Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Catpaws and Groundhog Day

So we have a cat aboard.  “Scratchy” wandered out of the trash container when he was only 3 weeks old and the “Catain” was adopted and raised by the Old Man.  He’s now 3, he likes to play, he drinks out of the faucet, and he likes hanging out on the bridge.  Best watch partner of all time.  Period.
Catain Scratchy likes his grog on tap.

Like a boss.

Speaking of watch partners, the second mate isn't all that bad, either… although rarely do they start that way. Time will tell... time will tell all. So far so good.

The bright, electric, cool-aid acid indigo sea that assaulted my face with its brilliance my first day out churned a familiar-looking color I aught to name- it’s that color blue that falls between Tiffany’s blue and English Wedgwood china, and I think it should be called “Blue Wedgeny” from this day forward. The sea has been flawlessly gorgeous: 2 meter swells on our quarter, catpaws and cumulous clouds which cast sharply defined shadows on the water beneath, the true wind less than 20 knots.

I saw more flying fish in 5 minutes on my first day out than I did in the entirety of the five months I spent on the last ship in the Bermuda Triangle and I am feeling pretty confident that this was a good move for me (besides this being a Class 1 ship).  I saw my first red-tailed tropicbird while on watch, too- I thought it was a black skimmer at first contact until I saw the long, thin, dark tail feather trailing behind it.  Of course I forgot my bird and whale identification guides, but they have them on this ship.  In fact, it is the same whale book I have, but my Seabirds of the World is the superior bird identification book.  

I also see the lonesome frigate birds tacking back and forth over the waves in the distance, hunting the red-footed and brown boobies that hunt the flying fish (they "wing them," causing them to puke up dinner, which- in turn- becomes their dinner).  I thought frigate birds were big, and I estimated their wingspan to be about 4 feet, but I was wrong.  7 feet.  They are sizable, but I suppose they have to have sails with so much canvas to cross the same oceans that we do.  There is truly no part of the ocean remote enough to exclude them and every tale you’ve heard that there are no birds in the middle of the oceans is flat out bullshit.  My.  Own.  Eyeballs. Fact.

The Bosun has more than 20 years at sea.  Both daymen do, too- one of whom has almost 30.  If I’m not mistaken, only the watchstanders are B-class sailors, your’s truly being the least experienced here on ships… exactly what I wanted.  It’s pretty clear none of the “Books” will want to be delegate next trip, so I’m pretty sure that will fall to me.  
Traditional bellropes- what my lanyards will
one day turn into- when I find proper twine...

The next chief mate makes these.  This one
is to ward off fishing boats.

What ship is complete without a hula-girl or two?

My stomach is still angry in protest, but getting better.  One of the watchstanders has been, if tales be true, getting subcutaneous hydration via saline drip to keep him from being dehydrated by the same stomach bug that got me.  I kicked it, but not before it caused me fever dreams and cathartic visions!

After Guam we head to China and hit Xiamen, Ningbo, and Shanghai- all back to back.  I don’t have a visa, yet, so it doesn’t matter to me that I have to stand a gangway watch- I should have the paperwork filled out and ready for the next port, Long Beach, California, so I can go ashore next time we hit China.

These runs are only 35 days long and I’m signed up for 3 of them- the maximum for a B-class sailor.  The A-class sailors get contracts to do 6, and they can take a trip off at any point during the 6, which opens up “relief trips” in the hall- being merely a single trip.

This guy reminds me of "ONO," god of mishap
that overlooks the yard at WBG Marine.
...the other side of ONO is "OYEAH," also
overlooking WBG Marine.
We’ve been retarding our clocks an hour a night each day since getting underway, but this captain (bless him) advances during the day on the way back- meaning we get ample sleep at night and full overtime for working a short day while enroute from China to Long Beach.  Suh-weet.  Most excellent.

We crossed the Prime Meridian on July 10th.  July 11th never came… we skipped straight to July 12th.  On the return trip we will cross back over on the 28th.  The next day will be July 28th, as well… called a “Meridian Day,” but jokingly called “Groundhog Day,” too.

The Catain, in the Cat's Lounge.



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