With only a day to go before Japan we experienced a some pretty heavy weather. We had thought that the worst of the seas were behind us, but instead we began to experience heavy rollers and an increasing wind. Via the ship's intercom, we were warned to secure loose gear as a gale was expected. Through the day the sea's got rougher. Students began bailing out of classes with renewed seasickness and eventually the last couple of classes of the day were canceled. It didn't effect any of my students as my classes were done for the day. By evening we were in a sustained nine meter sea and the bridge reported winds in excess of 65 knots. For the record, that puts us into hurricane-strength wind and was more wind than Semester at Sea has seen in apparently eight or nine years. A group of intrepid faculty and staff got together in the staff lounge which sits on the highest deck (Deck 7) all the way forward on the ship. There were cheers (and moans) as the bow plunged into the heavy seas and sent sheets of sea spray whipping into the windows fifty feet above the sea surface. The ship seemed to handle the conditions well, and while it was exciting, there wasn't any real danger. Several folks who hadn't spent any time on ships didn't completely believe that assessment…
All was well though and we awoke the next morning to calm conditions as we steamed into Yokohama harbor. The sky was clear and we were treated to an apparently unusual clear view of the snow-capped majesty of Mt. Fuji. At the pier, we were greeted by a brass band performing to cheering students. Within an hour we were cleared and allowed to leave the ship. I got off pretty early as the Marine Biology class had a field trip scheduled to the Yokohama Aquarium.
The bus to the aquarium took a half hour or so and we proceeded to walk through a Japanese amusement park on which the aquarium was just another of the featured attractions. It was Sunday morning and the facility was packed with young teenagers and families with little kids. It was a nice aquarium, but pretty packed. My students had a hard time going from their assignments in the building with all the people pressing in close to see the exhibits. The aquarium was nice although the tropical tanks were a bit lacking. They did have a nice turtle exhibit and some cool invertebrates like deep sea crabs and chambered nautilus. Off in another part of the park there was a marine mammal exhibit that allowed you to come up to the edge and touch the animals. I got to pat my first Beluga whale which was interesting. Smooth and squishy, if you were wondering.
The next morning I joined a group of six faculty and staff from the ship to take a three-day trip down to Kyoto which is south of Yokohama. The plan was to stay there and then proceed on to Kobe where we would meet the ship which was steaming without us from Yokohama. We walked to a train station, took a train to another train to the station for the Shinkansen - the so-called Japanese "bullet train". We boarded the train and were soon speeding at 180 miles an hour south to Kyoto. Along the way we were treated to fantastic views of Mt. Fuji, crowded little towns and snow-covered streets in the little hamlets that we passed through as we traversed the mountains on our way south. After about two and a half hours, we arrived in the giant train station in downtown Kyoto. Across the street from the station we found a great little sushi place and had a great lunch.
Figuring out the trains was one adventure. Trying to read the Kyoto bus map was yet another. Almost no one we met spoke English and signs seemed to randomly have English words or not. There wasn't a pattern that I ever figured out, but between the six of us and the occasional kind passer-by, we were able to figure out what bus we needed to get on to head toward the backpackers hostel where we had reservations. Along the way we stopped at Castle Nijo, a historic site on exquisite grounds surrounded by a high stone wall and an honest-to-god moat. The castle was constructed with wide boards that were engineered specifically to squeak, no matter how lightly you tread on them. This was to prevent assassins from sneaking up and killing the Shogun. It was a bit spooky, walking through the building listening to your every step squeak. I, of course tried to walk silently but my ninja skills are a bit rusty and I'm afraid you would have heard me coming.
From Nijo we bravely set out with map in hand to find Hostel Mundo where we had reservations. Don't look up "Mundo" in a Japanese-English dictionary. It's a Spanish word that means "world". The owner has visited Latin America and likes the language, so he named his hostel in Spanish. Go figure.
The hostel is set well within a little local neighborhood, nowhere near any established sights or major attractions. This was pretty cool in that we were able to navigate down narrow little streets and see how the locals lived. Off the main drag, the streets are all one-way and barely wide enough for the tiny little Japanese cars. I'd hate to try to take my pickup truck down these things! Kyoto has not discovered zoning, so as we walked you would pass a residence sitting next to a small restaurant sitting next to an auto repair garage or carpentry shop. Many residences have small Buddhist temples sitting next to the front door. Some are covered with gates, although many are open with small figurines and symbols etched in stone or metal on them. A common symbol of good fortune on these little temples was taken by the Nazis in WWII Germany. It's disconcerting for a westerner to see swastikas on these tiny religious monuments.
We arrived at the hostel which was a tiny building built right against its neighbor. It consisted of a small common area, two bunk rooms (one for each gender) and a couple of small rooms upstairs. There was a narrow kitchen and behind it a toilet and shower. This bath area was covered by a plastic roof and was essentially out in the weather. At night it got pretty chilly and in fact only the small common room had any heat - a small kerosene space heater. The rest of the place was cold and in the summer I imagine, hot. The manager of the place was a very nice young woman named Midori. She had a black lab named Tida who loved attention, which we all gave him plenty of. After settling in, we found a local restaurant and managed with much pointing and smiling to get some food. We ate what the chef/owner cooked - we couldn't read the menu and he couldn't understand English. It all worked out great and we all shared a big heaping pile of stir-fried greenery, noodles and what we think were chopped up squid. Along with some local beer it all tasted great.
