It’s countdown to zero hour when
we set sail for Vallejo, California near San Francisco to take the Shimada into
dry dock. First time I ever sailed out of Newport, Oregon. I’ve sailed out of
Seattle with the Rainier and Bellingham on the Hi’ialakai after dry dock period
there. So long Newport and thanks for being a gracious host.
Standing near the fantail I watch
as Newport fades in the panorama. We turn left and head south hugging the
coastline. There are usually small fixes required to ensure all the equipment
is operating as designed. As night falls I talk to the wife on messenger
foregoing the video chats we did when the ship was hooked shore Internet.
Bandwidth is limited on the ship’s satellite system and using the Internet at
sea is akin to “going retro” of using telephone modems from years past. No
handshake noises but slower speed. If you ever been on a cruise ship and used
the Internet, you know what I am writing about.
I start my shift at six AM and the
usual places I sail, its dawn with the sun rising over the horizon. I forget
that the mainland is on daylight savings time and sunlight isn’t up until past
seven in the Pacific Time zone. From my window I can see the Mendocino coast of
California. The weather looks as if it’s been dry in Northern California for
quite some time. The seas were calm and the ship barely rocked. The coastline
would diminish and reappear as we sail. The navigation program would indicate
where on the coastline we were sailing.
I woke early Wednesday morning for
Sea and Anchor detail as we pulled into San Francisco Bay. “The City” was all
lit up in its splendor. I’ve always liked the City by the Bay and in my younger
years thought it was panacea to the uneventful life. I lived in Southern
California at the time. Years later, Southern California wasn’t dreary but the setting
that I had placed myself in was. Instability at work as the company I was
working for was watching its stock in a free fall and co-workers were receiving pink
slips. The only place I ever worked where it wasn’t TGIF because Fridays were
usually the days they handed out layoff notices. With my work experience I
perceived Silicon Valley as the “Hollywood of High Tech” as local papers listed
an abundance of job openings and job fairs. Or I assumed it was. I took part in
one in 1987 but had my hopes pin-pricked when I walked to a neighborhood Denny’s
and the sign on the door asked “Tired of High-Tech layoffs? Consider a career
as a Denny’s Manager!”
The calm waters had told me we
were inside the Bay. We were heading north to Vallejo. Mare Island
has history with my family. My great grandfather was here at the beginning of
the 20th century when he sailed with the Imperial Japanese Navy.
Mare Island was one of his stops that included Seattle, Tacoma, San Diego,
Honolulu and finally returning to Yokosuka. I visited the museum to see if
there were any sign of his visit to Mare Island. There was a small section
titled “Japanese Influence” which displayed photos and accounts on the Kanrin
Maru, the first Japanese ship ever to come to the United States in 1860. That
was long before the time of my great grandfather’s purported port call.
Nevertheless, it conveyed to me that Mare Island was known to the Imperial Navy
and yes, he did stop here though there was no information about his trip. I never doubted him; I just wanted more
information than what was told to me when my late mother read me excerpts from
his dairy. My uncle told me where to
find that information as the Japanese keep family history in government
archives.
We sat at the docks for seven
days before settling into the hotel. During those seven days I kept busy by
completing operating system updates, preparing for fathometer cable
identification and tagging out circuit breakers. We finally went into dry dock
and the ship is now out of the water. Let the work commence as this is my fifth
dry-dock of my career. My time here is coming to an end and then it’s back to usual
tasks in Hawaii.
