Honolulu on Oahu- Wednesday, January 27-Thursday, January 28
It didn’t take us long to get from Hilo to Honolulu; when I woke up we were in port.
At 7:45am on the first morning I had an FDP (Faculty Directed Practica) to go on with my Oceanography professor, Dan Abel. It was to the Hawai’i Institute of Marine Biology on Coconut Island. There were 13 of us on the trip.
We took a bus through Honolulu to rent snorkel gear; Prof Abel made a coffee run for us while we were inside. Then we got back on the bus and headed for the island. The drive was beautiful; the mountains were cloudy and green. The driver dropped us off at the top of a hill and we had to walk down to the dock where we were taken across in a small speed boat six at a time.
Coconut Island is small and largely restricted to researchers, so there weren’t many people there. A PhD candidate named Jon gave us a tour of the facility aka walked us around the island. We got to see pufferfish, jacks and a black tip reef shark. The pufferfish was spitting bubbles at us, which apparently meant that he was begging for food… like my dogs… haha.
Jon told us all about the research and native species, which was much more interesting than it sounds. Then we went inside to eat lunch while he gave us a lecture on sharks and rays (also much, much more interesting than it sounds).
Fun Fact: The tiger shark has no distinct migration pattern when it comes to moving up and down the islands. The only time their movements can be predicted is during the 2 or 3 weeks a year when the albatross eggs hatch in one specific location. During those weeks the sharks just chill in the water, waiting for the baby albatross to fail at flying. Aside from that, they’re very unpredictable in their movements.
After the lecture we were given 4 baby hammerhead sharks to dissect; they had died in captivity and were only 12-15 inches long. I held one for a picture and then just watched as everyone else dissected; it was interesting, but I don’t like to cut animals. One of the sharks had small crab claws in its stomach.
After the dissection we got to snorkel on the coral reef around the island, which is a rare treat because it’s not usually open to anyone except the researchers. We saw a bunch of fish and an eel in the hour or so that we were out there.
We got back to the ship around 4:30pm, showered and went out for dinner to a pretty sketchy looking restaurant that Helen’s friend recommended. It was delicious and the 3 boys met us there. We had a great time getting to know the guys and after dinner we walked to a local Coldstone. Later they waited (very patiently) with us for the bus that would take us back to the ship. It was a solid night.
The next morning Helen and I took a bus over to Pearl Harbor. We took a tour of the Arizona Memorial and the Pearl Harbor museum. My grandpa has a friend whose father died on the Arizona and we found his name on the memorial wall. It brought tears to my eyes to see how many of the survivors chose to be cremated and later interred with their shipmates who didn’t make it.
Reading about the other ships was also incredible. Mary’s neighbor survived Pearl Harbor. He was on the Oklahoma and managed to climb out a porthole. Upwards of 300 men died on that ship when it capsized; it had the highest number of casualties after the U.S.S. Arizona. There were pictures of everyone who didn’t make it.
By the time we got a bus back to the ship it was already close to on ship time, so we grabbed our computers and set up camp in an Internet café across the street. It was called Badass Coffee and has another store in Yokohama, which I’m going to try to find. The owner gave me his card and told me to say hi to the owner in Japan for him.
Back on the ship everyone was crowding the decks making last minute phone calls home while we still had reception. When I went to bed the lights of Hawaii were still visible. By the time I woke up we were alone in the Pacific.
Updates for the next week or so are going to be sporadic and probably pretty boring. We don’t arrive in Yokohama until February 9 and I’m going to be busy with classes, homework, tutoring, vicarious voyage and intramural volleyball.
LoveLoveLove,
Molly
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Ahola!
Oh goodness, Hawai’i! We pulled into port in Hilo on the Big Island about 5 a.m. Monday morning. We all ran up the stairs to see the sunrise over the volcanoes!....and then all we saw were street lights. But when the sun did finally come up about 6:30 or so it was amazing! After we all went through customs and passports and such and had breakfast they let us off the boat around 8:00 and we were free! Connie, Tucker, Heather, Molly, and I started walking to town, just like the other 800 SASers. Cabs were really expensive and the next bus wasn’t coming for a while, so we were just getting ready to hike the couple miles to town from port when a big van rolled up by us and we got a ride for $2 from a crazy wonderful woman named Teresa. Don’t worry parents, there were about 15 of us packed into that thing with plenty of strong boys.