The next morning dawned cold and cloudy and we made our way to the nearest bus stop. We visited several shops and found a nice place for a good cup of coffee. We then got on a bus to go to a local paper-making shop. It turns out that we took the wrong bus, which we figured out after only a couple of stops. Jumping off the "wrong" bus, we found ourselves in front of a Buddhist monastery. Why not? We took a walk around the property and discovered a Shinto fertility temple right next door. It was beautiful, filled with statues of rabbits - which is a great symbol for a fertility temple if you give it a bit of thought… Following that little adventure we got back on the (right) bus and headed down toward the geisha district. We walked around there a bit, taking in the sights and sticking our heads in the occasional shop. We even saw a few geisha, or at least women dressed in traditional costume. We eventually found the paper shop, but it was closed. We ended up getting there the following day, so all was not lost. We spent the afternoon just walking around the city taking in the interesting architecture. Kyoto is a very old city and it's not uncommon to see a glass and steel building sitting right next to a traditional wooden structure. I love the feel of the place - very different from either Yokohama or Kobe.
The next day was our final in Kyoto. We took a bus up to a place called the "Golden Temple". This was a beautiful property with a great deal of historic significance. This was the most "touristy" thing we had seen and unsurprisingly, we ran into students from the ship there. They were all having a great time and they regaled us with tales of Tokyo and missed trains. Following that visit, we went to a Zen garden called Ryoanji Temple which had extensive moss gardens and fantastic Zen rock garden. At this point it had begun misting lightly. The overcast sky, moisture in the air and the beautiful mossy ground was just amazing. It really created a feeling, a mood that felt so peaceful, calming and for lack of a better term, zen. I ended up walking ahead of our group and just soaking it all in. It was a very cool place.
We retraced our steps back via bus and foot, reclaimed our luggage and said goodbye to Midori and Tida. Another bus took us back to the train station and we boarded a train for Kobe. This was a local and we got to experience rush hour as the train stopped some 15 or so times as we crawled through Osaka and southward. We got to Kobe in time to find dinner and navigate our way through rough directions to the ship. My little stateroom on the boat felt foreign after two nights away from the ship. It was nice to be able to get ready for bed without seeing my breath steam from my mouth.
Kobe is a bigger town than I expected. It has high skyscrapers and lots of traffic. I spent our last day today just walking around the waterfront and touring monuments to the big earthquake they had here a decade and a half ago. I walked up to the top of the built-up part of the city where you could look down on the downtown and then hiked back to the downtown. After an incredibly spicy, yummy lunch near the train station, I bought some Japanese snacks for the boat and walked back to the ship. I probably did eight or nine miles on foot today which was nice after being trapped on the boat. I remember in my sea-going days missing hiking most of all when I would be on the boat for weeks at a time. It's easier on a big boat like this one, but I still miss taking a walk when I want to.
We are underway to Shanghai as I write this. I don't expect that I'll post again until after we leave China. Hopefully I'll have tales to tell….
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Friday, January 25, 2013
Long Days
Title: Bouncy bouncy
27 Degrees 24.4 Minutes North
147 Degrees 57.9 Minutes West
Since leaving Hawaii, we've been pretty much steaming directly west - right into the sunset. Every morning, I have my breakfast on the upper deck and watch the sun rise over the big Pacific rollers. Every night, we are treated to the setting sun, just off the port bow. The ship makes about twenty knots, twenty-four hours a day. This has meant that we have had to set our clocks back an hour every night for the past three. While getting a twenty-five hour day, every day, sounds great I think the entire ship is suffering from a bit of jet lag (boat lag?) as a result. Additionally, we've been dealing with some interesting seas the last few days. There are two different low pressure systems, one behind us and the other a bit in front of us and both to the north. They have been sending two different sets of pretty large ocean swells which has made for an occasionally uncomfortable ride. This has been especially true in the "Union", the large 400+ seat auditorium where the larger 80 student classes are held. This is also where our evening presentations called the "Explorer Seminars" are held. The poor presenter (myself in a couple of cases) has to deal with a fair bit of pitching of the ship and occasionally a quick upward movement followed by a crash and shudder as the ship plows into an especially large wave. At one point the force of the strike was so loud that a student screamed. Amusing at times, but not the most conducive educational environment. There are a great many people looking forward to arriving in Yokohama in a day and a half and getting some time ashore.
Yesterday I got the opportunity to take a tour of the ship's bridge. The Operational areas of the vessel are off-limits to students and faculty, but they do allow opportunities where you can get a guided bridge tour. To get on the bridge you have to be buzzed in by the officer of the watch. We were escorted by the watch Quartermaster who otherwise serves as the bow watch - the person responsible for visually scanning the area ahead of the vessel for ships, oncoming weather and other concerns. Of course simultaneously the ship's three radars are doing the same thing. The bridge runs the entire width of the ship at the bow of Deck 6, the second highest deck on the ship. It looks something like a cross between an airline check-in counter and the Starship Enterprise - but with a lot more windows. Redundant radar screens share space with several desktop computers and an array of lights and buttons. To my eye, conspicuously missing was a ship's wheel. In its place is a small plastic handle that looks like it should be connected to an XBox alongside a joystick that controls the ship's bow thrusters (propellers at the bow that push the ship sideways during docking maneuvers). Not exactly the beautiful wooden ship's wheel aboard the old SSV Westward… Behind the bank of controls and instrumentation, there is an entire "office" area with an entire library of reference manuals, signal flags and paper charts. I was pleased to see that they plot hourly positions on a paper chart and don't just rely on the electronic navigation system. The ship is entirely on autopilot while we are in open ocean however.
