I have changed my mind on how I plan to continue the blog. I am going to make my main blog (www.christiaanconover.com) my maritime blog, and keep this site as a historical record of Sea Term. If you’re currently subscribed to this site’s feed and would like to follow the new blog, please visit this page. Sorry for the inconvenience.
With such an overwhelmingly positive response I received from my blog about Sea Term, I have decided to continue it, and use it as a medium to discuss cadet life at MMA. I’ll begin this once the spring semester starts next week. I’ll also be changing the blog title to reflect this. Please feel free to voice your thoughts about this plan.
We’re currently about 150 miles from Buzzards Bay, cruising north towards Cape Cod Bay. With about 18 hours until we anchor, everyone’s pretty pumped. The last day of the rotations is over, so tomorrow we just have to take our exams and we’re done! Once we reach Cape Cod Bay we’ll have cell phone service, so I’m sure that most people will be on deck when they have free time making phone calls. The weather’s nasty right now; it’s been raining all day. We’ve been told that we’re supposed to hit a storm tonight, which is exciting. I hope we do so that we can at least experience one this cruise. That’s all for now, next time I post I’ll be reporting from Cape Cod Bay!
We’re currently about 200 miles off Cape Hatteras, racing along to Cape Cod. This morning was the first time in nearly 6 weeks that we were a little chilly at morning formation, a refreshing reminder of just how close to home we’re getting. The conditions have been a little rough the past couple of days, but everyone’s already adjusted so nobody’s seeming to notice. When I talked to my dad in port he mentioned a scene in U-571 when the Marine officers are in the officer’s mess on the submarine watching the submariners grab plates and cups as they go sliding without even thinking about it, and going about their business. At this point we’re starting to become that way, reacting to the effects of rougher seas almost naturally, and going about our business without giving it much thought. As much as I’m looking forward to some time at home, it’s certainly cool to watch the transformation in just these two months from total land lubbers to mariners. While we are by no means “experienced” sailors we are visibly improved from when we left in January. Tomorrow is my last day of deck training, and the end of the last rotation for Sea Term 2008! I have deck watch on Sunday as we are coming into Buzzards Bay, so for once I’m actually a little - dare I say - exicted about watch! I don’t have anything else tonight, right now I need to go get a haircut in preparation for our last inspection on Saturday.
We’re currently steaming along at about 17 knots due north on our way home. The weather’s still pretty warm, and the ship’s been doing quite a bit of rolling since we left Aruba yesterday. Today is my last day of maintenance for Sea Term 2008, and tomorrow starts the last rotation on cruise. I’ll be starting Deck training, which I’m looking forward to. I have a feeling that everyone will be having a little trouble focusing these last few days. Saturday will be the most difficult, since we’ll be anchored in Cape Cod Bay all day, but will also have our last set of exams. We still have a lot to do between now and then though, so we’ll be occupied with other things. There’s not much else to report right now, I’ll post again tomorrow. 5 days to go!
It’s our last night in Aruba, and it’s been an awesome port! Yesterday we went on a sailing and snorkeling tour with 4/C Buckley’s and Hindemith’s parents, which was fantastic! We saw tons of fish and and other sea life, and even a WWII-era German freighter, though part of me thought it might be superstitiously wrong to check out a sunken ship as somebody living on one. We’ve spent a lot of time at the pristine white sand beaches here, and today my group got jet skis, which was wicked fun! Since the water is so warm, it’s not a big deal to get completely soaked bouncing over waves and getting hit by the wind-whipped water. This has definitely been the best port for aquatic activities!
One of the other nice aspects of Aruba is that the ship terminals are right downtown. As soon as we walk out the gates (about a 2 minute walk from the ship) we’re right in the heart of Oranjestad. We don’t have to spend money on taxis to get to things to do, and if we decide to go to other parts of the island, the bus system here is reliable and cheap. For me, the fact that Aruba in general is more expensive than Panama and Costa Rica has been offset by the lack of transportation expense. I think that most people have found this to be the case, which was nice since some people are running low on money.
