Brest, Quimper, and Normandy

(Excerpts from Ship's Librarian, Rich Delbango)

July 25th - Normandy
On Sunday I took the long awaited trip to Normandy and the D-Day battlegrounds. When I first looked at the map of Brest, I saw that Normandy didn't look so far away, a lot closer than any other attraction that I wanted to see in France like Paris. A lot of other people on the ship felt the same way. The Captain's aide, Anderson Smith, who arranges the tours for us, tried to get a Normandy tour from the ship's agent in Brest. Apparently no one else who goes to Brest goes to Normandy. There were no "canned" tours to Normandy available. Not to be daunted, he was able to rent busses for us to take us up there where we would meet a local guide to take us around.
Two days were set up, Saturday and Sunday, for 80 persons each. They sold out quickly. As it turns out Normandy wasn't that close, the tours were scheduled to be 18 hours long! Most of that was traveling time to and from the region. Originally, I planned to go Saturday because I knew such along day would wear me out and I'd be exhausted Monday when we departed.. I reconsidered and booked for Sunday when I realized that almost everything in Brest would probably be closed that day.
The tours were scheduled to leave at 04:00, way before dawn. We left an hour late in a Breton rain with about 3 hours of the driving in the dark. What a lot of driving it was. It took us 5 hours total to arrive in the town of Bayeux, home of William the Conqueror. Unfortunately, we were running late and didn't get time to walk around the town. We met our guide and headed on our tour of the D-Day battle sites.
We passed some sites, such as the British and German cemeteries, without stopping, while our guide regaled us with facts and stories about the invasion. Our first stop was the town of St. Mère Église. This was the town where the U.S 82nd Airborne paratroopers landed the night before the invasion to act as pathfinders for the invasion force. Located here is the Musée Airborne devoted totally to the airborne aspect of the invasion. Moving on, we went to Utah Beach, the westernmost beast of the invasion and the one with least casualties. Little remains of the gun emplacements or any other traces of the war. Only a few monuments dot the site.
Next we went to Pointe du Hoc, a 150' high, jagged cliff that 225 Army Rangers climbed to successfully capture a Nazi gun emplacement, only 90 survived. The landscape is still littered, like the surface of the moon,with bomb and shell craters 20' deep. A very surreal spot.
We finally drove to Omaha Beach which was the bloodiest of all sites in the area. It's easy to see why it was such a killing field. It is a wide beach at the low tide that the invasion took place. There is no place to hide. The Nazis had an unobstructed view of the entire beach from their machine gun nests on the bluff above the beach. We hiked along the beach and up the bluff where there are now stairs. At the top is the largest of the American war cemeteries in France. It is a magnificently beautiful spot, perfectly manicured bushes, trees and grass with row upon row of stone crosses and Stars of David. Over 9,000 Americans were left here. Many more of the dead were sent home at their families' wishes. All of the stones face home to the west. There is a beautiful chapel and a memorial with the names of those missing or never identified. It is an incredibly moving spot that really makes you appreciate the sacrifices made by those men and women (there are 4 here).
After the cemetery it was time to bid adieu to our guide and head back to the ship. We arrived back at 23:00, exhausted, but inspired by the sites of the day.

July 24th - A visit to Quimper
After being underwhelmed with Brest, I decided to go south on Saturday. The seaside tours that the Ship had arranged had fallen through due to lack of interest and I had already decided to switch to my Normandy trip to Sunday. I had read about the Festival de Cornouaille in a town called Quimper in the Fodor's guidebook and it looked interesting. It was touted as a 9 day street celebration of Celtic heritage held in a quaint Breton town. I confirmed on Friday at the Brest tourist office that the festivalwas still going on for the weekend.
Leaving the ship early on Saturday morning, I encountered a Sandy from theChartwell's food service crew who expressed an interest in going along. So about 09:00 the two of us set off to Quimper, some 70 miles to the south. Luckily, we were able to catch the first Ship's bus of the day into downtown Brest which deposited us off right in front of the Gare SNCF(train station). We got a noon train with a 19:00 return for only 20€, giving us a good 6 hours to roam Quimper. The 70 minute ride was very pleasant, traveling on the super-modern SNCF train through the Breton countryside, making 4 stops in some of the smaller towns on the way. We spotted about a half dozen Maritime cadets on board also getting out of Brest for the day.
When we arrived in Quimper, there didn't seem to be much activity around the station. It was already their 4 hour lunch break and most shops in the vicinity were closed. Asking for directions to the fair, we hiked toward the center of the town. After about a 6 block walk along the lovely, florally decorated river quay, we spotted the first stalls of the festival vendors. Luckily, it was early and the festival wasn't too crowded yet and we were able to move through the stalls without having to fight our way through crowds.
There was an interesting variety of locally produced goods at the stalls along the quay: jewelry, artworks, Quimperware (locally produce pottery) and food. We snacked at a crepe stand, bought some edible seaweed spread and some souvenirs. Unlike the rest of the town, the shops along here stayed open instead of closing for their mid-day siesta which was a nice treat.
The fair led off the quay into the winding streets of the old town. There was a central food market in the town with excellent fresh foods; fruits,cheeses, breads, fish, pastries, etc. We got a variety of stuff there and had lunch on the street French peasant style.
Wandering on further we came to the town square where they had a Celtic orchestra accompanying 2 groups of native dancers having a sort of ancient"dance off'. It was amazing to watch.
Heading back, we went to Quimper's cathedral of St Corentin, the 2nd largest cathedral in France. It was magnificent. The festival continued in the courtyard where they were having an "American Idol" style competition of Celtic music. By evening, the clouds that had kept us cool all day began to drizzle on us and it was time to return to Brest.

