Monday, August 4, 2014

Homeward Bound

An Update from our ship's librarian Laurel:


08/04/2014

It’s been smooth as polished glass these past few days, allowing for our easy passage past the steep and rugged cliffs of the Portuguese Azores, and continuing onward to the middle of the Atlantic. We are the only floating island on this calm sea, with not a glimpse of another mass of land in any direction – although discussions have often turned to the ocean territories beneath our feet. Flying fish leap ahead of us regularly, and a few cadets on bow lookout have even spotted an occasional blow from a whale!

Taking advantage of the sunny weather, our enthusiastic caterers from Chartwell’s decided to host  a barbecue not once, but twice yesterday, dishing up an endless supply of tasty burgers, hot dogs, corn, baked potatoes and more than half a dozen barrels of mouthwatering ice cream. Needless to say, our Sunday-at-sea was spent rather lazily, with cadets and faculty sprawled out across the decks to catch some z’s, or hanging out and playing music from each of the ship’s sunny hatches. 

There has been quite a bit of excitement lately around on our upcoming stop in Norfolk, Virginia, where we will pick up members of MARAD (the U.S. Maritime Administration) for a test of the ship’s capabilities while at sea. Although the Empire State has regular “dry dock” inspections to make sure its propeller and attendant parts are working effectively, these “sea trials” only happen once every couple of years. The main reason we find this so exciting is because the test involves a speed-trial, during which we will get to go fast! Although our typical speed runs between 8 and 12 knots, rumor has it we may push 20 during the trial and hopefully catch some ‘real’ waves.


For the mean time, we will continue our calm pace slightly northwards in the direction of the Canadian Maritimes. We are keeping this northerly course to avoid any encounter with tropical storm Bertha which is heating up along the Gulf Stream; for us now, it’s nothing but bright and cloudless skies!

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