When we got to town we went straight to a local market and oh my gosh, the fruit and veggies! There were avocados the size of my head and apple bananas the length of my fingers. We went off in search of Kona Coffee and found a coffee shop that wasn’t open yet, but as we started to walk away the owner let out his dog Rufio and opened early for us. He gave us each a coconut shell of kava juice, which is supposedly a ceremonial Hawai’ian drink made from the kava plant, which is spelled “awa” in Hawai’ian. Then off to Rainbow Falls we went! But of course we weren’t going to walk up hill 2 miles without some sustenance. We stopped at a drive through and enjoyed a breakfast spam sandwich, a local favorite. J
After walking for about a half hour we reached the falls. There hasn’t been much rain (but don’t worry, global warming is still just an unproved hypothesis), so the waterfall wasn’t roaring, so we walked through a mini jungle, clambered over rocks, and found a few fellow SASers jumping off cliffs in a deep pool above the falls. Ah, it was great! We all jumped in from about a 15 foot ledge, but some of the guys were going from about 35 feet. Connie and I climbed and hiked our way behind the feeding waterfall to our swimming pool and discovered a whole nother world. 3 more pools, one above the previous, each had little waterfalls that fed pools that the raging water had hollowed out. It was gorgeous! But alas, it was time to move on around 1 or so, so we called our wonderful Teresa and caught a ride down to Richardson Beach.
This beach is a blacksand beach with volcanic rock all over. There were 3 HUGE sea turtles bathing on the rocks. If you hold your hands out in front of you like a ballerina, fingertip to fingertip, that is about how big their shells were. Such a graceful creature and it’s on the endangered species list. On the rocks we found a whole bunch of fellow adventurers and after a while we mosied on back to the ship and got cleaned up for dinner.
Our second day a group of us went SCUBA diving on the blacksand beach! It was amazing; turtles, corals, fish, anenamies (the sea creatures but I don’t know how to spell it, not even close enough for Word to correct! But you know what I’m talking about J), and even a turtle that was missing a fin because a shark got it. After that we went back to the market to get some goodies, ran a few errands, and got back on the ship before ‘On Ship’ time, because if we are late we can’t get off the boat for so many hours at the next port…….BOO! And that was Hilo!
That night after dinner a faculty member held a ‘spiritual dance’ session up on the 7th deck. There were maybe 20 of us and we started dancing randomly for a couple songs and then began an hour long dance that was all about letting our bodies do whatever they wanted or needed. Every once in a while Jenny, the woman leading this, would yell “We are dancing on top of the ocean and under the moon!” Oh, what an experience! I tried explaining it to people, and the only way I could even begin to was just to say that afterwards my soul felt happy and whole.
Wednesday morning we pulled into port in Honolulu, Oahu, and Tucker, my roommate Nancy, and I headed out to explore. We ended up on Waikiki Beach for a while and went to an international market where Tucker finally had his pineapple drink; a woman cut off the top of the fruit, took out the meat, blenderized it, put it back in the shell, and put the top back on with a hole for a straw. He was one happy man. J
For dinner some of my friends and I met up with Broegy and Forrest and one of his friends. It was just crazy to see Broegster in Hawai’i!
The next day Molly and I got up early and headed to Pearl Harbor for a tour of the Arizona Memorial. What a place it was. We watched a video of actual footage of the attack from both US and Japanese archives before we ferried over to the memorial. It was eerie how part of the ship is sticking up above the surface. Oil is still leaking out and floating above the tomb that holds 1,177 men. Molly’s grandpa had a friend who lost his dad in the Arizona and we found his name on the wall. It will be quite an experience to go to the peace park in Hiroshima. We will see how the war began and ended for us. I can only imagine what we will feel there.
After we got back to the ship Molls and I headed to a café that was called Bad Ass coffee. The owner was there and told us that his business partner has one in Yokohama, so we are going to try and find it when we are there. Then it was back to the boat, not to set foot on land again until February 9th! Oh goodness, what a voyage this is. I still can’t believe I am actually doing this; actually going around the world.
