town Bridgetown, before catching the shuttle back to the ship.

All in all, Barbados was better than Aruba. There was so much more to do, and everything seemed so much more local and natural, unlike Aruba, which seemed slightly tainted by tourism, not to say Aruba wasn't great though, because it was still a blast. Back to work for this week, next stop is St. Thomas!


Day 22:

Date:
Monday, 1/30/17

Time Written:
20:34

Location:
Headed very slowly north by northwest, steaming for the Virgin Islands!

So glad to finally be on the engine side of seaterm. Today we started our training cycle, more or less, classes and labs that teach us and train us about our major.

We had a lab today on basic fabrication, and aluminum work. We cut, tapped, and screwed together a picture frame. I went the extra mile to file mine down to make sure it had nicely rounded edges, and that it came out neatly. One of my instructors told me that I had made the best one that he had seen so far. And mom, if you're reading this, the frame is somewhere in the house, you'll have to find it for yourself, I hope you like it.

I'm glad that we got some practical handy work in, because I think that fabrication is the #1 thing that I want to take away from this major, even more than a huge paycheck. I'm really Excited to see what tomorrow's lab has in store. Fab work usually takes a while to get good at, but I'm pretty mechanically inclined, so I have been picking things up pretty easily. It's hard work too, but at the same time it is fun. I always keep one of Dad's favorite quotes in my head when I doing hand work. I don't know the exact wording, but it's something like work hard and do a good job, so that you can always be proud of your work.

Guy next to me is snoring again, so I'm going to put in some earplugs and hit the hay.

Day 23:

Date:
Tuesday, 1/31/17

Time Written:
22:55

Location:
Still creeping toward St. Thomas.

I fell out of bed this morning, but I think that was the only lowlight of the day. While still mostly asleep, I landed more or less on my feet, which pretty much broke my fall, so I walked away without a scratch.

We had another engineering lab today, all about pipework. In the morning we learned how to cut, ream, die and fit steel piping. Most of that I happened to already know from working in the cemetery, but it was nice to both practice and show off my skills.

Lunch was pretty good, pulled chicken.

In the afternoon we first learned how to cut fit and solder copper piping, which I had never done before, and enjoyed learning. Added bonus was that I got to use a blowtorch! After we mastered the copper, we leaned how to fit and cement PVC piping, which again I didn't know how to do.

Lots of valuable skills learned today, and looking foreword to engine classes tomorrow.

I don't want to talk about dinner.

Going to sign off, other than labs there wasn't much to report on.

Day 24:

Date:
Wednesday, 2/1/17

Time Written:
23:30

Location:
Still headed very slowly to St. Thomas, this slow speed BS is really taking its toll on everybody's mental health.

Today was a good day, three in a row, I'm on a good day hot streak!

Classes today for engineering. In the morning we had a class on basic dimensional analysis for engineering, which was pretty easy. After that we had a class on some of the basic systems on the ship, the oily water separator (OWS) and the marine sanitation device (MSD). After that class, we had a quick walk through in the machine space, so we could actually see the equipment.

For our afternoon class we had a really in depth review of the main steam cycle, and some of the auxiliary systems. Chief Jones gave the lecture, and he is THE MAN.

Lunch wasn't great, dinner was roast beef, not too good not too bad.

Scullery tomorrow at 06:00, so I'm going to call it a night and go to bed, it's already pretty late.

Day 25:

Date:
Thursday, 2/2/17

Time Written:
21:08

Location:
Still on our way to St. Thomas, I think. Moving so slowly that it's hard to tell that the ship is moving at all.

Had scullery today, nothing much to talk about, not too good not too bad. Just have to get over it. Big upside is that by this time tomorrow I'll be checking out the night scene in St. Thomas!

Going to sign off, it's been a long, long day.

Day 26, 27, 28:

Date:
Friday- Saturday 2/3-5/17


Time Written:
02:30

Location:
Docked in Beautiful St. Thomas, USVI

HOLY SHIT WE WON, OH MY GOD WE WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GO PATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I LOVE YOU TOMMY TOUCHDOWN!!!!

St. Thomas has been incredible! It is the most beautiful, and least expensive port that we have been to, so it's a total win/win.

We got off of the ship after having our passports checked, at about 1145, and we hit the first bar in sight. To our surprise, the second we got off the gangway there was a bar in sight! It was about 400 yards down the road. So we led a mighty charge of 8 cadets right up to the bar and saw a sign for $2 miller lights all day every day.

It was at this moment that I knew the patriots would win the Super Bowl.

I threw down $10, slammed one back and took 4 for the road. We were headed for the beach.

We took a cheap cab to Coki beach, which was beautiful. Once we got out of the cab we stormed onto the beach like some sort of backwards marine corps. We rented out one beach chair so that we would have a bench to share, and so that we could put our bags down without getting them all sandy.

The water was crystal clear and beautiful, the bar was cheap, the food was tasty, and the fish swam right up to you while you were swimming. It was an island paradise and I wanted to be nowhere else in the whole world, until the bugs came...

The bug were bad, so we caught a cab to a section of the island named Red Hook. Red Hook is basically one Main Street with a bunch of awesome bars, stores and restaurants.

We basically just got some food to start at a taco joint (which was fantastic), and then went an all night epic bar crawl across the east end of St. Thomas.

We caught a decently cheap cab back to the ship and called it a night.

