2nd Day in the Azores

I am having a great time exploring Sao Miguel. The ship is docked right in the center of downtown Ponta Delgada. The town is a mix of the modern and the ancient. There is a small mall (where I’m getting free WiFi to post this) as well as many shops, cafes, bars and restaurants. Unfortunately, “civilization” has also intruded; McDonald’s and Burger King are here too!

Yesterday, I walked about 5 miles around the town taking in the sites. Most of the architecture is Mediterranean in style with some contemporary “Euro-Trash” thrown in. The main street, along the water, is a wide boulevard. The older streets, uptown, are extremely narrow and dangerous for pedestrians, with tightly packed 2 & 3 story apartment buildings. It always amazes me how with so much land, people choose to live on top of one another. I visited 2 of the 3 largest churches in town, both over 400 years old. They were beautiful examples of rococo architecture. I ate dinner in a small restaurant, a delicious mixed grill of 5 kinds of fish with potatoes. After dinner I enjoyed a cigar in one of the local parks.

My dreams of beaching it were dashed by the cool temperatures in the low 70’s. Today I along with 50 cadets and Fr Farrell the chaplain, took a 4 hour tour of the volcanoes in the western part of the island. Passing through dairy farm land, the bus climbed to the summit of the volcano to a vista spot. Inside of the volcano are 2 lakes, one blue and the other green, called “The Twins”. We travelled into the volcano to the lakes and rested at a small town with coffee and Portuguese pastries. Returning to Ponta Delgada, we stopped at a pineapple plantation where some of the cadets, not me, sampled their pineapple liquor.

Tomorrow I’m joining a 7 hour tour of the east coast that includes a visit to a tea plantation, a swim in a hot spring and a lunch steam cooked for us in a geyser. Then it’s back to sea(and back to work) on Saturday heading for Gibraltar.

Sorry for all the posts

Sorry for all the posts at once. The Ship's e-mail system isn't working so I haven't been able to post regularly. I saved them all up. Hope we get it working soon. I'll post my ship e-mail when/if it works.

The Azores

We were able, even with some engine problems, to make up for some of the time lost at Montauk. We reached the Azores, a volcanic archipelago in the east Atlantic, on Tuesday night rather than the morning as scheduled. Unable to dock in the dark, we anchored then docked Wednesday morning at 10:00am.

I sailed around the Azores on my last cruise in 2002, but we didn’t land then. I am looking foreword to actually going ashore this time. The Library is closed while we are in port and I have no other duties, so my time is my own. I expect to make good use of it. I want to go swimming in the beautiful azure (thus Azores) water and soak up the rays on a sandy black beach. Yes, the beaches are BLACK because these beautiful islands are really volcanoes, dormant ones (I hope). Maybe I’ll also get some hiking in up the flower lined trails of the volcanoes. Whatever, I’m determined to enjoy myself.

The island we have come to is called Sao Miguel. The Azores is a Portuguese owned group of islands located approx. 2400 miles east of NY and 950 miles west of Lisbon, Portugal. We docked at Ponta Delgada, the largest town with a population of about 45,000 people. These islands are actually the tops of volcanoes jutting up from the ocean floor. They were uninhabited until discovered and subsequently colonized by the Portuguese in 1427. Fantastic natural beauty.

Accomodations

My cabin is on the Cabin deck, the second highest deck up right below the Bridge Deck where the ship’s controls are. Back in the day when the Empire State VI was a merchant cargo vessel run by the defunct Moore-McCormick lines this deck was for passengers the ship routinely carried along with cargo. That was a common practice then allowing for more economical travel than on a liner. It also allowed people to travel to spots not serviced by liner traffic. Air travel and efficiency of cargo carrying with container ships has pretty much killed this kind of service. As such, the cabins on my deck are more luxurious than the officer’s cabins on the rest of the ship with wooden bunks and dressers.