In addition to the other classes I am working with, I got an interesting request a bit outside of what I would consider my "expertise". One of the literature professors is teaching Moby Dick. He and I had breakfast together two days ago and he expressed his lack of knowledge of some of the technical aspects of traditional whaling vessels and how whales were captured and the oil rendered. Between sitting in on Jim Millinger's Maritime Studies classes for years and spending a semester teaching for the Williams/Mystic program, I had a passing understanding of some of those topics and I was able to answer some of his questions. The next thing I knew, I was invited to give his class an impromptu lecture on how whale ships found, captured and rendered whale oil. It was a fun discussion and fortunately the students had more questions on whale biology than whaling itself. There at least, I was on a firmer footing.
In my last post, I described the new family I have gained aboard ship. Last night we celebrated the birthday of one of my new "daughters". The entire family, minus one seasick member gathered together for dinner and a big chocolate ice cream birthday cake. There was much laughing, singing of birthday songs, and posing for pictures. Other students began hovering around our table in hopes of slices of cake. It's been a few days since the last ice cream window, and the buzzards were circling. I think Olivia and I are in the running for pseudo parents of the trip so far…
Other events in the last 48 hours included an hour and a half spent filling out the entry and exit documents for every port we are visiting. Apparently the ship just has students and faculty fill out the documents all at once so they don't have to announce paperwork over the loudspeaker every time. It was a pain to fill out all those forms, but on the bright side, I now have my passport number memorized. Today, the entire ship's company got called up to stand in line and have their temperature taken - a requirement by the Japanese government. That along with some quiz grading was really the excitement of the day.
Tomorrow is the last day of classes before we arrive in Yokohama. We then have five days in port, two in Yokohama, one transit day (where the ship is moved) and two more days in Kobe. Students and faculty are given the option to travel with the ship or negotiate themselves overland from port to port. Classes will resume when we depart for China. I'm looking forward to my first look at Japan!
27 Degrees 24.4 Minutes North
147 Degrees 57.9 Minutes West
Since leaving Hawaii, we've been pretty much steaming directly west - right into the sunset. Every morning, I have my breakfast on the upper deck and watch the sun rise over the big Pacific rollers. Every night, we are treated to the setting sun, just off the port bow. The ship makes about twenty knots, twenty-four hours a day. This has meant that we have had to set our clocks back an hour every night for the past three. While getting a twenty-five hour day, every day, sounds great I think the entire ship is suffering from a bit of jet lag (boat lag?) as a result. Additionally, we've been dealing with some interesting seas the last few days. There are two different low pressure systems, one behind us and the other a bit in front of us and both to the north. They have been sending two different sets of pretty large ocean swells which has made for an occasionally uncomfortable ride. This has been especially true in the "Union", the large 400+ seat auditorium where the larger 80 student classes are held. This is also where our evening presentations called the "Explorer Seminars" are held. The poor presenter (myself in a couple of cases) has to deal with a fair bit of pitching of the ship and occasionally a quick upward movement followed by a crash and shudder as the ship plows into an especially large wave. At one point the force of the strike was so loud that a student screamed. Amusing at times, but not the most conducive educational environment. There are a great many people looking forward to arriving in Yokohama in a day and a half and getting some time ashore.
Yesterday I got the opportunity to take a tour of the ship's bridge. The Operational areas of the vessel are off-limits to students and faculty, but they do allow opportunities where you can get a guided bridge tour. To get on the bridge you have to be buzzed in by the officer of the watch. We were escorted by the watch Quartermaster who otherwise serves as the bow watch - the person responsible for visually scanning the area ahead of the vessel for ships, oncoming weather and other concerns. Of course simultaneously the ship's three radars are doing the same thing. The bridge runs the entire width of the ship at the bow of Deck 6, the second highest deck on the ship. It looks something like a cross between an airline check-in counter and the Starship Enterprise - but with a lot more windows. Redundant radar screens share space with several desktop computers and an array of lights and buttons. To my eye, conspicuously missing was a ship's wheel. In its place is a small plastic handle that looks like it should be connected to an XBox alongside a joystick that controls the ship's bow thrusters (propellers at the bow that push the ship sideways during docking maneuvers). Not exactly the beautiful wooden ship's wheel aboard the old SSV Westward… Behind the bank of controls and instrumentation, there is an entire "office" area with an entire library of reference manuals, signal flags and paper charts. I was pleased to see that they plot hourly positions on a paper chart and don't just rely on the electronic navigation system. The ship is entirely on autopilot while we are in open ocean however.
In addition to the other classes I am working with, I got an interesting request a bit outside of what I would consider my "expertise". One of the literature professors is teaching Moby Dick. He and I had breakfast together two days ago and he expressed his lack of knowledge of some of the technical aspects of traditional whaling vessels and how whales were captured and the oil rendered. Between sitting in on Jim Millinger's Maritime Studies classes for years and spending a semester teaching for the Williams/Mystic program, I had a passing understanding of some of those topics and I was able to answer some of his questions. The next thing I knew, I was invited to give his class an impromptu lecture on how whale ships found, captured and rendered whale oil. It was a fun discussion and fortunately the students had more questions on whale biology than whaling itself. There at least, I was on a firmer footing.
In my last post, I described the new family I have gained aboard ship. Last night we celebrated the birthday of one of my new "daughters". The entire family, minus one seasick member gathered together for dinner and a big chocolate ice cream birthday cake. There was much laughing, singing of birthday songs, and posing for pictures. Other students began hovering around our table in hopes of slices of cake. It's been a few days since the last ice cream window, and the buzzards were circling. I think Olivia and I are in the running for pseudo parents of the trip so far…
Other events in the last 48 hours included an hour and a half spent filling out the entry and exit documents for every port we are visiting. Apparently the ship just has students and faculty fill out the documents all at once so they don't have to announce paperwork over the loudspeaker every time. It was a pain to fill out all those forms, but on the bright side, I now have my passport number memorized. Today, the entire ship's company got called up to stand in line and have their temperature taken - a requirement by the Japanese government. That along with some quiz grading was really the excitement of the day.