And yes, thank you all so much for reading our posts and keeping up with us, and please write so we know what is going on back in the real world!
Friday, January 29, 2010
Hilo, Hawaii (Written update. Pictures are one post earlier and Honolulu is coming soon)
A surprising number of people are reading this blog. Thank you for keeping track of me. Hello family! I love you! Email me at mnsheetz@semesteratsea.net. I’d love to hear from you! (PS. I posted a ton of pictures of facebook).
Hawaii is gorgeous. The temperature here yesterday (1/27/2010) was around 80, 100 degrees warmer than the –20 it was in Wisconsin (and probably Chicago)! I hope everyone back home is enjoying the snow! I’m slightly sunburned; it’s a seemingly permanent state of being. ;-)
Hilo on The Big Island- Monday, January 25-Tuesday, January 26
Hilo was amazing! They woke us up at 5:45am to clear customs, so I rushed up on deck to see Hawaii for the fist time. I was greeted by darkness and the smell of gasoline; we were in Hilo Harbor and the sun had yet to rise. Slightly disappointing first view of Hawaii; it’s a good thing I like the smell of gasoline haha. Another funny phenomenon was cell phone reception. The decks were clogged with people calling parents, friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, etc.
They finally let us off the ship around 8:30am and I didn’t have any definite plans. All I knew was that I wanted to try Kona coffee and Spam, which Hawaiian people are supposed to love. Little did I know that I was about to have one of the best days of my life.
Hilo isn’t really that big of a town, so it was pretty obvious that SAS had just released nearly 600 college kids onto dry land for the first time in eight days. It can easily be described as an invasion. We got a small group together and headed down the road towards the bus stop. Our group had five people: me, Helen, Heather, Tucker and Connie, which ended up being a great size.
We were waiting at the free bus stop, but we quickly learned that while the bus is free, it also tends to be late. We were on the verge of walking the three miles into town when Teresa drove up in her van. I’m going to go on record right now and say that Teresa is both utterly insane and a complete badass. She’s an overweight, fifty-year-old California native who has lived in Hilo for years. Her interests include zodiac signs, skinny dipping and showing people pictures of her from the 70s. “[She] used to be pretty damn hot. Wouldn’t you tap that?” Teresa is an adventure.
She picked us up and drove us into town for $2 each. She was so much fun that we ended up calling her every time we needed a ride for the rest of our time in Hilo. Teresa dropped us off and we began to wander. Tucker and I are English/Creative Writing majors and coffee fiends, so we insisted on finding Kona coffee immediately. We found a sweet looking coffee shop, but it wasn’t supposed to open until 10, so we started to walk away. Just then Dave, the owner, came outside with his dog Rufio and told us that he was willing to open early for us if we were willing to wait while he made coffee.
Dave was super friendly and as he was grinding and hand pressing the coffee he told us about the history of Kava in Hawaii. Kava is made from the roots of the kava plant and it’s an earthy tasting watery drink the color of coffee when it’s been paled with the addition of cream. It’s supposed to produce a mildly euphoric feeling; it made my tongue go numb. Since it was our first day in Hawaii, Dave told us he would let us try it for free. He poured a big bowl and scooped us shells full of kava as he explained the traditional kava ceremony.
Once everyone has a shell, you all clap once. Then you did sprinkle a few drops on the ground to thank the earth and a few drops over your shoulder to thank the ancestors before you drink. When you’re finished you clap twice and wait for everyone else to finish. The end. It was fun, though the kava itself is slightly bitter.
Then I bought a cup of delicious Kona coffee and we left. Next we stopped for spam burgers, which ended up being an egg/cubed spam omelet on a hamburger bun. It was surprisingly good. Spam tastes like salty ham with the consistency of hot dog meat.
