We left Nassau Friday under reverse power and the guidance of two tugs pushing and pulling the MV Explorer in a big 3-point turn so we could point out to sea. We hustled north and east on an altered course to avoid a hurricane (Gustav) and managed to just miss a tropical storm. Not so lucky for the Cayman Islands, I hear.
Captain Roman Krstanovic (Croatia) took the helm and made a quiet, orderly and thorough inspection of the muster stations during the life boat drill. He seems to carry the weight of his ship's burden easily on his 2 meter frame. Passing for an older Liam Neeson with an efficient haircut, he glowed with determined energy in his walk around the ship.
When the drill ended, we moved to deck 6 forward balcony to wave good bye to the parents of all of our students in the Bahamas. Lots of tears and hugs among students and a reality setting in for staff and faculty after a few quiet and under-crowded days on this ship. All these feelings were driven home with a three-horn blast so loud it made my eyes water and my heart jump.
The next day of sailing had us pass within sight of a handful of nameless Bahama islands and finally Cuba from the Starboard side before sunset. This morning had us sail into Puerto Rico harbor where we were boarded and inspected by the U.S. Coast Guard before our current refueling. We'll depart here about 1600. The weather is hot and muggy, 84 degrees farenheit, same as the water temp. Lightning and thunder are visible and audible within a few miles. Classes keep on going. I'm off to work a shift at the activity desk!
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Friday, August 29, 2008
Leaving Nassau
Helloooo Friends,
Thanks to all the friendly emails and good memories of time recently spent in Santa Cruz...it was great to see friends and colleagues for surfing, dinner and, even work, last week and I wish that your training and opening preparations go well, even in the face of roaming power outages on the west side of campus in Santa Cruz.
For us, we've been blessed by a brief (24hr) stop in Nassau. After clearing the ship for customs, Heather and I had an hour or so with some new ship-friends to find a small clean-ish beach near the ship's harbor to take a warm Caribbean dip. We hurried back to the ship for a parent's reception and to perhaps ease some of anxieties and celebrate some of the hopes for these nervous and excited parents of our students. We managed to escape the ship again to visit a local establishment, avoid the Noro-virus causing conch ceviche and drink a local brew called Kalik in time for the Obama acceptance speech for the Dem's nomination. An historic speech no matter your politics.
Today was a whirlwind of helping students leave their duct-tape at the gangway (30 rolls collected) and helping them find their rooms, find the dining room and find their life vests for the life safety drill. Heather found some time to sneak away and get some stamps! The best t-shirt we saw for sale was "Bahaman's for Obama." Random, I know.
I'm getting to know all the students now, slowly and by repeting their names, home towns and majors to them. I'll be they love that:)
keep in touch,
Bill
Thanks to all the friendly emails and good memories of time recently spent in Santa Cruz...it was great to see friends and colleagues for surfing, dinner and, even work, last week and I wish that your training and opening preparations go well, even in the face of roaming power outages on the west side of campus in Santa Cruz.
For us, we've been blessed by a brief (24hr) stop in Nassau. After clearing the ship for customs, Heather and I had an hour or so with some new ship-friends to find a small clean-ish beach near the ship's harbor to take a warm Caribbean dip. We hurried back to the ship for a parent's reception and to perhaps ease some of anxieties and celebrate some of the hopes for these nervous and excited parents of our students. We managed to escape the ship again to visit a local establishment, avoid the Noro-virus causing conch ceviche and drink a local brew called Kalik in time for the Obama acceptance speech for the Dem's nomination. An historic speech no matter your politics.
Today was a whirlwind of helping students leave their duct-tape at the gangway (30 rolls collected) and helping them find their rooms, find the dining room and find their life vests for the life safety drill. Heather found some time to sneak away and get some stamps! The best t-shirt we saw for sale was "Bahaman's for Obama." Random, I know.
I'm getting to know all the students now, slowly and by repeting their names, home towns and majors to them. I'll be they love that:)
keep in touch,
Bill
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Somewhere between Norfolk and Nassau
Hello!
Just a quick note to say that we have left Norfolk and are sailing along - midway to our stop in Nassau, where we will arrive tomorrow (Thursday) at 5pm EST.
We are loving the ship and all the wonderful people we are meeting. Everyone is brimming with excitment at this upcoming adventure - trying to get settled into our cabins and new home, getting to know one another and preparing for the large number of new shipmates will we be welcoming in just two days.
Our living quarters are very nice - we have a small cabin with a large window on Deck 4 (port side, toward the rear or aft). The rest of the ship is lovely and we're quickly familiarizing ourselves with all the nooks and crannies.
Just wanted to say hello and let you all know we are doing well. Slept like babies last night after leaving stateside around 8pm EST. So far no troubles with motion sickness.
