5/30/2010 The Strait of Messina

Happy Memorial Day Eve! And even happier now that email seems to be back..
The ship today went through the Strait of Messina and now we are in the
Ionian Sea. It was rather dramatic looking, since there is a wall of
mountains that suddenly drop into this patch of open water. I took some
pictures and it was somewhat hazy out, but I did get good views of Mount
Etna. I think it would have been nifty if it erupted but nobody seemed
to share this sentiment.

Everybody was excited to see Italy on the port side and Sicily on the
starboard although many of us wish we could have stopped even for half a
day for perhaps a fine glass of wine with music from the Godfather
playing.

I say the music from the Godfather because multiple people at different
locations on the decks seem to only know only one thing about Sicily: The
Godfather. This of course devolved into entire conversations about the
movie, but some of the older people also were talking about how the
Germans escaped from the Allies during World War II over the straits.

To celebrate this occasion and because it was Sunday at Sea, we had two of
those gluttonous barbecues. Yours truly in the two meals consumed: 1
hotdog 1 burger 2 porkchops 2 small steaks (they really were small)
assorted buns, some biscuits, corn, and pasta salad. This was washed down
with generous helpings of iced tea and lemonade all courtesy of
Chartwells. I am glad I managed to work out in the morning, but I think
we had a net gain of calories.

The cadets for the most part were lounging around, glad to have some time
off.

I closed the library for the morning and afternoon since during the last
Sunday at sea I had nobody come in. It is now 6:45 pm… err sorry 1845.

The day was mostly quiet for all hands, and I spent the bulk of it reading
this book, The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell, by Mark Kurlansky
(who also authored such epics as Cod and Salt. It is a very entertaining
book that looks into the history of New York City through the eyes of the
oyster industry. What I found most disturbing is the realization that
oysters are the only live food westerners eat. I don’t think I can handle
eating an oyster now, but they used to be extremely popular.

Upon opening the library this evening, I had a rush of students who were
looking for books to read, but also I found out that our email was back
up! Apparently they jury-rigged some sort of device. I think I saw a
glimpse of the process. I had to drop off a paper in the Captain’s office
the other day, and these two cadets had these black boxes opened up with
all the wires hanging limply out. It was quite gruesome.

But if this solution takes (and holds), we should be resuming the daily
updates again.

The other good news is the DVD/VCR/Gordian knots of wires is solved. I
know play two TV's (starboard and portside) plus we are now piping it up
into the Officer's lounge. How was this solved? Our good engineering
faculty David Pulis switched one of our switches on the TV to A/V. Doh!

Fair Wind and Following Seas,
Joe