There are 2 bunks in my cabin that I am sharing it with Tim K. a rep of NOAA (National Oceanographic & Atmospheric Agency). Tim has a dual faceted job on board; he teaches weather at sea and also takes readings that he relays back to NOAA. Tim will only be on for ¾ of the cruise, leaving me to a private room if no one else joins the cruise on its last legs.
I have a large window with a beautiful view of the sea from one angle. Unfortunately, a big orange lifeboat obscures views from the other angles. That’s OK because I’m not in the cabin much spending most of my time 7 decks below in the Library. When I’m not at work, there is a beautiful Officers Lounge right outside my cabin as well as multiple outside decks to relax on and take in the fantastic, infinite ocean views and a night sky filled with more stars than you thought possible. A ladder (stairway) near my room takes me directly to the Officer’s Mess, convenient for mealtime or the snacks available there 24/7. Not luxury, but not bad either

Working

I’ve been working long hours keeping the Library open from 10:00am to at least 10:30 pm with lunch and dinner breaks where I lock the door. I have been able to hire 2 cadets to help me run things, giving me a chance for additional breaks without closing. Breaks are important since there is no head (bathroom) on the deck where the Library is located, or any deck nearby. My cabin (and my head) is 7 decks above with no elevator, just lots of stairs. My legs will be in great shape at this cruise’s end.

The Library patrons consist mainly of pleasure readers and of study groups using the navigation table books that we provide to determine where we are and where we’re going. Even though these tables are on the PCs in the Library, they want to use the books! I don’t have many electronic resources since we have no internet, just some specialized digital sources the land library was able to load on the ship library’s network. The rest is done with books. Remember those? It’s like doing reference in the early 90’s. Reference questions have been minimal, but steady. I do everything here; reference, readers advisory, circulation, cataloging, cleaning, you name it. A real one-man show.

Another duty of mine is as the ship’s Audio Visual person showing 2 movies a night in the Cadet Lounge next to the Library where they can relax after a day’s work. A new video system with a 52” flat screen TV and surround sound was installed days before we left. We have about 350 mostly current DVDs to choose from and the programming is left up to me. The hardest thing is keeping the running times of the 2 films to about 3 ½ hours so I can close as close to 10:30 pm as possible. I also run the occasional educational film for classes held during the day.

A glossary of sea terms

I have to maintain nautical terms for things while on board. Here are some translations:

1st Class cadet = 3rd cruise cadet
2nd Class cadet = 2nd cruise cadet
Aft = rear of ship
Bunk = bed
Bow = front of ship
Bunkering = fueling
Cabin = stateroom
Deck = floor
Fore = front of ship
Galley = kitchen
Head = bathroom
Ladder = stairs
Leg = part of a voyage between ports
Mess = dining area
MUG = Midshipman Under Guidance (1st cruise cadet)
Port = left of ship
Starboard = right of ship
Stern = rear of ship
Steward = room or food service personnel

Underway

After being stuck at Montauk for almost 40 hours to fix the e-mail, it never got fixed so Captain Richard Smith decided to continue our journey without it. That’s the reason for lack of my blog entries from sea so far. So much for my grand plan. I understand that they will attempt to fix it in our first port.

The sail so far has been great. I write this on Sunday May 24, 2009. We’ve traveled over 1,600 miles toward our first port, the Azores. The weather has been fantastic, warm and sunny outdoors with calm or just lightly rolling seas. As I write this we’re waiting for the barbecue grills to heat up for our all-day Memorial Day feast of steaks, burgers, hot dogs, salads and ice cream floats.

I wish the indoor temperature was as nice. The ship was very inconsistent from deck to deck. The first few days, my cabin was freezing and the Library was like Hades. The Library temperature got so bad that it was driving my patrons away. One step in the Library and they turned around and left. On Friday, when the Library reached 97 degrees, the Chief Mate shut us down until the temperature could be adjusted to safe levels. By Saturday morning conditions had drastically improved. My cabin temperature moderated too. A much more pleasant environment.

