Aloha Hawaii! My Last Post :(

Aloha!

Well we arrived in Honolulu harbor, Hawaii; our last port in Cruise 1 2010. I was fortunate enough to go to the pier to help tie up the ship today, we launched our fast rescue boat and it zipped us over to the pier to tie up mooring lines. The remainder of the day today was spent on kitchen duty...again. My room is all packed up and everyone is busy cleaning and moving their stuff out of their rooms and to the top deck to leave tomorrow. Tomorrow at 0500 everyone aboard is waking up, putting the final touches on their rooms and then we have one last clean sweep down and off we go, hopefully before noon.

This summer has by far been the best summer ever. Leaving San Francisco aboard the 500 foot Training Ship Golden Bear, the Cal Maritime cadets traveled 4,930 miles across the Pacific Ocean to Busan, South Korea. Another 1,050 miles east to Kobe, Japan. Then past Iwo Jima 1,386 miles to the island of Guam. North up the chain and around the Marianas Islands to beautiful Saipan and then 3,250 miles back east across the Pacific to our last stop Honolulu, Hawaii.

In 2 months I have traveled 10,746 miles, been at sea for 45 days and ashore for 16. I met people from 3 very different cultures, attempted to communicate in Korean, Japanese, and Chamorro. I swam in the Sea of Japan, ate puffer fish, whale and horse meat. I walked endless miles from our ship to the cities we visited. Got lost in a cab since the driver didn't speak English. I saw ancient castles and visited holy shrines. I flirted with girls and made a fool of myself in the middle of Japan. I snorkeled in the most beautiful place on earth, Marianas Islands. I swam in the unbelievable Grotto and saw the island of Iwo Jima. I also stood 20 watches, in the freezing cold and the blistering hot. I got seasick, learned how to navigate, steer, use radar, and take sun/star azimuths. I even started reading books again, 3 to be exact.

Going to sea and learning all the amazing things about other cultures and ship board life wasn't the only thing I developed. Along with me on cruise was 200 of the most amazing and supportive group of friends I have ever had. I made friendships that will last a lifetime. I have grown so close to these people on board that I have given my trust and respect to them all. All of the people on board are truly my shipmates and I am excited to continue to grow and learn alongside them in the coming years.

Thank you for following me on my voyage to the far east, it has truly been a life changing experience.

Fair Winds and Following Seas!

V/R,

CDT Jonathan Anderson
Squad Leader, Division 6 MT
Corps of Cadets
California Maritime Academy

3 More Nights!

Hello All,

With only 3 more nights left on board the ship is buzzing with excitement. Tonight we packed our "cruise bins," stuff that we don't want/need to take home with us. These boxes are put into storage and then we can get them when we get back to school in the fall. Today and yesterday was spent learning how to splice different kinds of line in many different ways. It was a lot of fun and I am excited to put my skills into practice. My room is starting to come apart, the ceiling panels fell on top of me last night at 2am, I finally got them to go back sorta and slept hoping that wouldn't happen again.

I begin to pack and went through some of the stuff I have acquired over the cruise so far and how much stuff I have accomplished, seen, and experienced. I had an amazing time on this cruise and can't wait to go back out and head to somewhere else next year.

The ship arrives in Honolulu on the 28th at 0700, we circle the island of Hawaii a couple of times tomorrow before we pull into port so that the seniors can get piloting experience. Everyone on board has hopes to get cell phone service sometime late tonight or early tomorrow morning.

When we tie up in Honolulu, Andrew, Mark and I are part of the tie up team on the pier; meaning we get to ride in another tugboat to shore and receive the mooring lines. I can't wait to see Hawaii for the first time and am excited to get home as well.

V/R,

CDT Jonathan Anderson
Squad Leader, Division 6 MT
Corps of Cadets
California Maritime Academy

Sinbad and Firefighting!

Hello All!

Yesterday and today were awesome! Yesterday we had whats called "Sinbad Games," a competition amongst the 3 divisions on board for the sinbad champs title. There were a total of 16 events today. The first event started at 0700 with the Medusa 10k (5k rowing machine and 5k run around the main deck of the ship {20 times}) and ended with a Tug-of-War competition after a delicious barbecue dinner on the fantail. Some of the events included a bosuns chair lift, the lifeboat crank up, plumbers nightmare and bucket brigade. I took part in the lifeboat crank-up which involves manually cranking a lifeboat from the main deck to the stowed position, it took about 7 minutes to do and about 16 guys switched off.

Today was all about firefighting training. My training group of about 16 combined with our senior group and we learned how to fight fires using the onboard hoses and extinguishers. We donned the firefighting gear and went for the fires. It was a lot of fun and we got completely soaked. Enjoy some of the pictures from today!

5 days till Hawaii.

V/R,

CDT Jonathan Anderson
Squad Leader, Division 6 MT
Corps of Cadets
California Maritime Academy

9 days!

Hello All,

We finished up the professional training section of cruise and tomorrow we move onto the practical training session. During professional the past week we learned how to determine compass/gyro error using azimuths of the sun...a really complicated process yet cool to figure out in the end. We also learned how to plot targets on the radar and determine a course change based on the true course and speed of our ship and the other target, again a lot of work to get the angles and math right but more fun in the end. We also completed the 38 rules of the road and took a 30 question test on which I got a 97%. We are all getting more and more excited and the mood is starting to lift a little in anticipation of home in 9 days. We had a great barbeque two nights ago and everyone on board is looking forward to the Sinbad championships, which is a bunch of games that are put together and each division competes for the Sinbad title.

