MMA Sea Term 2008

Yesterday was my last day of engine training. We learned about various measuring tools, and about basic electrical wiring by building an extension cord. We learned more about electricity in class yesterday afternoon, as well as about various instrumentation. On Tuesday my group was in lab the entire day, working with black iron pipe and making a picture frame out of aluminum stock. The picture frame was my favorite lab because we got to work with so many different tools and have a useable finished product. Today we’re coming into Golfito, where we’ll be through Sunday. Apparently the port is so small that the pilot is only going to need to be on board for about 15 minutes, and we won’t be using any tugs to dock at the pier! Division 1 has watch the first day in port again, so I’ll be on board tomorrow. I’ve realized that being on watch the first day is actually the best day to have it, because everyone else can go out and scope out the port and report back, which saves you a lot of time. That worked out nicely for me in Panama. I’ll post more once I find out information about Golfito. Buenos dias!

Yesterday was my first day of Engine training. My group spent the morning in the classroom reviewing boiler operations and the systems within the engine room that we need to know for our exam on Febrary 4th. In the afternoon, we were doing labs. We have a list of activities we need to complete during Engine training that are spread out over the three days. Yesterday my group learned how to sweat copper pipe, join lengths of soft copper pipe using flaring and compression fittings, and join PVC pipe using various fittings. One of the projects we’ll do is to build a metal picture frame, which we take home with us. So far Engine training has been pretty fun! We’re currently steaming towards Costa Rica. It’s a three day trip between Panama and Costa Rica, so we’ll have liberty again on Thursday. Everyone’s pretty excited that we have two ports of call so close together, after having gotten a taste of what being in port is like! That’s all for now, I have to go to morning formation, and then head off to another day of Engine training.

Yesterday was our last day in port in Panama, and what a time it was! The past four days have been incredible. The weather alone has been a nice treat, and we’ve had tons of fun in and around Panama City. I spent a lot of time in a part of town known as the “Causeway”, a more upscale peninsula a few miles long lined with shops and restaurants, and many Maritime cadets. The street is lined with brick sidewalks and palm trees, and there are marinas on both sides filled with beautiful boats and yachts. Everywhere you go you can hear lively music and parties. It was definitely one of the more popular parts of town with the cadets! The highlight of my time in port was meeting up with the Panamanian Maritime Academy cadet who was in my company during Orientation. We happened to come back to the ship in the early afternoon and found him waiting outside the gate to the pier! We spent the rest of the afternoon with him, which was wicked cool since we hadn’t seen him since the end of August. On an unrelated note, I received an e-mail through this site a few days ago from a girl named Amanda that read as follows: “Hey! I hope your’re enjoying all your time at sea! I was there the day the boat left…and I was wishing I was on it soooo bad! I’m only a freshman in high school and I have decided to devote my next three and a half years to getting into MMA! I want to get in sooo bad… well hope the rest of the trip goes well.” I thought it was a cool testament to the affect Sea Term has on people both on the ship and off. I have training the next three days. I believe I’ll be doing engineer training, so I’ll update on that experience later today.

It’s about 2315 as I’m writing this, and we’re currently passing through the part of the Panama Canal known as “The Cut” - the man-made portion after the Gatun Lake. We finished going through the Gatun locks around 2100 and have been steaming along ever since. We couldn’t have asked for better weather! The temperature and humidity are perfect, there isn’t a cloud in the sky so the stars are amazing and the moon is almost full, and there’s no wind. All you hear is the sound of the water gently lapping against the hull as we cruise along at 5 knots, and the quiet conversations of people amazed at what they’re seeing and experiencing. I’ve been on the bow with Chief Mate Taddia and a few fellow cadets talking about the canal, and listening to the radio traffic between the pilots. This is absolutely incredible! Words cannot do this journey justice. I’ll post more about it after we arrive in port.

We spent today anchored in the waiting area right outside the entrance to the canal. We’ve been in the company of about 30 ships of all shapes and sizes, from ROROs to small sailboats. I was mistaken in my post yesterday regarding the schedule for going through the canal. We are weighing anchor between 1630 and 1700. We are expected to get through the first three locks by about 1900. We should exit the canal into the Pacific around 0130 on Thursday, and be fully docked by about 0300. I received an e-mail from a parent today wondering about the schedule so she could record our passage through the Gluton locks, so it should be between 1630 and 1900.