July 23rd - Exploring Brest
We docked this morning at 09:00 at Brest France. After anchoring last night off the coast, we met the pilot, entered the harbor and pulled in at at the French Navy base. It took an extraordinary amount of time before we could get off due to the fact we couldn't use our own gangway The tides are too high here so the Navy had to move their gangway in with a crane.

We finally got off the ship at 12:30 and headed to town. It was a long walk to get off the base and almost the same distance to town. It wasn't too bad because the weather was cool and cloudy. Certainly a change from Malta.

The town is pleasant enough. I expected worse. A nice complex of medieval buildings at the town entrance and the new constrution not as bad as I was led to expect. The only problem was they are ripping up the entire main street of the city to make a new boulevard with a light rail running down the center.

Captain Stephens and I had a great dinner at a French restaurant with the cooperation of a very patient waiter who spoke some English. After dinner we hit some of the local shops before they closed. Everything in Europe closes so darn early.

The tour to the coastal towns, that I was supposed to take today, was cancelled due to lack of interest. Too bad, it looked good. The Normandy trips for Saturday and Sunday are both still on. They were very popular. Both are full. I decided to go Sunday. Since it won't be back until late, I probably won't be able to post any pics until I get home 2 weeks from tomorrow. I don't know what I'm going to do tomorrow. I may head 60 miles south to Quimper where there is a Celtic festival going on. It looks cool. We will see. Au Revoir for now.

Drills.....and then BBQ

(Excerpts from Ship's Librarian, Rich Delbango)

Sunday, July 18th
We had our last Sunday at Sea in the Mediterranean today and the day was fantastic. It was sunny and warm all day....By the time I got up and out the barbecue had started on the sun deck. Almost everyone had a very restful day. Most of the cadets worked on their sun
tans instead of their studies today. After dinner of steak, potatoes and corn-on-the-cob, I finally reported for work at 18:00, mostly to show the evening's movies.

Next Sunday we'll be in Brest and the next, and last, Sunday at Sea we will be in the mid-Atlantic on the way home.

Adieu to the Mediterranean, it was beautiful.

Saturday, July 17th
We've been spending the last few days steaming around Majorca doing various drills and maintenance during the days. There is lots of activity and its accompanying noise all day around the ship. At night we've been anchoring in Majorca harbor. What a magnificent view of the
bright city we have at night.

The ship has been a beehive of activity. Yesterday was the man overboard drill in which an unwitting cadet was thrown overboard and had to be rescued. Just kidding. We use a dummy made out of old clothes and a life vest. The ship can't just stop. We have to do a figure 8 turn to
come back and get the victim.

Also on deck, some cadets were practicing the valuable art of plugging leaks. They do this on a special jig made of a steel plate with various size holes in it through which is forced sea water from a high pressure fire hose. They shove various objects in until they get the leaks under
control. In the process they also get soaked which may be enjoyable in the hot, Mediterranean sun, but probably not so much if we were sailing in the Arctic.

We're going to steam some more around Majorca this afternoon, then head southwest and west to the Straits of Gibraltar and the open ocean. We should be there by Monday morning ready for the voyage north up the Atlantic coast of Europe to Brest.

Tomorrow is Sunday at Sea, our last in the Med. We're all praying for good weather for the barbecue and day of rest. So far, the weather has been spectacular. Let's hope it holds for one more day.

