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!