Tales of Oscar and other sea stories

One of the things a US Navy ship practices over and over again is the 'man overboard' drill. Reason being that if someone falls over the side into the ocean, you want to get that person back as quickly as possible. Since using real people is not a great idea for practice, we use Oscar.

Who is this Oscar you may ask? He's a dummy. Really. Made of international orange cloth and floats, poor Oscar gets tossed over the side and we go an pick him up. Practice.

Well, yesterday we were practicing. Oscar goes for a swim and the ship turns around. We decide to lower one of our small boats for the recovery (this boat is a RHIB - Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat, about 7 meters long). Everything is going well and we're about to lower away, then someone sees a shark. Yikes. Since this is practice, we don't want to mess with a shark. So the ship circles around again to make the shark get board and go away.

Except that he doesn't get board, he hangs around. And he's not a shark, he's a whale! Big one too, at least 20 feet, probably more like 30 (the length will invariable increase every time I tell this in the future...but I digress). He's interested in what we are doing. But he moves off a little ways and we lower the RHIB. By now, poor Oscar is waterlogged and missing an arm. Then the dolphins show up. It's a party! In the end, Oscar is recovered and we have a whale of a tale to tell. The 'shark spotter' (our XO, or second in command) is teased mercilessly on his aquatic life identification skills.

The other story has to do with wierd things at night on the ocean. We had just left Dakar, Senegal and were heading out into opean water. Very hazy night with ships around us.

Then we see one on fire. That's a bad thing.

Haze makes the fire seem big, and it's flaring up occasionally. So we change course to render aid. We try to talk to him on the radio, but no joy. Then one of our partner officers from Senegal comes to the bridge and we ask him to translate.....

Seems it gets cold on thier fishing boats and they like to start fires to stay warm. We think he was telling us 'helpers' that no he's not on fire and please stop scaring the fish. LOL.

We sheepishly sail on, a little smarter to the local customs.

AFRICA!!!

Made it to Dakar, Senegal, Africa.

Wow.

Words are hard to come by to describe the place. It's exotic, mysterious, friendly, with much potential...mixed in with shantytowns, poverty, hustlers, panhandlers and the like. You will see Mercedes dealerships next to horse drawn carts. Third world meets first world. We are not in Kansas anymore Toto...

Dakar is an enigma. Looks modern from a distance. Harbor had a cruise ship in it yesterday and there are skyscrapers downtown. But mixed in are folks trying to sell you anything, and some are pretty aggressive. Imagine border towns in Mexico, then turn up the gain x20. I'll never have trouble buying a car again after interacting with some of these folks.

But the overall experience is amazing. We went south out of Dakar (the capital) to deliver humanitarian goods to an orphanage and a school the other day. The pic above is with some of the students and teachers of the school. They were very happy to see us. They sang and danced and played futbol (soccer) with us. We held the babies and unloaded the supplies and all that good PR stuff. That for me was a very rewarding experience. If you ever wondered if your charitible donations make it to Africa, recommend using Project HOPE or Project Handclasp. They do, I've moved the boxes ;) The Mormans also donate lots of stuff. Thanks guys and gals from up Utah way. I also handed out lots of candy, some toys I've collected along the way and NASA stickers. They really liked that stuff. I've never seen kids so grateful and happy (and I have some happy kids myself, hi guys ;)

More later. Hope you all are doing well...and keep those comments coming! I read every one of them.

Viva Espania!

Our first port is Rota, Spain. It’s nice to be off the ship for a while, although it took a couple of days to realize the ground wasn’t moving anymore. There is a joint base here utilized by the US and Spanish militaries, and it’s not too bad. I had no idea Spain had an aircraft carrier (Google the ‘Principe De Asturias’…Prince of Asturia which is a region in Spain I think). They frown on us taking pics on the base, security issues, or I’d show you images of her (or is it he? Hmmm….). Ironically, the Spanish Officer we have on board is not a big fan of the ship, takes too much Euros away from his submarines. Different Navy, same complaints. Ha!

This is our last major opportunity to on-load any items we think we’ll need for the African part of the mission. That includes stores and personnel (I didn’t look for transfer lists or an IMS equivalent, but I’m sure they have one). After that the mass and opportunities are limited…kind of like ISS in a way…We have added Italians, Portages, more USN (two room-mates now in my stateroom) and one US Army guy. He’s actually a National Guard guy, Captain-type, who catches a lot of good-natured flak from his new squid buddies. See Dave, you could get stuck on a ship next tour!!

Rota is a smaller town and very European from what I’m told. Narrow one-way streets (made of bricks too…that’s for you Tulia folks), lots of corner café’s and cantinas, little shopping areas, etc. It has a church that is somehow involved with Columbus and a very nice beach. Too cold to enjoy properly at this point, but we’ll be back when it’s warmer.