Joy and Kiki - thanks for the blog comments!!!
So much more to come...
heather ;)
From Bill:
As I type this note, the deck is still rolling from side to side and the feeling is exacerbated by my being in a room with no windows...no seasickness just yet, a bit queasy the first night, but it passed. My 'iron stomach' prevailed over this little challange too:) Bring on the mango-conch ceviche in the Bahama's! (that's for Ed Paco)
The swells yesterday were 6-8 ft at about 12-13 seconds (long period). Today the swells are 6-7 ft at about 7 seconds and the boat rocks with every swell...so it's like a carnival ride right now. but it's warm and carribbean like in the weather.
More meetings today, then a parent reception this evening, then the students board the ship tomorrow morning! hasta.
Bill
Just a quick note to say that we have left Norfolk and are sailing along - midway to our stop in Nassau, where we will arrive tomorrow (Thursday) at 5pm EST.
We are loving the ship and all the wonderful people we are meeting. Everyone is brimming with excitment at this upcoming adventure - trying to get settled into our cabins and new home, getting to know one another and preparing for the large number of new shipmates will we be welcoming in just two days.
Our living quarters are very nice - we have a small cabin with a large window on Deck 4 (port side, toward the rear or aft). The rest of the ship is lovely and we're quickly familiarizing ourselves with all the nooks and crannies.
Just wanted to say hello and let you all know we are doing well. Slept like babies last night after leaving stateside around 8pm EST. So far no troubles with motion sickness.
Joy and Kiki - thanks for the blog comments!!!
So much more to come...
heather ;)
From Bill:
As I type this note, the deck is still rolling from side to side and the feeling is exacerbated by my being in a room with no windows...no seasickness just yet, a bit queasy the first night, but it passed. My 'iron stomach' prevailed over this little challange too:) Bring on the mango-conch ceviche in the Bahama's! (that's for Ed Paco)
The swells yesterday were 6-8 ft at about 12-13 seconds (long period). Today the swells are 6-7 ft at about 7 seconds and the boat rocks with every swell...so it's like a carnival ride right now. but it's warm and carribbean like in the weather.
More meetings today, then a parent reception this evening, then the students board the ship tomorrow morning! hasta.
Bill
Monday, August 25, 2008
Norfolk (pre boarding)
Hello friends!
We are in Virginia, [Norfolk to be exact (pronounced No-fuk)]....having some coffee and our last stateside breakfast before boarding the ship in just over an hour. How exciting!! We arrived at our hotel last night and walked down to look at our ship, the MV Explorer, with our friend, Angelica (Angie), who will also be working this fall with Bill. Angie worked with Bill at UCSC a few years ago and is now working on a PhD at the University of Texas. As luck would have it, she was hired by SAS too and it will be fun to share this adventure with her and so many others.
Anyway - all three of us were astounded by the size of the ship - it looks quite large and daunting from land and very exciting. It's hard to imagine that it will be our home for the next 3 and a half months. Wow. We board today and will set sail for the Bahamas tomorrow. The students will board on Friday morning and off we'll sail for Salvador, Brasil.
Best wishes and love to all of you. We'll be in touch as often as we can and will share pictures of our new home soon!
Much love,
heather ;)
From Bill:
Heather is right, the ship is huge. It's blue on the bottom and white on the top. The radar array reminded me of the evil Star-Destroyer space ships from the Star Wars films. George Lucas' touch of realism really made those movies grand, but I digress.
I'm honestly a bit nervous about sharing a (relatively) small space with 799-ish other people with the breaks so acutely defined by the ocean and the port visits. My experiences living in community have been vast, so I'm hopeful for a quick adjustment and that I can lead the students with whom I'll be working toward realistic expectations of themselves and each other while they are on the ship.
In making sense of this so far, I'm equating this trip to a really well supported backpacking trip, for those who appreciate metaphors. I'm excited by the wilds of the oceans, and yet, I'm concerned for the impact we'll make as a large ship and 800 travelers with a lot of energy. So I'll sign off this way in preparation for an expedition:
Preparing for the worst, Praying for the best, and Hoping to land somwhere in between,
Kindly,
Bill
We are in Virginia, [Norfolk to be exact (pronounced No-fuk)]....having some coffee and our last stateside breakfast before boarding the ship in just over an hour. How exciting!! We arrived at our hotel last night and walked down to look at our ship, the MV Explorer, with our friend, Angelica (Angie), who will also be working this fall with Bill. Angie worked with Bill at UCSC a few years ago and is now working on a PhD at the University of Texas. As luck would have it, she was hired by SAS too and it will be fun to share this adventure with her and so many others.
