Friday, 22 January 1999
As of 0800 this morning, the Empire State was in the process of mooring at Bridgetown Barbados. The weather at her position is clear, wind out of the East @ 5 kts, air temp 80 degrees F, water temp 82 degrees F. Barometric pressure 1017 millibars.
CAPTAIN'S LOG:
The last few days have been idyllic. The weather has been warm but with a cooling breeze. Sunsets and sunrises have been at their finest and I wish I had stock in camera and film companies. All the Freshmen cadets (and some of the old salts) have been lining the rails taking photo after photo. Last night we watched the tall ship "Sea Cloud" (skippered by our old friend Capt. "Red" Shannon) sail out of Martinique. Her sails were furled but she was still a glorious sight as she silently glided by. Almost everyone aboard Empire State got a chance to see her because we were completing our weekly fire and lifeboat drill at the time.
Another spectacular sight was the island of St. Lucia. Volcanic in origin, the island looks like it belongs in the South Seas with its steep, tree covered, green slopes rising straight up out of the deep blue sea. The serene island paradise is much too small to accommodate our Cadets and crew so we must content ourselves with the breath taking view from afar.
In an effort to keep everyone occupied, we purposely scheduled many activities yesterday. Some entertaining; Bingo and skeet shooting on the fantail; some essential; fire and lifeboat and man overboard drills. The "man" thrown overboard was actually a paper box but it illustrated to the Freshmen how fast things or people can disappear from sight. It was gone in 30 seconds... and this in bright daylight with flat calm seas. Even though the "man" had vanished, the Cadet Officer of the Watch, 1/C Paul Thomas, of Hull MA, executed a perfect Williamson turn, returned to the exact spot where the box went over and simulated a successful recovery.
Unfortunately, the mood aboard is not always as beautiful as the weather. High anxiety and anticipation are the order of the day. Everyone is working doubly hard to complete their assignments before entering port. The berthing areas are being scrubbed for inspection, passageways are being buffed and food service workers are baking extra bread and preparing additional food in advance of our arrival. The Chief Mate, Jim Taddia, is scheduling important work that can only be safely done while alongside the pier and Cdr Domingos has assembled his cadets to deliver the famous "DO NOT GET INTO TROUBLE IN THIS PORT" speech.
Despite our best efforts to prevent it, many in the Cadet Corps have contracted that dreaded disease of sailors: Channel Fever!
There is only one known cure: LIBERTY.
I'll fill you in tomorrow as to how we fared the first night in Barbados.