Tomorrow is the last day of classes before we arrive in Yokohama. We then have five days in port, two in Yokohama, one transit day (where the ship is moved) and two more days in Kobe. Students and faculty are given the option to travel with the ship or negotiate themselves overland from port to port. Classes will resume when we depart for China. I'm looking forward to my first look at Japan!
Monday, January 21, 2013
Date Line Pacific
21 Degrees 17.5 Minutes North
177 Degrees 12.8 Minutes West
We are now three days out from Hawaii and conditions have been wonderful. Our Captain's decision to delay our departure from Honolulu and stay south out of the storm-driven swells paid off handsomely. We've been enjoying very mild temperatures and a slow two meter swell from the north west. The storm we were most concerned about is long past us and things look pretty good ahead. At some point we are going to have to turn northward to get to Yokahama, but I expect we'll do that when we are closer to Asia with not quite so much fetch. Japan is supposed to be quite cold and I suspect the sunbathing students will probably disappear from their lounge chairs on deck seven. Soon enough though, we will turn south and the weather will warm up again. I'm glad to have the change of "seasons" along the way.
We are traveling towards the International Date Line and will cross it at some point early tomorrow morning. It is Sunday night right now. When I wake up it will be Tuesday morning. For the rest of my life, I'll have a below average number of Mondays compared to all the other days of the week. I'm ok with that.
The ship has settled into a nice rhythm and a lot of classes are starting to have exams and papers due. This will have been our longest stretch of uninterrupted class days, so we are all trying to take advantage and get a lot of academic work in. Once we get to Japan, we will have a long stretch of a couple of class days and then another port. Lather, rinse, repeat. I'm very excited for all the port calls, but it will make keeping coherent class dialogs difficult.
Two days ago I received a note from our Dean's office. I had been assigned (gifted?) four students to be in my "At Sea Family". Students who are interested sign up to join faculty and staff as little family units. I wasn't going to sign up, as I am traveling as a single person and I thought students would want a "real" family unit - you know a couple, maybe a couple of children… However, the ship has a lot of students on this cruise and they got so many students signing up for the program, that they were desperate for adults to participate. Frankly, I was reluctant to do it, since I was afraid that the students would be bummed that they got the "single guy" for their family. I discussed this with several of the other single-adults and we decided to pair up. One of the ship's two librarians, Olivia who had traveled with our group up to the Volcano and I joined forces. She had three "kids" and I had four, so we became our own little Brady Bunch and built a virtual family of nine. Perhaps Utah is beginning to wear off on me...
Last night we had dinner with our group and had a great time. It's a nice group of students, five women and two men, with one woman from Germany and one guy from China. The other guy is Naval ROTC headed for SEAL school. One of the other women in the group has already graduated from art school and is a fiddler who plays celtic music. Quite the eclectic group. None of them knew each other even though two of the girls go to the same college. We had a nice dinner, with lots of laughter and stories about our homes. We are meeting again next week to celebrate the birthday of one of my new "daughters". Olivia and I are starting to brainstorm some ideas to do some evening activities a couple of times as we go. Should be fun.
Tomorrow is a study day for the students, so there is no class. There are few of these spread along the trip and I think psychologically they are a great idea. With no weekends, this long period of classes is starting to wear some of the students a bit. I won't mind the break in the schedule either.
We are using the "free day" tomorrow to have a short meeting with all of the scientists on the cruise. Two of the instructors (the Professor who is teaching Oceanography and the Nutrition Professor) are both returning faculty, having taught on board several times before. They are interested in putting a lab on board and potentially making measurements on future trips that could contribute to classes. When they discovered my SEA connection and years of doing science with college students, they thought I might have something to contribute to that discussion. While it's not a bad idea in theory, I somehow don't think that they will be doing any midnight neuston tows from seven stories above the ocean surface anytime soon. :)
177 Degrees 12.8 Minutes West
We are now three days out from Hawaii and conditions have been wonderful. Our Captain's decision to delay our departure from Honolulu and stay south out of the storm-driven swells paid off handsomely. We've been enjoying very mild temperatures and a slow two meter swell from the north west. The storm we were most concerned about is long past us and things look pretty good ahead. At some point we are going to have to turn northward to get to Yokahama, but I expect we'll do that when we are closer to Asia with not quite so much fetch. Japan is supposed to be quite cold and I suspect the sunbathing students will probably disappear from their lounge chairs on deck seven. Soon enough though, we will turn south and the weather will warm up again. I'm glad to have the change of "seasons" along the way.
We are traveling towards the International Date Line and will cross it at some point early tomorrow morning. It is Sunday night right now. When I wake up it will be Tuesday morning. For the rest of my life, I'll have a below average number of Mondays compared to all the other days of the week. I'm ok with that.
The ship has settled into a nice rhythm and a lot of classes are starting to have exams and papers due. This will have been our longest stretch of uninterrupted class days, so we are all trying to take advantage and get a lot of academic work in. Once we get to Japan, we will have a long stretch of a couple of class days and then another port. Lather, rinse, repeat. I'm very excited for all the port calls, but it will make keeping coherent class dialogs difficult.
