Today’s weather was the opposite of yesterday and several days before that. I got up early to start working on small dive boats before they commenced their final official mission of the year. I looked off to the port side and the sky was dark with huge rainsqualls. It did not look too good, considering the work I had to do involve a laptop outdoors. The wind picked up and we had swells. I knew the good weather could not last forever. The rains bypassed us. Unfortunately, I did not resolve the problems we had with the small boats. It seems I spent more time searching for “drivers” to make my serial to USB adapter to work. There was no consistency in the malfunctions so it was hard to make a determination. Today was that kind of a day. I think I fixed the gyro problem using the KISS method (Keep It Simple and Stupid). It appears that a small jumper was loose enough and finally fell off during one of our rocking motions for the past five years. I do not know why and how but I am not an electrical engineer so as long as it works, forget the analyzing! If it works, do not try to make it work better as you have a good chance of not making it work at all. Working for Uncle Sam for a number of years, we seem to have lot of people doing just that!
This is our last day at Laysan Island and then head to French Frigate Shoals for one day. I am not exactly sure what the reason is but one of the scientific parties on board needs to get an item. The scientific party for this cruise is from NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystems Division. They assess coral reef conditions as well as marine wildlife characteristics. They travel all over the Pacific including Guam, Saipan, Marianas, and American Samoa and the Hawaiian Islands. I sailed with them from American Samoa back to Hawaii last year in addition to the cruises to the monument such as the one we are on now. You probably know the critical nature of coral reefs to the eco system on this planet. Not only is coral the ocean’s rain forest but also in the South Pacific many islands are protected by coral reefs that surround it. If you ever get a chance to enjoy a true tropical paradise, such as Samoa (shameless plug) you will see from the air how coral reefs protect the island. While lying in the sun or sitting in the falee at the beach, you will see breaks in the distance while your part of the beach is nice and calm. In some places you can walk or swim out to the breaks where the coral lies, but strongly not recommend it due to riptides, sharp corals, rocks and some sort of small fish that love to attack your legs. I added a link to the Coral Reef Ecosystems Division based in Hawaii for more information.
The engineers, other departments may get upset at this, are the backbone of the ship. You do not see them too often as most of their works are below decks in the engine and generator rooms. During my daily checks, I do go into engineering spaces to check on some equipment under my jurisdiction such as sound powered phones, gyro repeaters, PA speakers and radio equipment. When you see them around the ship, working from the main deck upwards, they work on electrical items, fueling for boats as well as maintenance, upkeep of ship’s cranes and any mechanical items under their jurisdiction. When you sail in tropical waters, the conditions in the engine rooms are hot. They usually wear coveralls and recommended not to wear your best clothes if assigned to the engineering department. Many engineers start as General Vessel Assistant or Wiper. Every menial task or the jobs no one like to do are what you are stuck with as a Wiper or GVA. As you learn your trade, study and get a license that is where good money is to be made.
The ET department along with Survey and Medical are one-person operation. While at sea, I have the title of Chief Electronics Technician but find that ludicrous, as I have no one working below me. I have been called a Lead ET at times but again, who am I in charge of? Therefore, Rotating Electronics Technician is fine with me. Chief, Lead or Rotating, the pay is the same no matter which title they use. The difference is in room assignments. Due to my stature on the ship, I am entitled to a stateroom where I have my own head and no roommates. The ET stateroom on this ship is large. I feel like I am in a very small studio apartment. This is not on all NOAA ships, as some ETs must share their stateroom with a visiting scientist. I would not like it as I enjoy my privacy during my time at sea and I can live like the good old days of bachelorhood. When the ship was in Bellingham, Washington, my wife used to come up with me on weekends when I had to work and she would clean the stateroom for me. This astonished many of my fellow ETs as well as crewmembers.
Survey takes care of scientific data collected as well as operations of the scientific computer system. They operate or work with mapping group in mapping the shallow parts of the oceans near atolls for navigation. Survey works with CTD, Condensation, Temperature, and Density equipment to collect water samples from different depths. As for medical, we have a Physician’s Assistant assigned from USPHS who is the dive medical officer as well. These one-person departments are required to be jack-of-all-trades and master of all.
When I return to Honolulu, I plan to expand the blog with pictures and movies. If you are a Facebook member, the photos you saw of past cruises are already posted there. The original “Chronicles of an Insane Sailor” was titled “Dairy of an Insane Sailor.” I used to send it out individually to friends via e-mail. I wished I kept copies of the ones I wrote while I sailed on the Ka’imimoana. Those include writings from Marquises Islands as well as the Galapagos. Unfortunately, I did not keep any and they are gone now. I may do write-ups on the old days while I am ashore in Seattle starting next month. I do not think anyone would be interested in reading “my day at the office” articles.
We are in transit to French Frigate Shoals. The place has an interesting history and served as a covert Japanese sub “base” to refuel reconnaissance planes prior to and during the “Hawaii Campaign” as the Imperial Navy called it or better known in our history books as Pearl Harbor. Even the name is interesting and how it came to be. That is for another time or if you want to look it up, you can search for it on your favorite search engine. In fact, the area we are steaming in tonight was a Japanese submarine screen during Pearl Harbor and Midway campaigns.
I have to get this published. I bid you goodnight from Papahanaumokuakea National Marine Monument formerly known as the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
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