The Odyssey of “Empire State VI”

3° 9.496' W by 36° 21.027' N. Course: 92° Speed: 11.8 knots

I think this post is going to be a bit disjointed since I’ll be covering
several topics in some sort of odd circuitous route that probably only
makes sense to the writer. Also I wrote it through the course of the day..
Anyway, I hope you will forgive me, since I believe I am readjusting to
being on the ship all the time again.

We are back at sea and going nowhere. By that I mean that we have moved
the ship about 5-10 miles away from Malaga (very clearly in view) and are
at anchor while we do drills (they even lowered the lifeboats today). To
people like myself, this is particularly frustrating because my gut is
telling me – why did I get on the ship if we are just going to sit here?
Malaga is now mocking me with the only method to get back to terra firma
being one which employs the doggy paddle or breast stroke.

Of course this is a training ship, and the purpose of this steel machine…
this mechanized conveyance of cadets and officers... this ship is to
*train* not to convey me from port to port as quickly as possible. If we
were to just go full steam ahead to Greece, it would probably take us only
a couple of days or so to get there. “Empire State VI,” much like
Odysseus, is going to take a long and leisurely route before we finally
raise the Hellenic lands. This scenic tour of the Mediterranean is going
to test the navigation and piloting skills of cadets… particularly when we
encounter the Sirens and the Clashing Rocks.


To me, up to this point, the whole trip was really focused on crossing the
Atlantic and getting to Spain. Now that Spain is over, it is not so much
anti-climatic, but perhaps a bit dysphoric since our journey is not even a
third done for me, and hardly begun for those staying on for the full
three months.

The plan, from what I have gathered, is to sail through and among the
Balearic islands, and then between the islands of Corsica and Sardinia to
see the Island of Montecristo. From there, we go through the Strait of
Messina and then after a quick dip in the Adriatic we enter the Aegean.
The problem with this of course is that I cannot get off to explore these
islands and locales! On June 5th, we are due to anchor off the island of
Andros, where we will most likely engage in the highly nautical art of
“bunkering” which means refueling.

An interesting factoid about fuel. One of the cadets informed me that
when we fill the tank at the beginning of the trip, it costs well over
$1,000,000. As we proceed, we burn approximately 1 barrel of oil per
hour.

I am also apparently gaining a little following and the word has leaked
out to the cadets about this blog (thank you mothers and fathers of
maritime). Last night, as I was coming back to the ship, the cadet on
guard duty by the gates (his last name is Collins), informed me that his
mother informed him about the existence of this blog and that his mother
would like a picture at some point. Well Mrs. Collins, if I run into your
son again, I will certainly do so, he seemed like a friendly,
well-mannered young man (but perhaps this was because he was in formal
uniform). I have been trying to take more surreptitious photographs of
our cadets and I got a few during the lifeboat drills. I’ll post these
and other photos when we get to Greece.

So email is currently down in the lab and the library, so any
communication has to be done with a wireless computer on the upper decks.
Hopefully we can get fully functioning email restored soon. I believe
that it was shut off because of overheating (which I can personally attest
to), in the computer lab. There has of course been much weeping and
gnashing of teeth by the students.

Now for the good news – it is finally cooling off in here (resolutely
knock on wood here). It is still hot, but at least I’m not sweating
anymore! I bought a little magnet thermometer in Spain, and I think it is
a bit off. It is showing 92 F and 35 C, but it doesn’t feel over 90 for
sure -- or maybe I'm just used to it now. Magnet is cute though. It is
of a bull –what tourist is not going to go to Spain and get some cheesy
bull-themed trinket? Suggested names for the bull magnet will be
accepted.

Speaking of bulls, I understood some of the cadets saw a bullfight
yesterday outside of Malaga. My roommate ended up going, but he said it
was sort of like the triple-A league of bullfighting since all the good
bullfighters were in another part of the country for a festival. Also,
the bulls were relatively young. If that is the case, then that is a
shame, because a good bullfight is very impressive to see, while a bad
bullfight is awful to watch. I had one opportunity to see a bullfight the
last time I was in Spain which had both good bullfighting and bad
bullfighting, so there is a big difference. In the good bullfight, you
see that the matador has complete control of the bull, while in a bad
bullfight the opposite is the case.

Ok, sorry about the tangent there.

Today I worked out the movies that I am going to show between here and
Greece. We have quite a lineup including such classics as… “G.I. Joe:
The Rise of Cobra,” “Top Gun,” “Airplane,” and of course “Animal House.”
I also have a film on Greece that I am going to show them a few days
before we get to port.

Speaking of movies, we nearly had a riot tonight as I couldn’t get the TV
to play the movie (no screen was coming up). These kids are already irate
about the email, so the last thing I wanted was the TV to explode.
Luckily it turned out to be a loose wire and Mr. Ross our IT cadet fixed
it. That was my panic-moment for the day which of course made me wonder
why I just didn’t look back there myself.

That's it for today!

Fair Winds and Following Seas,
Joe