I’m writing this with less than 12 hours until we arrive at the State Pier, and prepare to disembark the T.S. Kennedy for the last time on Sea Term 2009. Captain’s Inspection is finished, and all that remains is packing personal gear, doing a final cleaning of the holds, and manning the rails. A general feeling of excitement, relief, and accomplishment is very noticeable throughout the ship.
Our current plan keeps us on track for arrival at the pier at 0743.
For the past couple of days we’ve been in rough weather which has kept the ship rolling and pitching almost constantly since Wednesday. This is the first legitimately rough weather we’ve had on cruise, so it’s been exciting.
The most interesting and hilarious part of rough seas aboard the Kennedy is being in the mess deck. when we take big rolls, people and food go flying in all directions - sliding across tables, crashing into each other, falling over with full trays of food in hand, etc.
This morning around 0900 we departed St. Thomas, turned north and started heading back to Massachusetts. My division is on the Alternate rotation today and tomorrow, though I’m not on the support bill today, which means that I was able to watch us leave St. Thomas. I then indulged in a morning nap, a first for me this cruise.
Now that our next port of call is the State Pier in Buzzards Bay, everyone is expressing the same sentiment: “Are we there yet?
Underway for St. Thomas; Re-Cap of the Past Week As I mentioned in my last post, my e-mail hasn’t been working for about a week, which is why I havent posted since we left Puerto Rico. As a result, Im going to cover the events of the past week since leaving San Juan. We spent the better part of last Tuesday taking bunkers at the pier in San Juan harbor, which was a little frustrating since we were still tied up with the gangway out, but unable to get off the ship.
I’m back on the blog, after a brief hiatus due to a mix-up with SeaWave and my e-mail not working. It’s back to normal now, so I’ll be picking up where I left off. Also, I apologize if anyone e-mailed me and it bounced back due to my e-mail being down. If that’s the case, please resend it.
Tomorrow is Sunday at Sea, so I’ll be writing a nice, long post to catch up on what’s happened since we left San Juan when I last posted.
Today was the last day in San Juan, PR for us. I went on the catamaran and snorkeling exursion arranged by the school today, which was wicked fun. It was a gorgeous day, with plenty of breeze and warm water. This evening we have an early curfew since we’ll be sailing tomorrow. Freshmen had to be back at 2100, sophomores at 2200, 1-bar seniors at 2300, and 2-bar & above at 2359.
We arrived in San Juan, Puerto Rico around 0830 this morning. After a couple of hiccups with the electronic check on/off system, everyone granted liberty was off the ship and out into port. The weather was perfect for a warm welcome into Puerto Rico.
We got lucky and had a last-minute berth re-assignment last night which put us at Pier 1 of the passenger terminal, right in the heart of the city!
Today was uneventful and routine. I had maintenance again, so I continued work on some of the IT projects I have going on right now. This evening my group worked some more on our voyage plan, which is coming along nicely. Other than that, not much happened.
The only notable event on board today was that we got ice cream in the mess deck. Though it might sound a little goofy to be news, ice cream is a big deal on cruise.
We got underway this morning around 0800 and headed back out to sea. I was on mooring stations on the stern, and we were definitely feeling the effects of the cold front that came through Tampa at that hour this morning! I had a hat, coat and gloves on and was still cold out on deck. It was pretty cool to watch the tug help maneuver us out of the harbor, since I hadn’t seen it help us coming in on account of finishing up the last few touches on our electronic wristband system for checking on and off the ship with less than an hour until needing it.
Our visit to Tampa is officially over. Liberty expired tonight at 2200 for sophomores, and 2100 for freshmen. It’s been chilly for Florida the past couple of days, with daytime temperatures in the 50’s, and last night the temperature was forecasted to get down to 29 degrees!
We’ll be casting off at 0800 tomorrow morning, heading back out to sea. I’m assigned to mooring stations on the stern, which is the first mooring stations I’ve had so far on cruise.