We then hiked aka walked up the road two miles to Rainbow Falls. The walk was through a pretty suburban area, but suburban in Hilo is still beautiful and green green green. Rainbow Falls itself isn’t much of a hike, which I was okay with after the long walk. You see the falls themselves right away, but the fun part comes when you walk up a long flight of stairs into the forest. The trees are so huge that the canopy has practically fused and sun doesn’t shine through too strongly. Suddenly the stairs and path seem to disappear and you wander around looking for a way through the trees, which took us a minute to find. The path led us past the top of the falls and back to the edge of a river where we used stepping-stones to cross the water. Then we scrambled over huge rocks in the opposite direction of the falls for about ten minutes until we heard splashing and stumbled upon a lake where people were cliff jumping.
The crowd was mostly SAS kids, but there were only about 20 people in all. We all jumped in from a 12-foot cliff, but there were some guys jumping from around 35! The water was so deep that no one could touch the bottom. It felt like we’d stumbled upon a local secret because it was so far out of the way.
We stayed for almost two hours, then called Teresa and got a ride to the beach. En route, she insisted that we stop at the liquor store and we didn’t object. We bought a few Coronas and set up camp at Richardson Beach, a black sand beach. Hilo isn’t known for its beaches; it’s on the wrong side of the island for that.
If you looked out at the horizon from Richardson Beach you could see humpback whales breaching because they hang out in the warm water around Hawaii during birthing season. On the rocks to the left of the beach we found three endangered Hawaiian Green Sea Turtles basking in the sun. It’s illegal to touch them, but we got a bunch of pictures; they didn’t seem to mind. (That’s when I cuddled the 18-week-old pitbull puppy).
We hung out on the beach for a couple hours and did a little swimming, but not too much because the waves wore you out quickly. The beach was overrun with SAS kids and we ran into a bunch of friends. It was a wonderful way to end the afternoon.
Teresa drove us back to the ship where we showered, ate and then walked down the street to a bar called Margarita Village, which we promptly took over. They weren’t even pretending to card. Apparently it’s usually a gay bar, but that night it was a SAS bar. It got crazy packed eventually, but I only stayed until 11 or so because after such a long day I was exhausted. We slept on the ship.
The next morning we woke up, ate breakfast and Teresa drove us to Nautilus Dive Center in town where we had scheduled scuba diving. Our dive spot was back at Richardson Beach and we saw a bunch of sea turtles, urchins and fish on the coral reef. There was even a turtle whose fin had been bitten off by a shark! Our dive was 52 minutes and our max depth was 57 feet, which was perfect because I’m certified for up to 60 feet.
Then we went to Walmart to pick up some stuff we needed and by the time we got back to the ship to drop off our purchases it was almost on ship time, so we grabbed our laptops and sat outside Margarita Village (the bar) to steal their Internet.
On ship time was 6pm and we pulled out of Hilo Harbor at 8pm.
That was Hilo. Honolulu was fun, but not nearly as busy, so keep an eye out for that update sometime tomorrow.
LoveLoveLove
Molly
Thursday, January 28, 2010
To Sum Up Hawaii...
Cliff jumping at Rainbow Falls in Hilo, Hawaii. This was our first day in our first port. The cliff I chose to jump from was only about 12 feet, but there were a couple of guys who were jumping from around 30.
This is a view of Oahu from the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology on Coconut Island where we got a tour, dissected sharks and went snorkeling.
Yes, this is me holding a baby hammerhead shark. Yes, it is dead. Yes, my group dissected it and three others. No, I did not participate.
<3 Molly
SCUBA Molly!
Monday, January 25, 2010
Jan 23 & 24
Okay, so I have been informed (thanks, Dad) that this blog needed to be updated. Here’s the rundown of what I’ve been up to for the past few days. J
We’ve been attending mandatory pre-port seminars for the past two nights. Most of it is basic “don’t be stupid” stuff, but the cultural aspect has been interesting.
Last night after a day of classes and getting slightly sunburned we had to attend one of these seminars. It was long, excessively long and by the end I was ready fall asleep. On my way back to my cabin I passed a group of people gathering in the piano lounge for what I’d heard was supposed to be the first of many “coffee house nights.” It’s one of those artsy “come on up and play a song or read a poem” type things that generally tend to be disappointing. The first girl in line was someone named Kaitlin whom Helen and Gabe had heard singing before, so we stopped to watch one, just one song.
SHE WAS AMAZING.
