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New Zealand Trip |
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10 Dec 2003 - Fourth day at sea 0635 - I woke early today. We set the clocks back an hour last night so today's 0600 is yesterday's 0700. We're now in the Alaska Time Zone or GMT -9. Our location as of 0610 is 16.13N, 135.58W. It's still about 75 outside. The sea is calm and there are some clouds on the horizon. I took a look at the Encarta Atlas program this morning. There's a band across the equator ahead of us that shows high annual precipitation but it didn't indicate what time of year. I'm hoping the weather changes just to make things more interesting. Last night's movie was "The Highlander -Endgame". Not bad. Certainly better than some of the schlock I've found in the onboard collection. The picture was good though the sound is always a bit fuzzed with the video CDs. 1050 - Went out awhile ago and shot some video from up top and then dropped into the bridge. The Myanmar Third Officer, Kyaw Min Oo was on duty. I asked if I could look around some more and take pictures and he said, "yes". I shot a lot of geeky stuff like all the control panels and etc. We started talking and I learned a lot of stuff. He's been at sea five years and three of those was as a cadet. After serving as a cadet, he had to return home and take a test which he passed and now he's a full fledged officer. He said he could work on ships anywhere in the world. I asked why he's on this particular one. He said his government assigns where he works. I guess it is the difference between the capability to do something and the freedom to do it. Also, when he goes home, I gathered that he has to give the government a certain percentage of his earnings or he will not be allowed to leave again. I believe he said 10 percent. He's got a sailor's visa which allows him to visit the US and he told me he has family in Bellflower in Southern California. I've setup my system here to make incremental backups onto CDs so I don't risk losing these web pages or photos or my GENA work. Back to the bridge and the things I learned there. They have a device/screen that shows them general status. Things like engine RPMs, course, winds and etc. it showed that we have a following wind which is going just slightly faster that we are (about 6 knots). So, that confirms my observations, yesterday. I think we've had the same course (that's a for sure) and the same following wind (maybe) since we left the Channel Islands. They had another device which is like the old IFF systems we used in the service (Identification Friend or Foe). This one detects and pings all ships out to about 200 miles (I think that's the range he said). All ships above a certain size are required to have them. If a ship is within range, it will reply to the ping with information about itself. The scope was empty and he said it is very unusual to see anything on this route. He also told me that they run four lights at night. A white on the bow up high, another white one (which is the one i saw) above the bridge on the radar tower and then a green and a red one forward on the sides. Red on the Port and Green on the Starboard is how I believe it was. Since everyone obeys these patterns, you can tell which way a ship is going (towards or away from you) by noting the lights. He also said that in the daytime with low traffic density and high visibility, they turn the radar off. He. like the other watch officers, do two four hour watches per day. In the day, he said he's busy with paperwork and on the evening shift he has a cadet to teach. It is humid outside and the feel of it came back to me strongly as what it felt like in Central America and Africa. There's a lot of gray humid clouds today with just a few glimmers of blue sky hear and there. Off to the port side in front of us is a darker area where it might be raining. Hard to say. John has been this way twice before at this season and said he doesn't recall much rain. 1745 - I went out after afternoon coffee (1500) to the bow. Nice as always. There was a rain squall off on the port side and another dead ahead so I had hopes but we only got a dusting. Also saw some cool fish or dolphins / porpoise jumping. I say Dolphins because they looked a lot like the shape of the Dolphins I've seen jumping in nature films. No underneath fin and a rounded back. Also, the way they jumped looked right. On the other hand, they were a uniform shiny brown color and even though size is hard to judge at a distance, they looked small to be Dolphins to me. Maybe there's a miniature for out here or maybe they were immature. Or, maybe they weren't Dolphins at all. When I first saw them, they were ahead an to the starboard side. The ship was gaining on them so they moved off to the right. Must have been 15 or 20 of them. Also, saw more flying fish. Jeez, some of them can fly a long ways. I think we're looking at a form that in a few million years will have evolved the ability to really fly. That's a first so far as I know - that a fish should develop he ability to fly. I took a GPS reading. At 1600, we were at 13.40N, 138.04W. 1900 - Just back from dinner and talking with John. On the way back to my cabin, I stepped outside on the deck to see what the night looked like. It was black. Utterly and completely. Apparently, there's a heavy overcast and the moon hasn't risen yet. I stood looking over the rail at nothing and had what might be the creepiest thought I've ever had. To me, the ship was sailing through nothing - nothing was there beyond the railing. I imagined finding myself in the sea somehow as the ship sailed away unknowing. Bobbing there in black water that I couldn't see under a black sky that I couldn't see with just the waves washing over me and struggling to stay up and breath and knowing the the ship was irretrievably gone and I'm a thousand miles and more from any land. Whew! it gave me the willies as the imagining set in. I turned and went in it was so creepy. Sort of like that feeling you sometimes have when you're standing next to a cliff - as if something is going to suck you over the edge. |