Two days ago I received a note from our Dean's office. I had been assigned (gifted?) four students to be in my "At Sea Family". Students who are interested sign up to join faculty and staff as little family units. I wasn't going to sign up, as I am traveling as a single person and I thought students would want a "real" family unit - you know a couple, maybe a couple of children… However, the ship has a lot of students on this cruise and they got so many students signing up for the program, that they were desperate for adults to participate. Frankly, I was reluctant to do it, since I was afraid that the students would be bummed that they got the "single guy" for their family. I discussed this with several of the other single-adults and we decided to pair up. One of the ship's two librarians, Olivia who had traveled with our group up to the Volcano and I joined forces. She had three "kids" and I had four, so we became our own little Brady Bunch and built a virtual family of nine. Perhaps Utah is beginning to wear off on me...
Last night we had dinner with our group and had a great time. It's a nice group of students, five women and two men, with one woman from Germany and one guy from China. The other guy is Naval ROTC headed for SEAL school. One of the other women in the group has already graduated from art school and is a fiddler who plays celtic music. Quite the eclectic group. None of them knew each other even though two of the girls go to the same college. We had a nice dinner, with lots of laughter and stories about our homes. We are meeting again next week to celebrate the birthday of one of my new "daughters". Olivia and I are starting to brainstorm some ideas to do some evening activities a couple of times as we go. Should be fun.
Tomorrow is a study day for the students, so there is no class. There are few of these spread along the trip and I think psychologically they are a great idea. With no weekends, this long period of classes is starting to wear some of the students a bit. I won't mind the break in the schedule either.
We are using the "free day" tomorrow to have a short meeting with all of the scientists on the cruise. Two of the instructors (the Professor who is teaching Oceanography and the Nutrition Professor) are both returning faculty, having taught on board several times before. They are interested in putting a lab on board and potentially making measurements on future trips that could contribute to classes. When they discovered my SEA connection and years of doing science with college students, they thought I might have something to contribute to that discussion. While it's not a bad idea in theory, I somehow don't think that they will be doing any midnight neuston tows from seven stories above the ocean surface anytime soon. :)
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Hawaiian Sunshine
As I write this, we are pulling away from the dock after two days on the "big island" of Hawaii. It's been an eventful few days. We arrived yesterday morning on our first real sunny day. It has finally started to feel like we are in the tropics. I got up early and went up on deck to see a few others looking at the distant lights of the city of Hilo. As the sun rose we could see the island stretching off our port side while summit of the volcano dominated the starboard. While the pilot boat pulled alongside, students were shouting from the stern that there were whales. We spotted several humpbacks a couple of hundred meters from the ship and as we watched, they began get more active, with one of them breaching to the cheers and shouts from the students. An auspicious start to our first port of call!
Breakfast on board is usually pretty sleepy. Five or so students will be in line with most tables in the dining hall standing empty as the ship begins to rise. This particular morning, there were at least 50 students standing in line as the breakfast line opened up, and that was in the upper, Garden Lounge. The lower (and larger) dining room had equally long lines. Folks were ready to go play ashore!
Unfortunately, we had to wait for US Customs, which took another nearly three hours before we were allowed off the ship. Once cleared, my task for the day was to join 40 students and one other faculty member on a short bus trip to a Hawaiian Cultural Center in Hilo. We were met there by a group of men and women who divided the students into small groups and began to give them instructions into traditional Hawaiian skills such as weaving long leaves into necklaces, traditional dancing and instructions on how to play the ukulele. The students really seemed to enjoy the session and the morning went quickly. We then were presented with a lecture/performance from a local native couple who are teachers on the island. She is a Hawaiian/Chinese/Irish woman who performed traditional dance while her Hawaiian/Spanish husband played the traditional Hawaiian nose flute and interpreted her movements. It was a fascinating discussion that highlighted the multi-cultural/multi-ethnic flavor of the Hawaiian Islands. Following a group lunch, we got back on the bus and headed nearby to a beach area where the students were given instructions in a traditional beach game and paddling outrigger canoes.
I participated in both activities and had a lot of fun. I had the high score at the game of throwing a large piece of wood into a small target. It was sort of a Hawaiian version of Bacci ball - so perhaps my Italian heritage was playing to my favor. Paddling the outrigger was a great deal of fun and we were able to get it going pretty darn fast. It's a completely different way to experience the water than a sail or motor boat and while I have spent a lot of time paddling a kayak, this sort of team effort to make a narrow vessel zip along was new to me. It was a lot of fun and very zen-like. You dig in quickly, trying to follow the front paddler who calls the stroke. I guess we were going something like 20 miles an hour at one point - a lot faster than I can get my kayak going for sure! Our time along the water gave me a chance to pick up a sample from the black sand beach for my collection - my third Hawaiian Island.
We left the beach and returned to the pavilion where our hosts from the morning had transformed themselves to become the Octogenarian Hula band. This is a group of Elders on the island who perform traditional hula (not the Don Ho kind) for educational groups. We watched and listened to them and then had a traditional meal which included kalua pork, taro and very fresh pineapple. The students really enjoyed the program.
The following day I took a rental car with several members of the Program's staff and we went up to Hawaii Volcanos National Park. The day before had been raining up in the park, but today we were greeted with beautiful sunshine. Much of the park was currently blocked off due to volcanic activity, but we were able to get up to the rim of the caldera and look down and see the steam and gasses rising from the largest volcano on the planet. We took several short hikes including one through a lava tube. This is the remnant of a large lava flow that cools to rock on the outside while the hot lava is still flowing inside. Once the lava drains out, you have a bizarre tunnel through solid rock. This one was large enough for three people to walk side-by-side without ducking. Very cool.
