Greetings from the Azores!

For the last few days we’ve been heading for the Azores, where deckies have been painstakingly working to box the compass and allow the rest of us just a few days of a beautiful backdrop to our otherwise blue world.  The coast of the Azores which are speckled with white houses and lush foliage pale in comparison to the sheer height of its peaks and ridges.  Today we celebrated a bit with a BBQ at sea, and it was the perfect setting for a little R&R!

Teasingly though, anchoring off the coast is as far as we will be getting to play tourist to these beautiful Portuguese islands; nay, not even a swim call if you can believe it!  With only a week to go before Dublin, Q’s are picking up more than before and more and more engineering cadets have found their way to the Library to study for license.  Others are just starting to enjoy the guide books available for Ireland and Dublin in preparation for a few days in port soon.  I think a few are realizing that they have to pack soon, and perhaps that original plan of working out every day to Insanity didn’t quite see it through to the end.  Better luck next year.

Tonight Mates Turner, Parr, and Wyche gave an informational presentation in the cadet lounge on the shipping union, MM&P (Masters, Mates, and Pilots). Sharing their experiences with deck cadets who will be graduating soon, they spoke on their personal accounts of working in and with MM&P over the years and hopefully inspired those who attended to look forward to life after graduation.

I just would like to give my own personal shout out tonight to my dad, and wish him a very Happy Father’s Day!  I hope you had a few “bottleduckens” and polkas for me!  I’d also like to wish all the dads out there a very special day, and know that you were thought of today – especially at the BBQ!

Until next time,

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