WhaleNet & Sarah at Sea

After spending two amazing days in Vancouver, I had to get up early to make the trip to the Ballentyn Pier. Once at the pier, I had to hand in my big luggage so it could be e-rayed and sent to my room on the boat. After checking in my luggage I had to go into a building to go through several checkpoints. The first was to pick up a slip of paper with all of your information on it, next came student accounts, registrar, turn in your immunization card, turn in your passport, pick up student ID, and finally go through security machine. After that long process I got on a bus that drove everyone back to the ship and I could finally board and try to find my room. The room that I am staying in is an outside triple (has a porthole) on the main deck. At 1630hrs the S.S. University Explore pulled away from the pier. Around 1700hrs was our lifeboat drill (7 short and 1 long blow). Once roll call was done and one of the guys came around to fix our life vest, the captain came around to check everything out. The rest of the night was filled with orientation.

After going to sleep and being able to see land in my porthole, I woke up and there was nothing but water around us. The water is smooth. Today was filled with the rest of orientation (safety talks, core class, and much more). When there was a break I went on deck to look at the water. At the stern of the boat I was able to see two whales (unknown, possible a killer whale). Later in the day, my roommate told me how she had seen a pod of dolphins on the port side of the ship. Also, I saw fish jumping out of the water (flying fish) on the starboard side during our core class (the room has windows from floor to ceiling). At night I went onto the deck, the sky and ocean were so black that you could not find the horizon. I could only see some parts of the ocean when the waves formed white caps on them. The water is starting to get a little rougher and making the boat rock more.

The waters are getting rougher. The ship does not have a stabilizer in it, so it always rocks but it is getting more frequent, wild, and in every direction. The ship also feels like it is bouncing when I am lying in bed. Climbing up stairs or just walking down the hallways is so hard, especially if you are caring your books to class. No one that I know or myself have gotten seasick. Up to today I did not use any kind of seasick medicine, but since the waters are getting rougher I am using the "sea band" bracelets. During core I sat by a window and watched the swells, at times they had to be a few feet high. My next class (west and the world) was inside so there were no windows. The professor, who is also our academic dean, had a hard time trying to stand. It was awkward to be in a classroom that is constantly moving or where you can see nothing but the ocean, but at the same time the coolest thing. At 1900hrs was the student activities sign up, I signed up to work with the children on the boat (children range from all different ages and are the professors kids). The programs are being a big sister/brother, babysitting, or tutoring. When I mentioned to one of the ladies that I was early childhood major, she said that I could perhaps do activities or other fun stuff with them.

Today the waves were a lot calmer then they were yesterday. The ship is not rocking as much and it is a lot easier walking in the hallways and up stairs. The captain puts out a report every day at noon. Within this report he writes all the different conditions happening outside. One thing that is mentioned is the size of the waves, today the waves are NW at 8 to 10 feet. The temperature is also mentioned, the air is 58*F and the water is 56*F. Between classes I went out of the deck to do work and also to watch for marine life. I did not see any marine life or hear of anyone else seeing anything.

Today the ship is rocking a lot more. The captain掇 report reported the waves being SW at 7 to 10 feet. Even though the waves are around the same size (even smaller) than the waves yesterday the ship is rocking a lot. When the ship rocks, it is not just from side to side, it varies from side to side and front and back. The air temperature was at 55*F and the sea temperature was at 55*F. It was to cold and windy to be on deck today so I was not able to sit and look for marine life for a long time. While I was eating breakfast I was able to see a barge on the horizon. That is the first sign of other life that I have seen in four days. Around 1900hrs the ocean was starting to get a haze on it. When looking out the window in the union, I could not see as far I as normal.

Today the ship was starting to rock again a lot. When I looked at the captain掇 noon report, the waves are smaller than yesterday but moving in a different direction (WSW 6-8ft). On deck I was able to see around four brown birds. They varied from one foot to two feet long. The biggest highlight of today was around 2000hrs the ship passed by the Aleutian Island. It was the most exciting thing because it is the first time that any of us have seen land in five days. The islands were right on the horizon and because there was a little bit of a fog, one could just see the outline of the mountains mixed in with the clouds.