Afterwards we drove down through scrub forest interspersed with bare rock lava flows all the way from the summit to the edge of the sea. There old lava flows meet the ocean as twenty-foot high sea cliffs. The blue, blue, blue tropical ocean beats itself against rock that might only be fifty years old. Geology and oceanography are right in your face here in a natural spectacle that I just find fascinating. Turning our backs to the ocean and facing uphill, we could see the paths of one lava flow after another passing through scrub brush and small trees that had managed to gain a foothold on older flows. Mother Nature just hits the reset button on the successional process again and again.
After a fantastic fish lunch and a quick retail experience to pick up last-minute forgotten things, we left our last US strip mall for the next three months. After a quick refueling stop in Honolulu tomorrow morning, we head out into the vast Pacific, heading for Japan.
Breakfast on board is usually pretty sleepy. Five or so students will be in line with most tables in the dining hall standing empty as the ship begins to rise. This particular morning, there were at least 50 students standing in line as the breakfast line opened up, and that was in the upper, Garden Lounge. The lower (and larger) dining room had equally long lines. Folks were ready to go play ashore!
Unfortunately, we had to wait for US Customs, which took another nearly three hours before we were allowed off the ship. Once cleared, my task for the day was to join 40 students and one other faculty member on a short bus trip to a Hawaiian Cultural Center in Hilo. We were met there by a group of men and women who divided the students into small groups and began to give them instructions into traditional Hawaiian skills such as weaving long leaves into necklaces, traditional dancing and instructions on how to play the ukulele. The students really seemed to enjoy the session and the morning went quickly. We then were presented with a lecture/performance from a local native couple who are teachers on the island. She is a Hawaiian/Chinese/Irish woman who performed traditional dance while her Hawaiian/Spanish husband played the traditional Hawaiian nose flute and interpreted her movements. It was a fascinating discussion that highlighted the multi-cultural/multi-ethnic flavor of the Hawaiian Islands. Following a group lunch, we got back on the bus and headed nearby to a beach area where the students were given instructions in a traditional beach game and paddling outrigger canoes.
I participated in both activities and had a lot of fun. I had the high score at the game of throwing a large piece of wood into a small target. It was sort of a Hawaiian version of Bacci ball - so perhaps my Italian heritage was playing to my favor. Paddling the outrigger was a great deal of fun and we were able to get it going pretty darn fast. It's a completely different way to experience the water than a sail or motor boat and while I have spent a lot of time paddling a kayak, this sort of team effort to make a narrow vessel zip along was new to me. It was a lot of fun and very zen-like. You dig in quickly, trying to follow the front paddler who calls the stroke. I guess we were going something like 20 miles an hour at one point - a lot faster than I can get my kayak going for sure! Our time along the water gave me a chance to pick up a sample from the black sand beach for my collection - my third Hawaiian Island.
We left the beach and returned to the pavilion where our hosts from the morning had transformed themselves to become the Octogenarian Hula band. This is a group of Elders on the island who perform traditional hula (not the Don Ho kind) for educational groups. We watched and listened to them and then had a traditional meal which included kalua pork, taro and very fresh pineapple. The students really enjoyed the program.
The following day I took a rental car with several members of the Program's staff and we went up to Hawaii Volcanos National Park. The day before had been raining up in the park, but today we were greeted with beautiful sunshine. Much of the park was currently blocked off due to volcanic activity, but we were able to get up to the rim of the caldera and look down and see the steam and gasses rising from the largest volcano on the planet. We took several short hikes including one through a lava tube. This is the remnant of a large lava flow that cools to rock on the outside while the hot lava is still flowing inside. Once the lava drains out, you have a bizarre tunnel through solid rock. This one was large enough for three people to walk side-by-side without ducking. Very cool.
Afterwards we drove down through scrub forest interspersed with bare rock lava flows all the way from the summit to the edge of the sea. There old lava flows meet the ocean as twenty-foot high sea cliffs. The blue, blue, blue tropical ocean beats itself against rock that might only be fifty years old. Geology and oceanography are right in your face here in a natural spectacle that I just find fascinating. Turning our backs to the ocean and facing uphill, we could see the paths of one lava flow after another passing through scrub brush and small trees that had managed to gain a foothold on older flows. Mother Nature just hits the reset button on the successional process again and again.
After a fantastic fish lunch and a quick retail experience to pick up last-minute forgotten things, we left our last US strip mall for the next three months. After a quick refueling stop in Honolulu tomorrow morning, we head out into the vast Pacific, heading for Japan.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Half Way to Hawaii
Latitude: 25 Degrees 38 Minutes North
Longitude: 136 Degrees 45 Minutes West
It has been three full days since we departed Ensenada, Mexico and we are now nearly 1,200 Nautical miles from our departure point. For the non-mariners out there, a nautical mile is based on the distance of one minute of longitude on the globe and measures 6,028 feet (just a bit longer than a "regular" or statute mile, which is 5,280 feet). Don't ask me where THAT measurement comes from. Six "regular" miles make up about five nautical miles. The weather has been overcast although we haven't had any rain. Seas have been pretty rough, with swells as high as 7 meters yesterday. It's laid down a bit today with waves in the 3-4 meter range. Winds have been Force 5-6 which means in the 20-30 mile per hour range. Temperatures have been around 60 degrees F. Not terrible, but most students are not spending much time outside. It will likely be warmer as we get closer to Hawaii (I hope!).
Out here in the middle of the ocean, there's not much in the way of big animals like whales or porpoise. I'm hoping we see some humpbacks when we get to Hawaii, although the majority of the whales generally spend their time on the opposite side of the island from Hilo. Maybe we'll get lucky. We did have a black footed albatross following the ship for an hour or so this morning. That's really the only wildlife we've seen so far.
