It’s Friday night and here comes the weekend. Weekends out here are usually tough. You think about ten million things you could be doing with the family and yearn to be home. No matter how beautiful the scenery is or how great the weather, your mind always wanders back home. Even if the wife, kids and I sat around and did nothing, at least I was spending time with them. Oh well, such is life of a sailor and no one forced me into this. Unfortunately, our family will not be united until our stepson arrives from Samoa. When that will be, who knows. We have not begun the process yet but I am hoping to get it over with soon. He needs a new passport and then we can start the paperwork. My son from my first marriage is living with a family in northwest Washington State so he can complete high school with classmates he grew up with. My daughter lives in Spokane with her husband and my one-year-old grandson. Nevertheless, it is for them I do this. I set money aside for retirement, put little in the savings for vacations and a rainy day fund while the rest goes to pay the bills, buy groceries, ensure we have a roof over our heads, and disburse what is left to the kids to help them out.
What beautiful weather started the day. Then towards late afternoon, I thought I was back in Seattle. It got cloudy and we had some rain. What was missing was the cold. Things are beginning to settle down to where I can get back to normal routine, whatever that is.
We finally reached Nihoa around noon our time (minus three hours Pacific). The scientists dove for half a day and return around four in the afternoon. After changing, they have dinner and then process the data they collect at night. Many of them start early around six and finish at eleven, at night that is.
Poor Doc, trying to work out in the tiny gym we have on board and the navigation officer decides to put in a DVD about Hawaiian surfing and broadcasts it over the gym TV. There is a widescreen 36” TV that is about as wide as the gym. I think the nav officer put it in to get rid of Doc and if that was his intention, it worked!
Today was ho hum which is unusual for beginning of a cruise. Mornings consists of daily inspections making the rounds and then weekly drills. That took up the morning and led us into Nihoa. Scientists went diving and I worked with their IT professional in setting up an alternative data processing station on a file server. I sympathize with him as he was given a project that was yet to be proven and had to make it work. Now that sounds familiar!
We set sail this evening to transit to our next stop Necker Island. We will be there for two days while scientists conduct diving ops. Should find out tomorrow morning if the alternative or back up data processing system worked and did what we hope. I tested the new VoIP telephone by calling the wife, as it was good to hear her voice. She sounded much better as she is spending the weekend with her cousin, her husband, and their kids. The boys are playing football and have a game tomorrow in Port Townsend. There should be three more Samoans for the NFL in the future.
Good night from Papahanaumukoakea National Marine Monument or in English, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
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