Fair Winds,

CDT Jonathan Anderson
Squad Leader, Division 6 MT
Corps of Cadets
California Maritime Academy

12 days till Hawaii!

Hello All,

We are finally headed for home. Doing about 9 mph and coming around 3,000 miles we have some work to do. In 12 days we will be pulling into Aloha towers in Honolulu Hawaii and its not a day to soon. Everyone on board is starting to get edgy and anxious as tempers are building and the cruise finally drawing to a close. I finished my last day of watch yesterday and we move on to professional training. Today we learned how to use a bearing fix on the sun to determining our compass and gyro error. It is really confusing stuff but more tedious than anything else. We had a great Prime Rib dinner last night! Tonight I am going to catch up on some much needed sleep after my watch rotation. I can't wait for summer in Bellingham and am so excited to be going home soon.

V/R,

CDT Jonathan Anderson
Squad Leader, Division 6 MT
Corps of Cadets
California Maritime Academy

Saipan Day 2!

Hello Again!

Day 2 of Saipan was a blast! I was finally able to hang out with Mark and Andrew for the first time since cruise started. Some other friends that are seniors had rented a car so we were able to see most of the island during the day. We started by going south and visited a beach called Lau Lau, famous for snorkeling it was a bit off the beaten path down a very bad dirt road which was nothing short of painful with 5 guys crammed into a Toyota Yaris. We hung out there for a bit and enjoyed some shell collecting. We looped up the east side of the island and through the jungles and ended up back near the ship at a restaurant called Coffee Care. The captain had recommended we go there for good food and a great view. The restaurant sat on a hill and overlooked the island with our ship right in the middle of the panorama; the food was unbelievable and Andrew was treated to a happy birthday dance and some AMAZING homemade cheesecake. After lunch we headed to the North end of the island. Our first stop was a place called Banzai cliff, it was where thousands of Japanese families committed suicide rather than be captured by the Americans. The cliff was very high off the water and carved in by years of waves made for a breathtaking experience. Suicide cliff was our next stop, much more spectacular than the last the cliff is very high (1,000feet +) and suddenly drops straight down, also used for suicides hence the name. In those days when whole families would commit suicide the youngest was pushed off first, and the next oldest next and so on until the father jumped off. After the cliffs we made our way to the Grotto. The grotto was probably the coolest sight on cruise so far. The grotto was like a sinkhole in the bluff that went straight down into the ocean. Surrounded by land the dive spot has underwater tunnels that lead to open ocean, the cave like structure was open to the north and had a great spot to jump in and enjoy the warm cobalt blue water that were lit from beneath. Words cannot do justice to the Grotto. After swimming and snorkeling we headed for town and stopped to do a go-kart track which was a blast! We got back and went to the Hyatt beach as before and then headed to the Pacific Islands Club (PIC). All of the seniors had the opportunity to stay off the ship one night in this port and the school had deals with the PIC. The PIC was a big hotel with a huge water park in the center of it; beach side, this hotel made for a great hangout spot for the rest of the night putting a cap on an otherwise amazing and wonderful port stay.

After day 2 I came down with food poisoning and was not able to enjoy my 3rd day of liberty, instead my body got rest and after sleeping all day was able to combat the sickness in one day.

Enjoy some more pictures from Saipan.

V/R,

CDT Jonathan Anderson
Squad Leader, Division 6 MT
Corps of Cadets
California Maritime Academy

Saipan Day 1!

Hello All!

First off my apologies for not updating this blog in a few days. When we are in port we are let out at 0900 and don't get back to ship til 2400 and finding time to write is difficult.

Where do I begin with Saipan? My sister asked me which port was my favorite so far and Saipan takes the cake by a long run. If you don't know where Saipan is it is located 100 mi. north of Guam in the Northern Marianas Islands. Saipan is among the islands that were fought over during WW2 and over 20,000 American soldiers lost their lives while claiming the land. The island is set among crystal clear blue tropical waters with reefs that stretch up to a mile offshore. The island itself is full of tropical vegetation and is relatively flat with a few bluffs and one "mountain." About 16 miles around, we were able to experience Saipan fully in the 2 days off the ship. I was on watch coming into the port and was able to experience what it was like to work with a Pilot (the local man who comes on board and directs the ship movements into the harbor) and test my skills and close quarters maneuvering. Our ship was greeted by the local tourist agency which had a line of island dancers dancing to the local island music. It was very nice to have such a warm welcome and we felt more at home here than in any other port. The captain of the ship was stationed here in Saipan on board one of the Ready Reserve Ships just offshore and was best friends with what seemed like half the island. Once onshore we had to walk, again, about 30 minutes to get to the downtown and tourist area where we spent the entire first day. The downtown area is nothing but a lot of rundown old garment factories, classless bars, and dirty strip clubs. However the hotels provided an oasis amongst the poverty with everything you expect from a world class resort. We hit the beach (1st picture), which had white sands and palm trees with cabanas and a tiki bar. The water was just a little too warm and the sun could roast you in a second. All the CMA guys had the barkeep busy all day as we enjoyed the wonderful paradise with an occasional and refreshing downpour. After a good 6 hours on the beach we headed inland, burnt and tired to the captains bar, the Godfathers. We were welcomed with 50% off everything in the bar, an island jam band was playing in our honor and the place was packed with old sailors and cadets all laughing and telling the stories of the sea. After a good night out on the town we got a ride back with some friendly local girls that we had met earlier in the evening.

V/R,

CDT Jonathan Anderson
Squad Leader, Division 6 MT
Corps of Cadets
California Maritime Academy