She played an acoustic guitar and sang three original songs. Wow. Her voice was overwhelmingly beautiful and her lyrics were perfect. If she had been selling a demo I would have bought it on the spot. I repeat, wow.
I decided to stay for a while.
She was followed by two guys (Max and Tolan) who started off with a Flight of the Concords cover, “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World,” which also happens to be my favorite one of their songs. Seriously, if you haven’t heard it, youtube right this instant. They’re a comedic duo from New Zealand with their own TV show and they’re absolutely hilarious. Max bowed out after the song and Tolan, who was playing an acoustic electric guitar, played/sang a few of his own original songs, which were also quality. I liked Kaitlin’s lyrics better, but Tolan was also ridiculously talented.
Next came a guy from Japan who sang a song from Titanic. He was awful, but he was smiling the whole time and everyone applauded.
Then some little girl got up. Her name is Mischa and she’s a slam poet. She read two original pieces that had everyone in the room (upwards of 100 people) captivated. She has the face and stature of a 12-year-old, which made it even more incredible. I later found out that she’s the 16-year-old daughter of one of the professors. Either way, she’s a baller. Then Tucker read a poem he wrote while on a mission trip in the Dominican Republic.
After Tucker they had to wrap things up. Danny played/sang a Damien Rice song on guitar and Jeff played “Mr. Brightside” on the piano and we had a bit of a sing along, which was a great way to wrap up the evening. I would never have guessed that so many people that are so incredibly talented could be in one room at one time. I can’t wait to see what the next Coffee House Night is like; I’m willing to bet that it’ll be ten times more crowded.
This morning I woke up and everything I set down on the bedside table last night was still there. The sea was so calm that it felt like we were on land (at least in comparison to the last week).
I was heading up the stair on my way to grab coffee around 9:30am when a woman in a SAS sweatshirt asked me to go back down the stairs and come up again, so she could film me. I retraced my steps and apparently my ascent is going to be a blurb. I don’t know where, but keep an eye out on the SAS website or something… I guess. Either way, I like to say that I’ve been “blurbed.”
I didn’t have class until 12:30, so I sat out on Deck 6 and wrote in my sea journal (for my English class). I was quite surprised to see another ship on the horizon. Then I laughed at how surprised I was. Eight days on the Pacific Ocean and I’m already shocked to see other signs of life. Haha It turned out to be a freighter, but it never got close enough for me to investigate too thoroughly.
Later Courtney and I finally sent our first email to our Vicarious Voyage teacher. Correction: we have a 6th grade class, not 5th graders. I’m looking forward to hearing from the kids. Our first envelope goes out in two weeks, so we’ll be picking up postcards, maps, etc. in Hawaii to send them. I’m also going to be helping Hels out with her class, too!
Around 7:30pm I found out that it had been possible to see the outline of Hawaii on the horizon at sunset and that some people were checking it out with binoculars. I missed this. Boo.
We pull into port at 6am tomorrow, which is also when we have to be awake because customs officials are coming aboard and beginning the tiring process of processing every single person on the ship. We’re supposed to be out and about by 10 or 11am.
I have no real plans for tomorrow, but I’m hoping to explore and find an Internet café to upload a few pictures. I think that SASers are planning a mass exodus to the local Walmart in hopes of finding cheap beer. I myself am interested in purchasing a loofah. Hilo isn’t exactly know for its beaches because we’re on the wrong side of the island for that, but there are still a couple and we want to find one. Tomorrow will be relaxing… once we clear customs, go shopping for forgotten essentials and find a beach… haha
I do, however, have plans for Tuesday! Our scuba group is finally finalized. We have 12 people going on Tuesday morning (Me, Helen, Heather, Sally, Alyson, Gabe, Keith, Victor, Ryan, Mike, Alex and Beau). I hope it doesn’t rain!
This is all that has been going on in my life for the past couple days.
The end.
Lovelovelove,
Molly
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Jan. 22-23
Last night I meant to do homework, but went up to deck 7 instead. It was gorgeous out and everyone was hanging out. I met a few new people, including my first person from Arkansas ever! Haha
I also slept through breakfast this morning, which is actually great because that means that the dresser didn’t wake me up! The ship has been a less rocky so far today and I’m hoping that we’re over the worst before we get to Hawaii. It’s supposed to be harsh again once we head towards Japan.
