I’m writing from the John F. Germany Public Library in Tampa with 2/C Balcunas, checking e-mail and other various Internet items. It’s cold here today (54 degrees Fahrenheit) so it’s a good day to do indoor things. Tampa has been a pretty mellow port for me so far. Sunday my grandfather and partner came up from Fort Myers and we spent a few hours together, touring Tampa and going out to lunch, which was really great.
As I’m writing this, we’re passing Cape Hatteras, and the ship is definitely pitching and rolling! We’re expecting 9-12 foot seas and winds steady at 35kts with gusts up to 45kts. I have watch 0000-0400/1200-1600 Wednesday and Thursday, so I’ll be on the helm as we move south of Hatteras tonight, which I’m pretty excited about. There have been a number of people getting sick, which is a bummer, but completely expected.
I thought I should make a quick info post with a few things I’ve thought of. First off, I will be using SPOT throughout the voyage to provide people back home with position updates in real-time. However, I do not have a place to put it on the ship that would allow it to be operational 24/7, so I’ll have to go out on deck and periodically allow it to update.
As I’m writing this we’re headed due south out of New York Harbor, passing Barnegat Inlet. We’re making about 15 knots, and the seas are relatively calm. I’m laying in my rack, being gently rocked by the ocean, which is an awesome sleep inducer. However, I’m determined to make a blog post and fire off a few e-mails before falling asleep. Today marked the first day of rotations on cruise. There are four rotations, which allows each division to be on a different rotation at any given time.
I’m in my rack, about to get up to get dressed for watch. I have watch 0800-1200/2000-0000 today, so I’ll be on the bridge while we’re leaving the pier and heading out to sea! I’m pretty excited about it, but a little nervous since I’ll be the first sophomore handling the underway log books this cruise. I’ll be turning on the SPOT when I get out on deck, so you can follow us using one of the 5 SPOT pages listed in the SPOT box on the right.
It’s Thursday night, and we’ve only got two full days left in Buzzards Bay before casting off lines and heading south. We’re doing very well in preparations for departure, with only a couple of major things left on the to-do list. On-load was finished today, with the arrival of 200 gallons of milk. We’re now fully stocked and ready to feed 600 people fully for the next 49 days. Tomorrow is our Coast Guard-monitored fire/emergency and abandon ship drills.
I’m laying in my rack as I write this, after a long, exhausting day. I got lucky with my rack assignment, and am at the end of one of the upper holds, in an area with a lot of space in the aisle (a very rare commodity on board), and I’m on the bottom. As a result, I’ll have plenty of space to get dressed in the morning, nobody will be walking through my area to get to their rack, and it should be a little quieter.
We’re now officially less than 12 hours away from the start of Sea Term 2009. At this time tomorrow morning, the freshmen will be checking in and starting their first briefing of Sea Term in Admirals Hall. A few hours after that, the ship will be alive with cadets moving in and starting the immense on-load process that will last all week. I’ll be posting photos and videos of this process throughout the coming week, so stay tuned!
I’m writing this during a quick break I’m taking from packing my bags. I’ll be leaving my house early in the morning (0630) to drive from Annapolis, MD up to Buzzards Bay, picking my car up in Connecticut. I’ll stay with my grandfather tomorrow night, and then Monday morning I will join the 500 other cadets in checking in and moving on to the ship, to begin Sea Term 2009.
I’ve been hearing concerns about how to sign up for SeaWave, mainly regarding credit cards. In order to sign up for SeaWave, you do need a credit card so that usage can be billed. This information is necessary during registration to complete the process. If your cadet will be using the credit card of a parent and needs the information for the card, it will need to be provided to them so they can sign up.