As much as we’ve had a blast on Sea Term, everyone is looking forward to getting home. Today marks the one week point from our arrival back in Buzzards Bay, so people are more excited than ever. There have been tons of discussions about seeing family & friends (particularly girlfriends!), using our own showers, and getting a good night’s sleep in a bed with more space than a coffin, and that doesn’t move! However, we still have a week, and tomorrow it’s back to business as usual which for me means maintenance.
I’m currently standing on the boat deck soaking up the warm air as we’ll only have a few more days of it. It’s going to be a little tough to go back to cold weather after being spoiled with over a month of warmth! Liberty expired at 2200 tonight for 4/C, and expires at 0000 tonight for 1/C. I’ve been watching the sporadic stream of cadets returning to the ship, tired after a good last day in port.
That’s all I have for today. A special thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Buckley and Hindemith - it was great to meet you, I had an awesome time with you guys! Hopefully I’ll see you back in Buzzards Bay. To my mom - can’t wait to see you in a week, and thanks for the Valentine’s message, that was an awesome surprise!
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I’m sitting on top of One Hold on board the Enterprise looking at to sea at the sun set over the water, enjoying the warm weather and the awesome breeze. The town is busy with tourists looking to have a good time on a Friday night, and the music from the clubs and restaurants downtown can be heard all the way back at the ship. Division 1 has watch today, so I’ve been on board doing maintenance. We’ve had the good fortune of having WiFi reception on the ship here, so we can use our down time on our watch day catching up with the rest of the world.
Aruba has so far appeared to be the best port so far in terms of beaches and activities. It’s definitely more expensive than Panama and Costa Rica, but I think it’s well worth it. I’ve been here before, so I’m enjoying getting to do and see some of the things I did a few years ago.
I’ll be posting pictures from this port over the next two days, so that you can see them before we get home. I am going back out tomorrow so I’ll be sure to snap tons of footage (photos and videos) to provide tomorrow evening. Also, if anybody reading this is a ham radio operator, I have my HT with me and am tuned to the repeater operated by P43W available through EchoLink, so feel free to jump on and hail me (my callsign is KB3MMY). That’s all for now, I’ll have much more to report tomorrow, I’m sure!
This morning we woke up to find the ship rolling and pitching again. We’ve been in seas similar to the ones we encountered off the coast of the Carolinas back in January, so a lot of people have been feeling a little sick. Today was the last day of non-license training for Division 1, so we were in the classrooms in the aft part of the ship all day. Naturally, it magnified the movement of the ship by quite a bit. Tonight we had pre-Captain’s inspections, in preparation for arrival in Aruba. We’re two days away at this point, and everyone’s pretty pumped to get off the ship again, and has been looking forward to this port in particular. It should be tons of fun, since there are so many things to do there. The general sentiment aboard, beyond excitement for Aruba, is wanting to go home. We have 11 days until we’re back in Buzzards Bay, and it’s starting to get to the cadets. There’s been plenty of discussion about who’s going to do what when we get home, and the things they miss the most. However, everyone’s still getting along well, and seem to still be enjoying themselves. That’s all I have to report for today. I’m going to go see what’s available in the mess deck.
Its about 1915 and were 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 weve been since. We should be getting under way again very soon (within the next 30-60 minutes) on our way back to the Atlantic. Weve been watching Panamax ships going through the canal all day, from container ships to oil tankers. Its been awesome to be in the canal during the day! Unfortunately, were transiting the rest of the canal at night again, but its still cool. SeaWave has been a little overloaded the past few days, and as a result were on SeaWave Hours. In an effort to reduce the number of messages being sent, SeaWave is only being made available 1300-1500 and 1800-2000. Hopefully it will return to normal, but we may be on a limited schedule through the rest of cruise. This is part of why I havent posted in a few days. Ill try to put up a post each night during the evening time slot. Right now Im going to head back up on deck to watch us go through the Panama Canal again. Ill post again when were back in the Atlantic.
Today was the shellbacking ritual, which was wicked cool! Unfortunately, the details are secret and exclusive to Shellbacks, so I can’t really go into them here. However, I can say that it was an awesome day! We are now steaming along to Panama, to go back through the canal and return to the Atlantic, and head to Aruba! Everyone’s really excited to get to Aruba, since it’s been the port most people have been looking forward to. I have watch again tonight 0000-0400 and tomorrow 1200-1600. I’ll check in again tomorrow afternoon.