Fun Fact of the Day: If you arrange them like a jigsaw puzzle, very single continent in the world can fit within the Pacific Ocean.
Anyways, I booked a dive in Hilo for a group of 11 people. Now I’m going through the “IhopeitworksoutbecauseIdon’twanttoleteveryonedown” stress stage. Our entry spot is a black sand beach south of Hilo that’s supposed to be known for its abundance of Hawaiian green sea turtles and maybe even whales! That’s on Tuesday morning, so I’m sure I’ll be updating soon about our dive.
I’m currently reading; Typee by Herman Melville. It’s a solid book so far. I have mixed feelings about Melville. Benito Cereno is a baler short story, but Bartleby the Scrivener (sp?) simply frustrates me.
I keep hearing that people have seen whales, but I haven’t spotted one myself yet, but I’m keeping an eye out. We’re supposed to see a good number of whales once we get to Hawaii because they travel to the waters around Hawaii to give birth about this time of year. Don’t quote me on that, but that’s what I’ve heard.
That’s all for now.
Love,
Molly
Friday, January 22, 2010
Rocking on the high seas!
Jan 21 & 22
Yesterday was only sunny on and off. It was like every time I put on my swimsuit to go lay out, the sun would decide to hide for a while; I guess I’m bad luck. Haha I went up to deck 6 for pub night after I got some homework done and worked out a bit. We had a drink or two and played Catchphrase, which was super fun because everyone was shouting and laughing and because the group was always changing I met some new people. It was even more fun because every once in a while the boat would tilt just enough to send everyone’s chairs sliding across the deck. We would all grab each other’s chairs (and beer) to make sure no one fell. Everyone was cracking up and no beer (or people) was spilled.
Today started off early. Heather and I usually wake up at 8am to grab breakfast, but the drawers work her up at 7 and me up at 7:20, so we got an early start. We ate breakfast inside on deck 5 with Gabe, Matt and Mac, then hung out for a while talking. I don’t have class until 12:30, so I’m going to head up to deck 7 to soak up some vitamin D and finish my reading once the sky clears up in a little while. It doesn’t look stormy; it’s just gray right now, but the sun is already poking through and it smells like a nice day. What does a nice day smell like? Don’t ask me; it just does.
There’s no Global Studies today, so I only have Oceanography and Women and Power in India. I’m done at 4:15. Every lecture is a power lecture on the ship; no 50-minute classes here. I’m still working on scuba reservations in Hilo, but it’s looking good so far!
I’m off to work on homework.
Love,
Molly
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Test....
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Day 5
The ship has been super rocky for the past two days. It's nothing scary (except once in a while) but it's hard to walk and our dresser drawers slide open and closed in the middle of the night, which wakes us up sometimes. My oceanography professor told us today that these waves are 10-15 foot swells that were made to the north (aka back in SoCal where the weather has been horrendous) up to 4 days ago and are just reaching us now. The sea is supposed to calm down within the next day or two. Today at dinner on the 6th deck (we try to eat outside at every meal) my chair slid away from the table; yes, I was sitting in it at the time.
Today we also saw flying fish and an albatross (it was a species native to Hawaii) was circling the ship all morning and into the afternoon. It's the first bird we've seen since we left port a few days ago. We stopped class to watch it fly around. I think it knew we were talking about it because it started flying right at our classroom window like it was showing off. haha
Last night I discovered that my shoulders got a little color when I spent an hour outside on deck 6 eating lunch! It's the beginning of my soon-to-be-epic tan! Also, it was about 70 today and I wore shorts and a t-shirt to class.
Due to our slightly shortened semester, we all have to do Faculty Directed Practica in port to make up for the 3 or 4 missing class periods. It's a little overwhelming trying to organize everything and find out which trips count for which professors, but so far it looks like it'll be fun.
I'm trying to get a group together to go scuba diving in Hilo when we arrive in a few days and I have my heart set on doing a service trip to the Missionaries of Charity Orphanage in India. It was founded by Mother Theresa!