Anyway - all three of us were astounded by the size of the ship - it looks quite large and daunting from land and very exciting. It's hard to imagine that it will be our home for the next 3 and a half months. Wow. We board today and will set sail for the Bahamas tomorrow. The students will board on Friday morning and off we'll sail for Salvador, Brasil.
Best wishes and love to all of you. We'll be in touch as often as we can and will share pictures of our new home soon!
Much love,
heather ;)
From Bill:
Heather is right, the ship is huge. It's blue on the bottom and white on the top. The radar array reminded me of the evil Star-Destroyer space ships from the Star Wars films. George Lucas' touch of realism really made those movies grand, but I digress.
I'm honestly a bit nervous about sharing a (relatively) small space with 799-ish other people with the breaks so acutely defined by the ocean and the port visits. My experiences living in community have been vast, so I'm hopeful for a quick adjustment and that I can lead the students with whom I'll be working toward realistic expectations of themselves and each other while they are on the ship.
In making sense of this so far, I'm equating this trip to a really well supported backpacking trip, for those who appreciate metaphors. I'm excited by the wilds of the oceans, and yet, I'm concerned for the impact we'll make as a large ship and 800 travelers with a lot of energy. So I'll sign off this way in preparation for an expedition:
Preparing for the worst, Praying for the best, and Hoping to land somwhere in between,
Kindly,
Bill
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Photos
Hello friends & family!
In order to share photos with you as we journey around the globe, we've created a Shutterfly website for everyone to use. Feel free to click on the link below and browse our albums. You can actually download and purchase pictures for yourself. We just added some shots from our wedding.
We'll upload photos as often as we can.
Enjoy!
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
It takes a village to throw a wedding!
Here a few things we could not have done without the help of countless folks behind the scenes. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
*for doing Heather's hair and make-up - Jessica Arnold
*for attending to the Ring Bearer - Jessica Arnold
*for attending to the Flower Girl - Lauren Alsot
*for greeting guests as they first arrived - Zoe Paco & Joy Pehlke
*for providing family heirlooms for Heather to borrow - Judi Sauer, Pattie Phipps, Jeanne Falkiner & Jean Corra
*for posting balloons everywhere - Sarah Woodside, Brian Arao & Jim Brown
*for driving the golf cart all over the place - Joy Pehlke
*for pouring wine - Sarah Olsen, David Sussberg & Adam Butler
*for providing live music - The No Marys (Paul Henry and Peter & Michelle Stroet)
*for setting up sound, creating playlists and running the music all night - Alesha Magee, Valerie Guerrero & Laura Julio
*for helping coordinate dinner - Osiris Ortiz
*for providing local insight and volunteering her sister - Mari Ortiz-McGuire
*for making the candle favors - Thomas & Cara Aguirre
*for documenting our special day -
Jill Lounsbury, Gary Merrill, Nicole LeBlanc & Brandy Ivener
*for making baked ziti and cheese pizza - Roland Konicke
*for organizing pedicures and a special girls dinner- Jessica Arnold & Michelle Stroet
*for setting up and handling the food at our Rehearsal meal - Sarah Coy
*for helping us clean and decorate the Learning Center -
Kristina Henry, Sarah Woodside, Paul Henry, Michelle Stroet, Jessica Arnold, Bob & Viv Heinrich, Mike Ricks, Sue Ricks, Jeanne Falkiner, Kate Winter, Meghan Heinrich, Ed Heinrich, Sarah Coy, Elyse Heinrich, Megan Ricks, Billie Laverghetta, Phil & Laurie Alsot, Andrew Alsot, Liz Alsot
*for delivering Welcome Baskets, running errands, setting up our bonfire -
Jim Brown, Brian Arao, Ed Paco, Ed Heinrich, Sarah Woodside, Nicole Potestivo, Brian Holtz & Jessica Arnold
*for setting up an area of kids at the reception - Michelle Stroet & Jessica Arnold
*for moving chairs from the ceremony to reception -
Zarra Keith, Angela Esquivel, Nicole Milner, Sequilla Lee, Rick Gonzales & Ivan Orta
*for decorating the bicycle - Sarah Woodside & Joe Johnson
*for folding, stamping, cutting, and pasting all of our invitations, thank you cards, programs and favors -
Rachel Bauman, Laura Engelken, Michelle Stroet, Jessica Arnold, Steve Hinkel, Nicole Potestivo, Brian Holtz, Jim Brown, Brian Arao, Jacob Willet, Tiffany Lansidel, Zoe Paco, Joy Pehlke, Alex Belisario & Sarah Woodside
*for the use of their home for numerous events - Kim Lau & John Cronin
*for sharing their anniversary with us - Patrick & Sam Foster (8/2/98)
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