Sundae Sunday

Just a quiet little Sunday this week… with sundaes!  Our first Sunday at Sea went even better as planned, with an abundance of hotdogs, hamburgers, steak (!), ice cream, and a little R&R for all aboard.  While midterms were (mostly) completed, Q’s and Celestial Navigation assignments finally were turned in, most cadets and officers alike could spare some time to relax in the warm Atlantic sun.  Some cadets even had time to work on their tans.  I think the relaxed attitude spilled over into the evening, when a record 60+ cadets came to watch the nightly movies – Dodgeball and Wedding Crashers.  (Methinks their enthusiasm has waned, however; tonight we only had a handful join the musical double feature of Les Miserables and Sweeney Todd… or maybe their subtleties were lost on these sailors.)  Many thanks to all who made Sunday (and sundaes) at Sea possible!

Today it was back to the grind though and spirits are high as we inch closer and closer to St. John’s on the chart.  According to this afternoon’s report, we’re somewhere way off the coast of Maine and just about to make a hard turn to port to head further north.  We’re starting to grow accustomed to the clocks being set to “Newfoundland Time” already.  The -2:30 GMT setting can come as a bit of a surprise, especially when I found out that the extra half hour has been in place since even before Newfoundland joined the Confederation in 1949!

Mate Lars Turner spotted our first seabird today around 1900 on watch: “Probably a petrel,” he reported earlier to the library.  Land – and cell phone reception – will be here before we know it.

Until next time,
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