While I was studying in the union (which has big glass windows) I was able to see marks in the ocean. The marks looked as though they were footprints from whales, even though I never seen any whales. Later in the day people on the ship said they had seen an orca (killer whale). The ship had another lifeboat drill; it took place at 1500hrs. It was freezing out and our muster leader lost a whole sheet of names (A-L) so we had to stay out even longer. While standing there I was able to see two birds that looked like seagulls.

The waters are very calm compared to the last few days (westerly 4 to 6 ft). When looking at the ocean it almost looks as though it is not real. The ocean has a smooth and glossy look to it. Today I spotted two dolphins off of the port side of the ship. The air temperature is starting to get warmer. I was able to sit out for a little bit today. Before lunch my RD stopped me to ask me if I would be the head of my seas (the ships halls are separated into seas, I am the Ionian Sea) big brother/sister group. There are eight of us and we are adopting an eleven-year-old boy. We are crossing the International Date Line so we loose September 8.

There was fog all day today; I was able to see around twenty feet out from the ship. It is weird going through the International Date Line because instead of being behind Eastern Standard Time, we are now ahead. We still get to set our clocks back an hour; it is great because we get an extra hour of sleep.

I did not get to see any whales today; when I was talking to one of the kids she told me how she had seen a whale. Christian, 9 _ years old, was telling me how she had seen what looked like a big black blob come up and go back down (she was excited to tell me about this because she knows about this project). I saw a seagull flying around the back of our ship. Also, there were both dark little dolphins and bigger dolphins with a white stripe on their sides swimming along side of the ship (in the waves that we were making). There were numerous fishing boats seen out on the ocean. Tonight was the first time that I had time to watch a sunset. It was the coolest thing. The sun was halfway gone and I thought it would take a while to go all the way down. After a minute it was already gone. Later in the night I went to look out at the stars and I was able to see the Milky Way (it is the first clear night in a couple days). Last night tons of us slept out on the top deck of the boat. It was fun being able to look up and see all the stars and to wake up to the sun rising. The sky started to light up around the horizon, then the sun finally came up from the horizon.

Today was beautiful out, the temperature was 73*f. I sat out on the deck to read, and I saw a pod of dolphins swimming. At dinner was the first meeting with my hall掇 little brother. We took him to the dinning room for supper, and then went outside to watch the sunset. Another program that I am participating in is extended family. In my mailbox I got who my extended family was, it is James Whitfield (a teacher) and my friend Brad also got him. The extended family is a program where the teachers or adult passengers adopt students who signed up for the program (I am not sure exactly what you do, but it helps the students since their families are far away).

The water is really calm today (SW 1-2 ft), I can hardly feel the boat rocking and no white caps on the waves. This morning I was able to see a rainbow off the stern of the ship. There were a pod of little dolphins jumping out of the water and swimming along our ship. Today was my first session with the children on the boat. We read some traditional Japanese children stories, article about Japanese children, and learned origami. I got to meet my extended family today; Brad and I meet James outside the Harbor Grill. We talked and ate a little snack, it should be fun once our trip goes on and we have more meetings with him. Tonight was our pre-port meeting. They have these meetings to prepare us for the countries, so we know about their different cultures and ways to do things in that country. I am so excited, after two weeks of being on the ocean and confined to our ship, we get to hit land tomorrow.

The S.S. Universe Explorer arrived in Kobe, Japan at 0800 local time.
Map: Kobe, Japan

Ship Fixes for Map Generator

-Long., Lat., Date

-127.667, 45.633, Vancouver

-138.843, 52.641, 9/2

-149.780, 52.772, 9/3

-161.210, 52.850, 9/4

-172.210, 51.890, 9/5

151.970, 41.216, 9/10

138.108, 33.725, 9/12