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Captain's Log
07/12/2004
CAPTAIN’S LOG
Sunday dawned gorgeous in the central
Pacific as today’s accompanying picture log illustrates.
Nothing but a few wisps of high cirrus clouds with moderately
developed cumulus with bases about 800 feet on a smooth sea,
light airs of wind and unlimited visibility. It doesn’t get
any better at sea than this.
During the last two days, we have
experienced exceptional weather; indeed, since even before we
arrived back at Midway. Let’s just keep our hopes up for fine
stable weather as we continue into the hurricane season in the
northern hemisphere of the Pacific Ocean through the rest of
this month and August.
I slowed the ship down last night to
one-engine operation (70 shaft RPM) now that we have caught up
on the speed required to get there. The slower speed causes
the ship to reduce her movement in the seaway, which, in turn,
adds a somnolent feeling to the time going by. While somewhat
tedious, the days are passing quickly as the routine of watch,
meals and training continue interspersed with a few time
changes of retarding clocks at night. Although we are somewhat
near the great circle course track between the Philippine
Islands and Hawaii, we have only seen two other vessels since
leaving Midway. Otherwise, nothing but a whole lot of water
passing by. I don’t think that most non-seafaring folks get a
chance to appreciate just how vast the oceans really are.
When training and work schedules permit,
we try and give as many students and staff time off during
Sundays at sea as we can. It’s good just to relax a little:
lay in the sun and recreationally read when you can. It is so
hard to carve out time for this sort of thing normally because
of our busy and hectic schedules. One of the nicest things
about being at sea is the opportunity to read – which, as most
of you know, is so hard to do when we’re home.
I take the opportunity on Sundays to walk
the ship with the Chief Engineer and Professional Development
Officer and conduct safety and sanitary inspections throughout
the ship. It is easier to do when the interior parts of the
vessel are somewhat quiet without the normal hubbub of folks
hurrying about during normal work days. It also gives me the
opportunity to informally visit with the crew as I pass by the
various parts of the ship.
Being Sunday, the fishing sign goes up on
the fantail and many students trail fishing lines in the wake
of the ship. Now that we have slowed down some (still too fast
for good trolling really), we may have a chance to catch some
fresh fish. Because of the relaxed schedule on this particular
Sunday (most Sundays from here out will be both work and
training days in order to complete the program), students
relaxed out on steel beach (fantail) and enjoyed the marvelous
weather. We capped those activities later in the afternoon
with another fine BBQ out on the open deck put on by our food
service department. This time, we enjoyed barbequed chicken
and pork ribs along with beans, coleslaw and corn-on-the-cob.
That was topped off with blue “bug juice” (aka punch) and
brownies. Of course any old-time serviceman will tell you that
genuine “bug juice” was something altogether different from
punch, but, for us, it is a nickname that has been borrowed
for otherwise non-descript artificially “flavored” juice of
one kind or another. During this outdoor dinner, the students
were allowed to don their casual wear and play music over the
portable PA system we set up aft. Well, tomorrow its’ back to
the grind.
Captain
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