Food and drink are good. Had the local Sangria (sp), which is a sweet wine-punch type concoction. We went to a small restaurant that made some up special for us, bueno! They also had fried ice cream, and that totally rocked. How do you fry ice cream? All in the timing they say.

My two years of high school Espanol are hard pressed to keep up, but it’s fun to practice. I think I could be pretty fluent in about a year or so. I get by with the help of one of my shipmates who’s pretty fluent, and the town is used to the Americanos being around.

Hard to believe it’s already been a month. We leave soon for the main event. Received a care package today from the family. Thanks for the stuff and drawings boys! Very cool. And Sponge Bob has arrived. Thanks Shawna and Kristi, I think.
Next stop Africa!

It's full of stars...

Finally felt normal today. Getting used to the seas, getting over the effects of multiple shorts for all kinds of nasty critters, getting used to the malaria meds, sleeping better, blah blah blah. All that combined is a little rough on the system.

So to top it off, I went outside tonight. First time we haven't been socked in with clouds. Holy cow, the friggin stars were amazing! I've forgotten what they looked like on a dark ship in the middle of the ocean. Orion was there in all his glory (that's for my wife, she's a big fan). Rigel and Betelgeuse (you should have seen how long it took to look the spelling of that up, but I digress) were bright, as were the seven sisters and the dog star. Wow. Words and pics cannot describe....and the clouds turned out to be the Milky Way. We miss so much of the night sky in Houston. But we do help make those artificial stars. ;)

Haze Grey and Underway

Well, I’m truly an Atlantic sailor now. The seas are rough and I have paid the proper homage to Davy Jones….I’ll leave that to your imagination.

We’re somewhere in the Atlantic. I couldn’t tell you even if I knew, but I can tell you I will truly appreciate Atlantic fisherman the next time I eat something caught in ‘the pond’, especially in winter. I think I’ll stop talking about food now…

We’ve secured our weather decks, so we don’t go outside due to the high seas and the weather. How Columbus did this trek more than once in those little boats I can’t imagine.

The staff is beginning to find its way. We’re quite a diverse group with a broadly defined mission. We have US and foreign officers and crew from numerous African, European and South American countries, as well as numerous civilians onboard for training and technical support. Hopefully we are set to do some good once on station off Africa.

NASH is a good ship. She does roll quite a bit, especially when the sea is hitting us on the beam (that’s perpendicular to the keel). She’s also one of the oldest ships in the Navy, so she makes a lot of noise. The crew has been pretty good to us staff types and they know and take care of their ship.

Thanks for reading and for all your comments. Good stuff.

Next stop, Spain!

The Atlantic is BIG!

Left Italy behind and made it back to Virginia to catch the ship. Flew on MILAIR (military aircraft) on the mighty C-40A Clipper (which is basically a 737). Bet you didn't think that bird can fly across the Atlantic. I didn't. That goodness for the Azores Islands.

Stopped over on those islands for refueling. They are very European islands, owned by Portugal. No palm trees and huts, but rather green square pastures with low stone fences for cattle to graze. Numerous quaint villas and Euro-style houses. Very nice. I highly recommend a layover if you are low on fuel flying over the Atlantic ocean.

Made it to the ship. We're a bit of a circus for them, with the large international staff. They have done a good job accomodating us. More on the ship in a later post. We did get a nice send off from the Chief of Naval Operations, ADM Roughhead. He's the 4-star boss of the Navy (think of the NASA administrator coming to visit the FCR for a specific flight, for my NASA buddies). He was in town to help with the commissioning of the brand new Aircraft Carrier USS George H. W. Bush just a couple of miles from us.

ADM Roughhead is a big fan of this mission...no pressure. ;)

May not be able to post for a while, and then probably no pics.

Later!

KP

Ciao from Italia!!

Where to begin? Italy is outstanding. We landed in Rome just after sunrise. Very cool. We then hopped a flight to Naples along the coast.

Naples is beautiful from the air. I had no idea that Mount Vesuvius (of Pompeii fame..or infame-y if you will) is right next door. The above pic is a view from across the street. They live right next to it. Sure the landscape is fantastic, but holy cow...don't take out a long-term loan on that real estate!

The food is living up to expectations, which were high. The drivers however, are absolutely nuts. They can make a 2 lane road 6 lanes in a heartbeat. They drive tiny cars and mopeds for the most part (a Smart Car looks like a mid-size sedan here, and a PT Cruiser looks like a Suburban). There's little road range, but lots of honking and flashing of lights. They are a very laid back people...except on the road. And even then it's almost expected that they are insane until you learn the way they drive. Flashing lights means move over. Mopeds and motorcycles will cut between cars constantly. Stop signs are optional...

We are still working out the pre-deployment tasks needed for APS (that's Africa Partnership Station). Met numerous international navy reps today. UK, Germany, Norway, Senegal, Nigeria, Cameroon, Kenya even (and were not going there BTW). Very interesting.

Were expecting to be back in the US later this week. Then off to the Atlantic...