On to the Azores.

Departure

The Ship departed from Fort Schuyler in the Bronx at exactly 10:00am on Monday May 18. The departure was spectacular with throngs of loved ones lining the sea wall near the Maritime dock to wish all their sailors Bon Voyage. My daughter Lisa and her boyfriend showed up to see me off but, because of security concerns, I couldn't get off to see them and they couldn't get on to see me. Thank God for cell phones and binoculars.

I had spent the night before on the ship to insure that I would be there. The cabin that I'm sharing for part of the cruise with an agent of NOAA was meat locker COLD.

The tugs that would pull us out under the Throgs Neck Bridge arrived about 9:30 as did a NY Fire Dept. rescue boat with an honorary spraying salute to our departure. By about 10:30, we were underway sailing east through the Long Island Sound. We had to anchor off Montauk Point to dispatch some inspectors and College personnel not doing the cruise. But, we discovered, we would be there a while awaiting a part for the Ship's email system that had to be flown up from Miami to the College, configured at Maritime, driven out to Montauk and delivered to us by launch! Luckily the Captain found a sheltered spot to anchor making for a pleasant night's sleep (in a refrigerator).

First blog@sea! (Kinda)

Hey y'all, this is Scott - Rich's son and guest blogger extraordinaire - reporting in with a quick update! Got a call from the man himself a few minutes ago: The ship launched at 10 this morning, and is currently anchored of the coast of Montauk. Dad's cell phone signal was kinda non-existent at the point I talked to him at, but we still managed to connect the call, so Western civ isn't entirely behind him yet. Soon enough, though, he'll be on his way with this crazy 80 day race around the world or whatever. But seriously folks, wish the man luck. It's not every day you get to take a trip to the furthest corners of the Earth and get paid for it, and I'm sure he has enough books and cigars to keep him entertained for the long oceanic stretches between destinations.

So, Adieu Rich Delbango, we'll see you in two months! Keep your wits about it in the choppy, pirate-heavy waters. And if the swine flu gets us all before you make it to the mainland, at least you'll have been insulated from it!

Bureaucracy

After battling morning traffic to the Bronx, I reported to Fort Schuyler for my first day on the job. When I got there I found out that my government issued TWIC card that I need to be allowed on the docks (and the ship), was sitting in someone's office in the Battery in Manhattan 15 LONG miles away. So, instead of working on preparing the library all day, I had to drive into lower Manhattan, on a rainy workday, to claim my card. GRRRRRRR! Consequently, I now have to squeeze 2 days of prep into a single day. Nobody said this trip was going to be easy, but it will be fun.

Track my voyage

There's a great new web tool that tracks every registered ship on the high seas. It is called Sailwx.info. Click here to track the daily progress of the Empire State VI.

Packing

What do you pack for 7 weeks at sea? I'll be thousands of miles from the nearest Wal*Mart for long stretches of time so I have to bring almost everything with me. Some things are easy to plan on like enough clothes for all types of weather and laundry supplies to clean them. Food is taken care of, but a few snacks are always good to have. And I can't forget a 2 month's supply of cigars.

There are some things you never dream of until the ship is underway. Things like duct tape to keep loose items from banging around as the ship rocks and rolls, and it does plenty of that. Velcro to secure small items. A bed rail to keep from falling out of bed. A comforter and extra pillow to supplement the institutional ones provided. I also have my electronic gadgets like my own GPS to chart the voyage, a short wave radio to hear the news of the world, a digital camera so I can post pics. my MP3 player, my laptop. Plenty of batteries and chargers for all are a necessity.

The ship has a ship's store that sells some small items, but it is better to be prepared. I have to carry a knife and flashlight with me at all times. What other librarian job requires one to carry a knife at work? Maybe one in a bad neighborhood, but I'm sure even there it is frowned upon.