Friday, May 3, 2013

At sea again

I am not typically one to leave readers dangling, but it appears that I went to sea again without letting you all know. It is my second sea voyage, and there are a few things I intend to do differently: Sea projects- basically correspondence courses- work on the drawings early, so that there is time to add details later. Solitude of the seas- last voyage, my ship had some Internet access- as long as it was Fox or MSNBC news; or a .org/ . Gov site, you were good to go. I stated in touch with the world, but spent a lot of time for the satellite connection to load. This voyage, there is no Internet- I am in port in Corpus Christi right now. The ship, however, receives news headlines, and text-based email service is available. I have been, and will be, soon, enjoying the conveniences of modern life, asides from an Internet connection. Shore leave- this is what you call getting off the ship in port. My last ship would typically stay in port for a week or more (government cargo). But on a commercial ship, port stays are shorter- usually under 36 hours for a tank ship( which is longer than the 12 hours container ships average in port.) - and there is often work to be done- port stays are the business of making money on cargo. Delivering the product. So shore leave is lived to the fullest, whether it is the evening in Malta or an afternoon in Amsterdam. Writing this from my phone. What a surprise it was to have the Internet at my fingertips again!