I'm going to go work out with Heather, but I'll try to post a picture or two later tonight.
lovelovelove
Molly
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Days 2 & 3
Monday Jan. 18
Today was a longgg day. We had a full day of orientation- think college welcome week crammed into a single day. It was boring because they were just reiterating the safety information that they’ve been emailing us for the past six months. The first meeting was at 9am. Heather and I thought we were on top of things, but we ended up missing breakfast. Oops… I even woke up at 7:45am to shower. (The water temperature/pressure is great so far. I hope it keeps up!)
I regret not packing the sweet new Blackhawks travel coffee mug my brothers bought me for Christmas. Coffee is available all day, but we’re not allowed to take the mugs out of the dining room; we have to use our own if we want to snag a drink between meals. Again, oops.
Tonight I also lay out of the deck and watched the stars. The sky isn’t filled like I had imagined, but I’m sure we’ll be able to see more and more as we go.
Tuesday Jan. 19
First day of classes! Mine are interesting so far. Both professors are very passionate about their subjects, which always makes it easier to learn.
I’ve been told that our ship is currently passing through the Tropic of Cancer or somewhere close by, so if anyone is wondering, that’s roughly where we are.
Tonight is the first night we can use our drink vouchers! It’s also a pub night, which means we can buy 4 instead of the regular 3 drinks. I’m in the mood for a glass of wine, so it’ll be nice to sit up on deck and watch the sunset. J
-Molly
Monday, January 18, 2010
Days 1 and 2
My dad and I flew into San Diego on Friday afternoon. The weather was gorgeous; palm trees in January never fail to make me smile. We explored the Gaslamp District and Old Town (first town ever established in California) both of which were interesting and full of good food/drink.
I woke up in San Diego this morning, had breakfast with my dad and then got on a 9am bus to the Ensenada, Mexico! The drive itself is only an hour and a half, but it took us at extra 45 minutes or so to clear customs. The entire drive was right down the coast and the houses were super colorful, which is a nice change from US architecture. At long last we rounded a corner and saw our ship. Well… we saw a ship… I think the ship most people noticed first was Carnival’s Elation cruise ship, which we’d seen docked in San Diego the day before. As it turned out, our ship, the MV Explorer is much smaller than that monstrosity… Of course, by “much smaller” I mean we only have a measly seven decks instead of three billion.
I got all checked in on the boat, which took around 20 minutes from the time that I actually stepped inside. Then I went to deck 3 to find my room and meet my new roommate. (Fun side note: the name of our deck is Dionysus!) I had low expectations for the room itself, which was perfect because when I discovered that I ended up with a decent sized double room I was thrilled. My roommate’s name is Heather. She’s from Concord, NH and she goes to New England College. (Fun fact: she’s a triplet!)
We weren’t set to leave port until 5pm, so we ate lunch (tacos), unpacked and explored the ship with Helen and a few other people we met along the way. There are actually around 15 UW-Madison students on this voyage. The total college student count is roughly 580 with a 66/34 girl to guy ratio. We all hung around on deck and chatted until dinner. By the time we finally threw off the ropes and set sail it was around 6:15pm. Everyone cheered and the outdoor decks were packed with people until everyone got chilly and went inside. At 8pm we had our first orientation meeting (many many many more to follow tomorrow) and met the captain/crew/teachers.
The sea is a little rough tonight because there’s a little bit of stormy weather on our tail, but I’ve heard that it usually isn’t quite this choppy. A few people have puked so far, but I haven’t gotten seasick and I actually find the rocking motion relaxing, though it has been a bit difficult to walk. After the meeting Heather and I went outside; it’s already pitch black. The ocean is huge and we’re barely away from port. We’ve been told to look for Orion’s Belt in every country, so I’m going to start tomorrow night.
Classes start on Tuesday and continue for 8 days (I think) before we dock in Hilo, Hawaii where I’m planning to go scuba diving with a group of people from the boat. Apparently this ship’s top speed in 29 knots, but we’re cruising at about 20mph right now, which I think is normal; I don’t know the conversion. The Internet is already a little bit sketchy, so I don’t know how often I’ll be able to post, but I’ll try to keep up to date. Anyway, I’m exhausted and we have to be up early again.
LoveLoveLove,
Molly