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Published: October 22nd 2011
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Sunset in Falmouth
Basically the nicest thing I've seen in Jamaica I must say, that the past month has been rather uneventful. No reroutes for hurricanes, and the weather is starting to cool down. Today it’s only 17C, the coldest temperature I’ve experienced since I left Vancouver behind in sub zero temps 6 months ago. I think it’s fantastic, and It’s oddly humorous to see people wearing sweaters, toques, and complaining that it’s too cold.
That said, even though we haven’t had to reroute for any bad weather, but I have seen some rather interesting weather this past month. A few weeks ago it was blowing 40 knots all day while in port, the ship across from us was actually using propulsion to keep themselves from being blown off the pier. As soon as we left the port the winds picked up to over 50 knots and the waves were nearly 4 meters tall. It kind of made me feel like I was really at sea for once, and not just on some floating city block. That same cruise we encountered some rather interesting weather phenomenon while in Nassau. Something that I found absolutely ridiculous, and everyone else just wrote it off as no big deal was a waterspout! I’m still
Paradise
A beautiful day at Labadee baffled by the fact that we were 4 miles from a tornado and nobody made a big deal about it. Additionally all day in port there was one incredible lightning storm all around us. Unfortunately the Oasis is the tallest object around in the Bahamas and we were struck. This didn’t cause any real issues except for knocking out a wind sensor (no big deal, we’ve got 3).
In St Thomas a couple weeks ago I had an opportunity to go and test some of the ships dive equipment with one of the officers. It was a rather spur of the moment thing, but a quick Google of “St Thomas dive site” turned one up only a 5 minute rescue boat ride away. Coupled with the fact that there was a buoy to tie up at, and it was only 30 feet deep, it was perfect. As soon as we hit the water (32 C) there were thousands of fish beneath us. The location was something called a supermarket reef, this occurs when the rows of coral line up perpendicular to the beach instead of parallel. This results in you being able to just cruise up and down the
aisles as if you were grocery shopping.
Recently, I finished all of my school assignments for my at sea term. This has shifted my focus to my cadet log book. It’s a book that basically lists all the tasks I need to perform before I can technically become an officer (although there is no requirement by Transport Canada to fill out such book). The book is pretty old school and has things in it that haven’t been used for years. One such task is to rig and use a breeches buoy. I had to ask what this was because I had no idea, turns out it’s a rudimentary zip line that you can use to transfer people and goods from one ship to the next. Instead of just writing NA, the Staff Captain said he would sign it off if I rode the zip line at the RCL resort. It’s nothing at all compared to the zip line in Whistler, but it’s over 800 meters long and you just get to hang out and enjoy the view. A pretty good way to learn something really :P
The other day I happened to be breathalyzed… Now normally this is
Breeches Buoy
Takin it easy :P reserved for crew members that are involved in incidents where alcohol is suspected to be a significant factor. But for me, I just happened to be walking past the security office with the Chief Safety when some of the guards were learning how to use the breathalyzer. They needed to acquire some positive and some negative readings, and were a couple people short on the negative side. So the 2 of us stepped up to the plate and passed with flying colours :P
Today is turnaround day, and it also marks 6 weeks from when I get to come home!
Thanks to all of you who have sent me emails, messages, and especially real mail!
gbeier@gmail.com
Oasis of the Seas
Garrett Beier
Officer Apprentice
2935 W Corporate Lakes Blvd
Weston FL 33331
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Sheree
non-member comment
Love your stories
Maybe be uneventful to you - fasinating for me. I will actually be disappointed when you are back on land - so you will have to fill in with train stories. :) Sheree