I didn't have lib on Saturday, so I had to serve a day of engine maintenance, which I ended up really enjoying.

In the morning I did a little painting in the engine room, which took up most of the morning.

Toward the end of the morning shift, 2nd Mate Gardiner came into the ship and asked us if we could make a table with curved legs for Chartwells, because they were throwing a party for Maritime grads who would be meeting the ship when we get to Ft. Lauderdale. He wanted curved legs, so he told us that he would carve up a template for the curve, and have it for us after lunch.

I asked Max Mayer (cadet 1st engineer, guy in charge of maintenance for the day) if I could help with the fab work for the table. And he said that he would love to have the help.

I asked, for two reasons, one so that I didn't get stuck on some bull crap job for the whole afternoon. Two, because I really like doing fab work, and wanted to learn more and more about it.

When we got back from lunch, we had our template ready, so we started to cut up some pipe for the leg lengths. Once we had three good length legs, we started to bend. Using the hydraulic bender I spent almost a half hour and had almost finished the first leg, when mate Gardiner came back into the shop. He said that the Chartwells people ad changed their minds, and wanted a straight legged table. After about two seconds of pure rage, my anger was soothed when Max said that I was now going to have to learn how to weld.

Keeping with the theme of the week: learning how to do new stuff in the world of fabrication and pipefitting, I got really really excited to learn how to weld.

Let me just get this out there, welding is HARD. But it didn't take me that long to get the hang of it, and by the time I was welding the last mount, I was actually pretty dang good at it. Max said that welding skill only comes with practice, so hopefully on my actual maintenance cycle, I'll get to do more fab work. (I think my chances are good, because I've made my name known to some good upper class, and they know I really want to learn fab work)

Nothing really to report on for the rest of the day, got in touch with almost all of the family, and had some good chats.

I woke up on Super Bowl Sunday extra early, and got a big breakfast. Today I would be going on my excursion that Karoline had bought for me!

The excursion was a great time, lots of nature, and lots of natural beauty.

We kayaked through a mangrove lagoon, which was cool. Eventually we arrived at and island known in the area as Happy Island. It was cool to walk around and see the rocks, trees and even the literal millions of hermit crabs. On one end of the island is a natural blowhole. It is a tunnel in the rock that has been formed over thousands of years, and now when a wave come in an hits the rock, water comes shooting out of the end of the tunnel.

After that we returned the kayaks, and got back to the ship.

After I had showered and changed, it was about 1330, and it was time to hit the beach with my friends. I caught a cab and met up with them at Sapphire beach, which might even be close to Crane beach in terms of beauty.

We hung out there for a couple hours, swimming, tanning, drinking and playing shuffleboard.

When it got a little later we decided to grab a taxi and head over to Red Hook, where I had been on Friday. We sat on some ocean front patio next to a convenience store with cheap beer. We plotted out the rest of our evening from there, with special care payed to where we would be watching the first quarter of the Pats game.

After about an hour and a half and three six packs later, we were ready to head over to the Dog House, a bar near the ship where we would be able to watch the game.

We got there, and posted up with about a half hour until game time. We ordered a round of beers and got some food, and dug in for an epic battle. At about 8:30, the falcons scored early on in the second quarter, so we decided to wrap things up and grab a seat on the ship.

I was able to get front and center seats on the helo deck, and it was there that I witnessed the greatest comeback of all time. I won't recap the game, because you already know how that went, but I will add that the Spanish language broadcast was
E-L-E-C-T-R-I-C. Can't wait to watch the English version at home and hear Joe Buck inevitably eat his words.

The whole ship went absolutely nuts, it was insanity. We were all still pretty drunk, and we just couldn't believe what we saw. It was truly unreal.

Also, Roger Goodell sucks.

Calling it a night, I have a fat day off tomorrow, and it is well needed. Going to get all the sleep in the world.

Day 29:

Date:
Monday, 2/6/17

Time Written:
20:37

Location:
Steaming north for Ft. Lauderdale

Today we said good bye to St. Thomas Brady, which was sad. I now have a special connection with the island, we shared the experience of watching the greatest football game ever played. But all good things must come to an end, and we are now underway again.

Today was a day off for me, which means I did absolutely nothing. Except sleep, lots of sleep. I missed lunch, but dinner was pretty good.

Really nothing to report on today. Ship is steaming pretty fast up to Lauderdale, which is a nice change of pace (get it?!).

I played a game of monopoly later in the evening, and left the table early after a string of bad investments.
I have inside cleaning tomorrow, all day. So that's gonna suck.

Going to sign off now, go to bed early, wake up refreshed. See y'all soon though, only 13 days left I think!

Day 30:

Date:
Tuesday, 2/7/17

Time Written:
20:14

Location:
Passing the Dominican Republic, steaming north for Ft. Lauderdale.

Today wasn't that bad. I had inside cleaning from 0800 until about 1400, which was nice because we got off about 2 hours early. The cleaning itself stunk, but getting out early made it a bit bearable.

Nothing much else happened other than that, I read for a while, and learned a few new riddles.

Going to quit for sleep now, engine watch starts for me at 0315 in the morning, so I'm out.
 

limpalong

Mental Ward Escapee
Supporting Member
Oct 18, 2006
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And they keep telling me my posts are long!!!!????? Good readin' there, :Spunge!!!!
 

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