Thursday, July 2, 2015

Sailing to Split..err, Somewhere Else



News from the ship's librarian, Rich Delbango:


 Sailing to Split..err, Somewhere Else

There has been no land in sight since Sunday.  The seas south of Belfast have been mildly active.  The ship has been constantly rolling, but nothing too bad other than one or two rough jolts.  The food locker in the Officer's Mess was more than a little messy on Wednesday morning when all of the salad dressings and yogurt spilled. I haven't heard of anything worse.  The sun eluded us the whole way until it finally showed itself on Wednesday afternoon. Thursday remains sunny as we near the Mediterranean.

The cadets and crew have settled into a busy routine of classes, work and some rest and relaxation where they can get it. The Library has been busy in the evenings. Everyone was looking forward to arriving at Split, Croatia next week.  That is until Wednesday afternoon.  The Captain informed us that, despite months of planning, Croatia doesn't want us.  There has been some disagreement between the U.S State Department and Croatia over our berthing rights.  Captain Smith, resourceful as usual, has been scrambling to find us another port to keep us on schedule. It looks (about 99% certain) that we will be going to Majorca, Spain instead. This means our last two ports will both be in Spain.  At least we won't have to deal with any leftover Croatian Kunas (money) as we will have the Euro in both ports. I'm sure the cadets won't be disappointed with Majorca as it is a lively, cosmopolitan island with lots of entertainment and great beaches. So as we push on toward the Strait of Gibraltar, we have to remember that a training cruise is all about the journey, not the destination.

 Rich Delbango 

Here are a couple of photos:




1 comment:

Diane Fredericks said...

I am happy to hear they may be going to Spain. I have been tracking the ship and see you have made a circle around Corsica. Hope the students have some fun.