We have now had a single "A" and "B" day and the students (as well as us faculty and staff) understand the rhythm of the days. Breakfast starts at 0700 with the first classes starting at 0800 running throughout the day. Each class is 75 minutes long with a fifteen minute break between classes. Most students have four classes over the two day period, while the faculty mostly teach three. There's less actual class time than I'm used to at Waterford, but the prep time is a great deal more difficult for college-level courses. Classes tend to have about 30 students in them, although each student takes a "LENS" class, which has about 80 students. These classes are general-interest classes that are designed to discuss important issues and topics based on our cruise track. Every student is enrolled in one of these, although anyone can attend any of these classes if their schedule allows. So far I have sat in on an Engineering class on water issues, an International Law class where we discussed human rights around the globe, a Global Health class and a Nutrition class. The faculty teaching these come from Universities around the nation (and in one case, China) and are excellent teachers. The intellectual environment aboard ship is fantastic. In addition, there are several science professors aboard and I've enjoyed discussing aspects of Marine Biology and Oceanography with them. Dinner conversations are interesting and wide-ranging.
Evenings, there are a variety of activities going on. Students are of course free to go to their rooms and listen to music or read. Small groups are found throughout the ship playing cards, writing or just hanging out. There is a formal social gathering on the stern of the vessel each evening following the 2000 (8 p.m.) evening "Explorer Seminar". This evening we have a guest lecturer from the University of Hawaii speaking on Volcanos and the geology of Hawaii. Later in the evening the student life office is sponsoring a "Photo Scavenger Hunt" which involves I-don't-know-what, but several students seem pretty excited to participate.
We are two days from arriving in Hawaii. I've just been asked to help out on a field trip to a cultural center with one of the humanities classes. We will be spending the first of our two days on the island learning about the culture, history and political issues of native Hawaiians. Should be interesting… I'm hoping to spend the second day up at the Volcano National Park, a place I've always wanted to see.
Longitude: 136 Degrees 45 Minutes West
It has been three full days since we departed Ensenada, Mexico and we are now nearly 1,200 Nautical miles from our departure point. For the non-mariners out there, a nautical mile is based on the distance of one minute of longitude on the globe and measures 6,028 feet (just a bit longer than a "regular" or statute mile, which is 5,280 feet). Don't ask me where THAT measurement comes from. Six "regular" miles make up about five nautical miles. The weather has been overcast although we haven't had any rain. Seas have been pretty rough, with swells as high as 7 meters yesterday. It's laid down a bit today with waves in the 3-4 meter range. Winds have been Force 5-6 which means in the 20-30 mile per hour range. Temperatures have been around 60 degrees F. Not terrible, but most students are not spending much time outside. It will likely be warmer as we get closer to Hawaii (I hope!).
Out here in the middle of the ocean, there's not much in the way of big animals like whales or porpoise. I'm hoping we see some humpbacks when we get to Hawaii, although the majority of the whales generally spend their time on the opposite side of the island from Hilo. Maybe we'll get lucky. We did have a black footed albatross following the ship for an hour or so this morning. That's really the only wildlife we've seen so far.
We have now had a single "A" and "B" day and the students (as well as us faculty and staff) understand the rhythm of the days. Breakfast starts at 0700 with the first classes starting at 0800 running throughout the day. Each class is 75 minutes long with a fifteen minute break between classes. Most students have four classes over the two day period, while the faculty mostly teach three. There's less actual class time than I'm used to at Waterford, but the prep time is a great deal more difficult for college-level courses. Classes tend to have about 30 students in them, although each student takes a "LENS" class, which has about 80 students. These classes are general-interest classes that are designed to discuss important issues and topics based on our cruise track. Every student is enrolled in one of these, although anyone can attend any of these classes if their schedule allows. So far I have sat in on an Engineering class on water issues, an International Law class where we discussed human rights around the globe, a Global Health class and a Nutrition class. The faculty teaching these come from Universities around the nation (and in one case, China) and are excellent teachers. The intellectual environment aboard ship is fantastic. In addition, there are several science professors aboard and I've enjoyed discussing aspects of Marine Biology and Oceanography with them. Dinner conversations are interesting and wide-ranging.
Evenings, there are a variety of activities going on. Students are of course free to go to their rooms and listen to music or read. Small groups are found throughout the ship playing cards, writing or just hanging out. There is a formal social gathering on the stern of the vessel each evening following the 2000 (8 p.m.) evening "Explorer Seminar". This evening we have a guest lecturer from the University of Hawaii speaking on Volcanos and the geology of Hawaii. Later in the evening the student life office is sponsoring a "Photo Scavenger Hunt" which involves I-don't-know-what, but several students seem pretty excited to participate.
We are two days from arriving in Hawaii. I've just been asked to help out on a field trip to a cultural center with one of the humanities classes. We will be spending the first of our two days on the island learning about the culture, history and political issues of native Hawaiians. Should be interesting… I'm hoping to spend the second day up at the Volcano National Park, a place I've always wanted to see.
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Underway!
Greeting from just offshore of Ensenada, Mexico. The ship left the dock three hours ago and we are currently motoring towards Hilo, Hawaii in five meter seas, projected to go up to seven meters over the next twelve hours. The ship handles the motion pretty well, but there are definitely folks who are having trouble with the motion. Tomorrow is student orientation and hopefully stomachs will begin to settle down.
