First I want to say Happy Second Birthday to my grandson “G”. Happy Birthday G…… I will write to your mother and tell her what we sent you. See you soon!!
The big break is here. We pulled into Pago Pago this afternoon, refueled and finally went to our dock in the evening. The operation portion of our trip in Samoa is over for another two years. After the break in Pago, it is the trip home via Jarvis Island, Palmyra Atoll and Kingman Reef. After Kingman will be the transit to Hawaii and the longest operation of our season will be over. It has been a long trip for me personally as I was at sea two and a half weeks before the Hi’ialakai left Hawaii last January. However, I had three weeks of leave in Western Samoa so it comes out even in the end. I made this same trip two years ago.
You could tell the crew and the divers were tired. Depending on ship, its mission and the personality of the crewmembers, times like these are not a good time on a ship. I will see the difference at the end of the week with rotations of scientists and see how well the crew took advantage of their liberty time. And also the thought of arriving home less than thirty days will lift them when we leave Saturday morning. But we still have work to do in between and that comes first.
I did not go out tonight. I didn’t feel like it. I have literally good and bad memories of Pago Pago. It isn’t one of my favorite liberty spots and the best time I had here was two years ago. Of course “L” was with me as she still lived in Western Samoa. There was the dinner at the governor’s mansion too. In 2004 “L” and I were to meet here for two days. Unfortunately, rules had changed post 9-11 and it wasn’t easy for Western Samoans to come here anymore. In addition, the politics between the two Samoas seems to always be some sort of pissing contest. I came here in 2003 to meet up with “L” after finding her again.
In the mean time I used to ride Hawaiian Air from Seattle to Pago Pago via Honolulu and catch a puddle jumper to Apia the next morning. Coming back from Apia via Pago Pago was dreadful. Layover time was up to eight hours depending on what flight I could get out of Western Samoa and catch Hawaiian Air back home. To make it worse it was a redeye flight that brought us into Honolulu around five in the morning Hawaii Time. Then we had to face post 9-11 hostile immigration officers who have not woke yet. It didn’t make any sense to be like that toward your fellow citizens but everyone in Bush’s America was a suspect. It didn’t help I had a long salt and pepper beard and always came back with a tan.
Tonight after we finished refueling I looked over to the area where “L” worked years ago and where we met. The hotel we “lived” in that week in 2002 is off to my starboard side past the bow. I told her tonight when I called that I wanted to take a cab, go where she worked, get her and take her back with me. Tonight being Sunday was the night I used to call her from Seattle years ago. Now I am down here and she is in Seattle. I did not think we would get married the night we met, though I liked her but didn’t think the feeling was mutual until the day I left to go home. I am surprised she didn’t tell me to go away because she already had a boyfriend when I picked her up that morning to go for a cruise around Tutuila. As they say in cliché the rest is history. Not really it is still a drama.
Yes, the thoughts of the day in the life revolve around the loved ones back home. If there is a fellow crewmember in the same situation, it makes for conversation piece where there is much camaraderie. There is always talk about changing jobs or finding something else but most of the time it doesn’t go beyond idle chatters. Some can handle the situation while I have seen others lose control, escalate or add to the problems they had before. Most people back home hear about separations military families endure, especially now with the conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Fortunately for us, the separations are not as long as military tours and we do not face the same dangers as they. However, majority of the ETs I work with are either retired or former Navy. This job is not for everyone and is nothing like you see on Cousteau or National Geographic documentaries. You could still have the excitement of the early years but need to evolve with the job to keep the interest flowing. When the excitement of going to a location or working with new technical “gadgets” fades then you know it has become “just a job.”
I do not know of too many jobs back home where I can look at tropical islands or snow peaked mountains and say it an element of my office. I will get off the ship in Pago to get dinner or have a cold brew.
Goodnight and maunia-po from Pago Pago, American Samoa.
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