This afternoon we arrived at the Panama Canal. We have to wait until tomorrow night to go through, so we’re going to be hovering outside until then. We’re doing anchoring and turning drills right now, so even though we’ve arrived at our destination, the ship is still moving. Tomorrow maintenance should be easier since the ship won’t be rolling as much. I’m planning on being out on deck as much as possible while we’re going through the canal, so I can take it all in-and get tons of pictures!

Today we have Sunday at Sea, when we get some well-earned R&R. There are no musters, except for the divisions on watch and maintenance. Watch division continues on its regular schedule, and maintenance division has maintenance in the morning and the rest of the day off. Lunch and dinner are both cook-outs on the helo deck, where you’ll find hundreds of cadets covering almost every part of the helo deck and the boat deck above it. Many people are tanning, others are fishing, some are just hanging out and talking. The speakers are set up at the forward end of the helo deck, and Jimmy Buffett is playing continuously. It’s a big party, and a nice change from the day-to-day aboard the Enterprise. Tomorrow it’s back to work, with Division 1 on maintenance through Wednesday. Tuesday night we’re supposed to reach the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal, where we’ll wait until our allotted time to go through. I’m really excited about going through it!

Today we’ve had much larger waves than the past few days. The ship has done quite a bit of rolling, and we’re starting to understand much better why the tables in the mess deck have slide guards on the edges! I’ve been in MSEP training since Thursday, and today was the last day. The chairs and stools in the classrooms are not fixed to the deck in any way, so when the ship rolled we all went sliding to one side or the other. There were a few times when everyone in the room ended up sliding against the bulkhead in a big pile of chairs and people! Tomorrow is Sunday at Sea, and First Division has a half day of maintenance in the morning. We’re the maintenance division Monday through Wednesday as well, so we’ll see what’s in store for us. Tomorrow, however, we’re just going to relax.

Today was the first day of the new division rotation. On board the ship, each division has a general duty assignment that changes every three days.. On any given day there’s a division on watch, a division on maintenance, a division in training (license), and an alternate division, which right now means we’re doing the training for non-license majors. Division I is currently the alternate division, and my group within the division is doing MSEP training. Today we got an introduction into what MSEP (Marine Safety & Environmental Protection) is, the curriculum, and the kinds of jobs you can get from it. We learned about how to test for various pollutants and conditions in air and water supplies, and about how waste management is done on board the ship. The weather is absolutely amazing now. It’s a nice change for the temperature to be warmer outside than it is inside! Today around noon we passed just east (about 15 nm) of San Salvador. We’re actually making such good progress that we’ve slowed down because we’re ahead of schedule! If you haven’t already, be sure to take a look at the guest post tonight from a classmate of mine. I’m headed back out on deck to enjoy the awesome weather and view of the night sky.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I’ll be periodically publishing the thoughts and comments of fellow cadets on board. Tonight 4/C Buckley of 3rd Division is featured. “It’s Thursday January 17th 2008, and I just completed my first day of Engineering lab classes. We first went down to the tank top level of the stern of our Ship, which is where the Engineering Lab is. I happened to be in Group A, lucky for me. We had class up until lunch. Our classes included a very in-depth look at the Ship’s boiler, like how the fuel runs into boiler to heat the water, it circulates it up as steam into the Dry Pipe where it gets superheated and pushed throughout the main steam cyle of the USTS Enterprise. Next after a quick fifteen minute break the class got together for our last class before lunch and for the day as well. It was a review of the four different cycles throughout the engine room we will have to know for our enginneering test at the end of Sea Term. The first we went over was the lube oil system. It was a complex system that runs lube oil all over the running parts of our engine to keep it from causing friction. Next he reviewed the main steam cycle which we had to know by heart for all of orientation, so this was an easy one for us. Next we review the fuel oil system which carries the fuel to the boiler to ignite and heat the water in the system. There are fourth classmen outside both boilers watching the fire at all times. Last was the Main Circ system, which confused me greatly but we will have time to trace it out with Seniors while we are in the engine room. After grabbing lunch and a quick nap, we headed back down the Lab space to complete two labs. The first was to create an extension cord and see when we plugged it in if it worked, if not we had to go back and rewire it. After that lab we then went to another group of seniors teaching us the different types of measuring tools we’d use if we became engineers. After some explantion we had a quick exercise of practicing our knowledge. After finishing this we ended for the day, cleaned up the area, and left. Thanks to Conover for letting me write this and love ya mom.” Thank you Buckley for adding your comments. I’ll try to add a different cadet’s thoughts each week.