We've been pretty busy over the last couple of days. Following a half day of orientation in San Diego, the faculty and staff boarded the ship two days ago. The last couple of days has been filled with meetings, orientations, getting lost trying to get from one of the two dining rooms to the "Union" - a 350 seat auditorium, to the faculty lounge and then back to my stateroom. Additionally, the vessel has nine classrooms, a fitness/wellness center, a coffee bar, a library with thousands of books and a computer lab with 20 computers. For those two days the ship seemed huge. It seems a great deal smaller now that we've taken on 640 students and 35 "Lifelong" learners - adults who are traveling with us and taking classes. The line for dinner was quite a bit longer than what we saw for our first two days.
We were actually alongside in Mexico all day yesterday, but between meetings and class prep work, I (and most of the other Faculty/Staff) didn't get off the ship. Today, following some meetings in the morning I decided to slip off the ship while students were getting onboard and settled in. I had Mexican Pesos left over from my last research trip two summers ago, and I figured I could go buy some snacks. After fifteen years of doing research in Baja, I didn't need to buy any souvenirs!
As I began to walk off the ship, I had to step aside to allow a group that was coming aboard. "Who was it?" you might ask, why none other than His Holiness, Archbishop Desmond Tutu who will be on board with us from here to Cape Town South Africa. I couldn't believe that I was shaking the hand of a man I had read so much about during South Africa's troubles so many years ago. He is a charming, gentle man and I'm really looking forward to hearing him speak. Incredible.
Tomorrow is a day filled with student orientation lectures. I have the day mostly to do prep work before the first day of classes which starts on Friday. We have no weekends at sea, but instead we have an "A" day and a "B" day each day we are at sea. We will have A1, B1, A2, B2 from Friday to Monday and then we are in Hawaii for two days. When we depart, the next day will be A3 and so on… The schedule will take some getting used to.
I apologize for the fact that I won't be publishing pictures anymore. We have a very narrow bandwidth on the ship and sometimes have to try several times just to get an internet connection. Without dragging a very long wire, we communicate with the interwebs via satellite, which puts us at 1990 speeds. How primitive huh? Big files are impossible and in fact the ship blocks sites like Skype as they would cripple the whole system. I may try to get some pictures up if I can find internet cafes in foreign ports, but frankly I'll probably choose instead to head off and have fun rather than playing on computers. Instead, I'll likely put together some sort of online album when I get back to the United States. I'm still a bit of a novice to this whole social media thing…. More to follow!
We've been pretty busy over the last couple of days. Following a half day of orientation in San Diego, the faculty and staff boarded the ship two days ago. The last couple of days has been filled with meetings, orientations, getting lost trying to get from one of the two dining rooms to the "Union" - a 350 seat auditorium, to the faculty lounge and then back to my stateroom. Additionally, the vessel has nine classrooms, a fitness/wellness center, a coffee bar, a library with thousands of books and a computer lab with 20 computers. For those two days the ship seemed huge. It seems a great deal smaller now that we've taken on 640 students and 35 "Lifelong" learners - adults who are traveling with us and taking classes. The line for dinner was quite a bit longer than what we saw for our first two days.
We were actually alongside in Mexico all day yesterday, but between meetings and class prep work, I (and most of the other Faculty/Staff) didn't get off the ship. Today, following some meetings in the morning I decided to slip off the ship while students were getting onboard and settled in. I had Mexican Pesos left over from my last research trip two summers ago, and I figured I could go buy some snacks. After fifteen years of doing research in Baja, I didn't need to buy any souvenirs!
As I began to walk off the ship, I had to step aside to allow a group that was coming aboard. "Who was it?" you might ask, why none other than His Holiness, Archbishop Desmond Tutu who will be on board with us from here to Cape Town South Africa. I couldn't believe that I was shaking the hand of a man I had read so much about during South Africa's troubles so many years ago. He is a charming, gentle man and I'm really looking forward to hearing him speak. Incredible.
Tomorrow is a day filled with student orientation lectures. I have the day mostly to do prep work before the first day of classes which starts on Friday. We have no weekends at sea, but instead we have an "A" day and a "B" day each day we are at sea. We will have A1, B1, A2, B2 from Friday to Monday and then we are in Hawaii for two days. When we depart, the next day will be A3 and so on… The schedule will take some getting used to.
I apologize for the fact that I won't be publishing pictures anymore. We have a very narrow bandwidth on the ship and sometimes have to try several times just to get an internet connection. Without dragging a very long wire, we communicate with the interwebs via satellite, which puts us at 1990 speeds. How primitive huh? Big files are impossible and in fact the ship blocks sites like Skype as they would cripple the whole system. I may try to get some pictures up if I can find internet cafes in foreign ports, but frankly I'll probably choose instead to head off and have fun rather than playing on computers. Instead, I'll likely put together some sort of online album when I get back to the United States. I'm still a bit of a novice to this whole social media thing…. More to follow!
Friday, January 4, 2013
Heading for California
 |
| The United States has the most boring money in the world! |
Last month I bought some foreign currency to take with me so that I'd have a bit of cash when I step off the boat. Here's a pic:
The guy at the bank said that I looked like Jason Bourne! All I need is a few fake passports...
My adventure begins with two solid days of meetings with the faculty and staff of the trip. Having worked in Study Abroad for many years, and running meetings like these, I know I'm in for a stimulating couple of days. It will be interesting to get the ship to "ourselves" for a day or so before the students get on board. I've heard from Semester at Sea that we have a full ship - 636 students, 55 Adult students, 42 Faculty and 30 Staff. Additionally, there are 59 family members of Faculty and Staff coming along.
I'm going to try to keep on posting as the trip goes along, but I understand that the internet is not one hundred percent on the boat, so don't be surprised if there are gaps.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)