MMA Sea Term 2008

Today we spent the day loading food onto the ship.  We need to load enough food for 590 people for our entire time at sea, so needless to sea it’s an immense and time-consuming task.  I was told by a fellow cadet that we loaded 134 palettes of food just today.  We will be continuing this task over the next couple of days.

I discovered the benefit of having watch between 0000 and 0800.  If you have watch during that time, you get to go back to bed after morning muster at 0745 and have no responsibilities until the afternoon muster at 1300.  I got to get another solid four hours of sleep this morning, which felt awesome.

There isn’t much very interesting happening on board this week, but I can already tell that this is going to be really cool.

Today has been a very busy day.  The morning started at around 7:00 when people started arriving in Harrington Hall to put their bags down and check in.  We had a meeting in Admirals’ Hall until about 10:00 reiterating the basic dos and don’ts of the ship.  We then broke off into our divisions, and headed over to the ship with our bags.  We unpacked throughout the course of the day between other activities, such as lunch, muster, and the evacuation drill we did this afternoon.

Unpacking was a true test of our ability to work together.  In a space large enough for two people to somewhat comfortably work, there were six people unpacking their bags and stowing their clothes and other items under their rack, making their rack, all while having to avoid stepping on each other’s things - or get stepped on by somebody above you making a top rack.

The Internet is still connected to the ship, so free e-mail is still available.  I’ll be posting pictures during the course of the week as long as we still have Internet onboard.  I’ve included a few pictures of my hold below:

Tomorrow we will do more drills, and will be loading the ship.  Right now, however, I’m going to go to sleep for the first night of many that I’ll be spending in my new matchbox rack.

This morning Captain Bushy notified us that we have changed the port we will be visiting in Costa Rica. We will now be at the port of Golfito, and will be at a dock instead of anchored off shore. This should make it much easier for us to go ashore and return to the ship. The schedule will remain the same, it will simply be a different location.

Today is the one month mark from departing Buzzards Bay for Sea Term 2008. In fact, as you may or may not have noticed, I’ve added a countdown on the right side of the page until we are scheduled to cast off from the pier, and head out to sea. It’s incredible to think that in a mere 30 days, we’ll be standing on the decks of the T.S. Enterprise, leaving for a once in a lifetime journey through the Caribbean and the Pacific!

However, there’s still a lot left to do before we can wave goodbye to our families. Academically, we are all getting ready for final exams next week, which for some may be the deciding factor as to whether or not they go on cruise. Vessel Familiarization has provided its share of challenges this week, with the Survival Exam in the classroom portion, and the knot tying and splicing qualifications in the lab portion. Last week we took the written part of the Vessel Fam lab examination, testing us on both our knowledge of the lifeboat commands, as well as basic knot tying and shipboard terminology. This week, you can find many cadets practicing knots and splicing during study hours, and helping shipmates who don’t know their knots that well.

Regimentally, we have to get ready to move out of the dorms and on to the ship for two months. The companies have to be cleaned to an Admirals’ inspection standard, and our rooms have to be completely empty by the time we leave next Friday. We’ve been encouraged to start taking things home so that we have less to worry about next week, which also benefits us now since it’s less to worry about for inspections!

The next week and a half are going to be incredibly busy - and somewhat stressful - for cadets. I am fortunate enough to only have a couple of exams next week, but I know that some of my shipmates are not so lucky. Good luck to all my shipmates next week - Hopefully we’ll all be on cruise in a month!

This morning at 0400 we were woken up Orientation-style for the Viking Bath, a rite of passage for freshmen. Everyone gets into PT gear, and after doing about 30 minutes of intense warm-up in the passageways, we all run down to Cadet Beach and jump into Buttermilk Bay! This is considered a “Recognition” for being able to go on Sea Term, so now we’ve earned our spot on the ship.

Right now it’s about 0615, and the adrenaline has worn off. I’m a little chilly at this point, but really not too bad overall. The water wasn’t nearly as cold as I expected (only 41 degrees). Best of all: we got inspections off as a result of doing it! I’m not sure if there were any pictures taken, but if there were I’ll be sure to post/link to them here. GO BUCS!!!

One of the things that I have been working on over the past couple of days is setting up posting via email. What this means is that I can send an email to a pre-specified email address that I’ve created, and the software this site uses will automatically turn that email into a post on the site. Since we will not have full Internet access at sea, but will have access to email, this is the only way I will be able to post updates. Now that this is working, I can post updates while in port and at sea!

Today the freshmen had a meeting with Capt. Rozak, Capt. Bushy and the other staff and cadet officers involved with Sea Term.  They addressed the key times we need to know, making sure we bring important documents like a passport and school ID, and the basic rules and regulations.  The medical staff talked about how to handle medication and injuries at sea.  We also got to talk about some of the details of the sweet trips and excursions we’ll be able to take while in port, such as white water rafting in Costa Rica and canopy tours of the rain forest.

As of today we have about 5 weeks left until we ship out, so there’s a lot to do in that time.  Beyond finishing up our first semester and taking final exams, we have to clean the dorms to an Admirals’ inspection-like standard, move the first of our gear onto the ship, get all remaining supplies we need, pack up and report in on January 6th.  It’s a lot to do, but I’m sure it will all be worth it!

In January and February I will be shipping out on the T.S. Enterprise, Mass Maritime’s training ship, for Sea Term.  Sea Term is Mass Maritime’s hands-on training period, where cadets gain practical experience in working and living on board a commercial ship.  Depending on your major, you will do between one and three Sea Terms.  For example, a Marine Transportation (deck license) major will do three Sea Terms, but an Emergency Management major will do only one.

This year, we will be traveling to the Caribbean and the South Pacific.  We will be going through the Panama Canal, and stopping for a few days in Balboa, Panama.  From there we will cross the Equator in the Pacific Ocean and perform the shellbacking ceremony.  We will then travel to Costa Rica, where we will spend a few days in port.  We will leave from there to go to Aruba, going back through the Panama Canal on our way there.  After Aruba, we will make the journey back to Buzzards Bay, MA at which point Sea Term will be over.

I plan to use this blog as both a record of the experiences I’ll have while on Sea Term, as well as a way to share my experiences with readers, and keep them updated on our progress.  I’ll post information prior to departure in January, and plan to post updates at least every other day during Sea Term.  Please check back regularly for new information, or subscribe to my RSS feed.