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.
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.
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.
I received a Skribit suggestion that I talk about cadets bringing laptops on cruise. Not only can cadets bring their laptops, but I would highly encourage it. In the evenings on cruise we have plenty of down time, and having a laptop provides plenty of entertainment opportunities. Almost everyone brings DVDs as well as movies stored on their computers directly, so having a computer on board allows you to watch all the movies available (Note: Chartwells also rents movies to cadets very cheaply and they have a large selection).
One of the biggest issues on cruise last year was communications. While we’re at sea, we have very limited contact with the rest of the world. We have an e-mail system that connects a few times a day to send and receive e-mails held in the queue, called SeaWave. And that’s it. No Internet, no phone. Just a delayed e-mail system. It may sound like a problem, but in reality it’s all we really need.
It’s about 1915 and we’re currently in the Panama Canal, moored in the area between the Miraflores and San Miguel locks. We went through the Miraflores locks around 1100 this morning, and fixed mooring lines around 1230, where we’ve been since. We should be getting under way again very soon (within the next 30-60 minutes) on our way back to the Atlantic. We’ve been watching Panamax ships going through the canal all day, from container ships to oil tankers.
I have set up my SeaWave e-mail account on board the Enterprise, and thought I would test it to make sure I was able to post blog entries with it. It also seemed like a logical time to post a few of the key points that we’ve been continuously reminded of over the past few weeks regarding e-mail. The e-mail system charges by how much data the e-mail account sends AND receives.
