In Dublin Fair City

Dear Readers,

So instead of having a nice, quiet Sunday at Sea before reaching Dublin, we had a little bit of excitement yesterday: a helicopter drill!  Members of the Irish Coast Guard were training one of their own in an exercise in concert with our officers’ approvals.  First, the helicopter circled the ship a half a dozen times or so, looking for the opportune location to drop their guy.  Then, after deciding the aftmost deck suited their operation, the helicopter hovered about 50 feet off the deck for several minutes until – pop! – out came an extended line followed by – pop, pop! – two legs dangling from the side of the hilo.  Attached to the line, the trainee was lowered to the deck of the TSES, released the line, and walked from port to starboard and back a few times.  The line lowered again for him to reconnect, and – zip! – up he went back into the helicopter.  The whole lowering/raising exercise lasted no more than 15 minutes, but in that time the decks became full of cadets with their cameras out to record the event.  I’ve never been that close to a helicopter before, but boy can those props put off some power!

 As if that wasn’t exciting enough, today we’re making port in Ireland.  Soon, I’ll be joining a few hundred of my fellow first-halfers in Dublin, followed by a plane ride back to New York.  I hope you’ll stay tuned for shipboard happenings with my successor, Oleg Kushelev, who will be the librarian on the second half of cruise.  I hope this blog has offered an insider eye at the life aboard a training ship: the good times, bad times, and all challenges in between.  Thank you for the opportunity to work with your cadets, fellow crew, and officers; it has truly been a pleasure!

Fair winds and following seas,

Books