Balearic Islands

(Excerpts from Ship's Librarian, Rich Delbango)

The Captain has taken us on a pleasant detour through the Balearic Islands off the coast of Spain. We lost sight of land after we left the Straits of Messina the other night and were on the open sea for 2 days. Seeing the lovely hills of Majorca was a pleasant diversion this morning. Everyone has settled back into their routines.....Soon, we'll head southwest toward the Straits of Gibraltar and the open sea. I hope the ocean will be calm. We've been spoiled by the gentle
Mediterranean....

Back to Sea

(Excerpts from Ship's Librarian, Rich Delbango)

Monday, July 12th
We left Malta about 09:30 this morning, saying goodbye to a fantastic
port. The history, the culture, the swimming, the food; all in close
proximity to the ship. What more could you want in a port? We had three
days of excellent weather. The Maltese people were warm and welcoming.
With a very low crime rate, I felt safe walking the darkest streets at
night.

I spent the last night on shore at the dock area doing my internet stuff,
buying magazines for the library and enjoying a cold soda. The pier was
crowded for a Sunday night because they were showing the final of the
World Cup on dozens of TVs all along the wharf. The Europeans love their
soccer.

When we left Malta, we headed northeast, then north to go around Sicily
and east through the Straits of Messina. It's night now and I just took
an evening break and saw the coast of Italy on the starboard and Sicily
off the port side. It is a beautiful sight to behold. Tomorrow we'll be
in the open Mediterranean heading west toward the Atlantic. We'll reach
Brest, France in about 11 days and gain an hour on the way.

Malta

(Excerpts from Ship's Librarian, Rich Delbango)

Malta - Day 3

On Sunday I took the shortest of the excursions arranged by the Ship. We started out at the Malta Quarry Museum. Every building on Malta is built from the yellow, natively quarried limestone. This museum, set in a depleted quarry, told the history of the process. We headed south to the southern cliffs of Malta and the Blue Grotto. This was as beautiful as the grotto in Gozo was. Absolutely gorgeous! We finished with a trip to a local fishing village and its colorful and fragrant fish market. I went back to the ship torest up for the last night in Malta. Monday it’s back to sea.

Malta - Day 2

Saturday was more restful for me. I took a trip, also arranged by the College to the Blue Lagoon on the tiny island of Comino. We travelled by an excursion boat filled mostly with young Europeans in Malta for an English immersion summer program. We arrived at the Blue Lagoon and were greeted by a spectacular sight of the clearest, bluest water that I have ever seen. Surrounding it was a rugged, rocky hillside with no sandy beach, just rocks all the way to the water. Perched on these rocks were thousands of daytrippers that you had to practically climb over to get to the water. After finding my own little perch, I cautiously climbed down the rocks to the water. It was spectacular, clean and cool. I stayed in for hours. I swam away from the crowds into several hidden caves. One of these caves opened out into the open sea. It was amazing. I didn’t want to get out.

Malta - Day 1

We docked in the magnificent harbor of the capital, Valleta, about 08:00 on Friday July 9. The entrance into the harbor is breathtaking as you sail past the ancient fortresses at the mouth of the harbor. We docked at the Pinto dock which was a prime location, right at the foot of the city wall, easy to get to the City. The only problem is the City is at the top of the wall and the wall is 100’ – 150’ high!

I wasn’t going to tackle the City on the first day. . I was scheduled to go on a tour of Gozo, the western island. The vans left at 09:30 for the 40 minute trip across the island of Malta to the ferry. The ferry to the island took another 20 minutes. The scenery on both legs of the journey was spectacular. We drove through rolling hills of gold dotted by small towns all built of their yellow sandstone.We were met by a bus on Gozo to continue our journey. The first stop was the ancient ruin of the Ggantija temples. These are among the ancient structures of the prehistoric residents of Gozo that are 1000 years older than the pyramids in Egypt. They are the oldest standing, human structures in the world. They are believed to be temples to the Mother goddess (Mother Nature) because the outline of the temple has the shape of the small Mother deity idols found in many primitive cultures.

We moved on to see the capital of Gozo Victoria Rabat. This is a small, crowded city topped off by The Citadel, a castle at the top of the highest point in the city. After a laborious climb up to the Citadel, we had a more laborious one inside of it up to the tops of its walls. After the climb down and some time for shopping in the City it was off to a great lunch at one of Gozo’s finest hotels.After lunch we heads southwest to the sea and the amazingly beautiful cliffs at a spot called the Azure Lagoon. Here we were taken by boatmen in small, colorfully painted boats through grottos gut naturally through the cliffs by the sea. Out in the open sea, we entered several other caves and saw the Azure window, a rock formation framing a fantastic view of the sea.

Off Malta

(Excerpt from Ship's Librarian, Rich Delbango)

We've been anchored since last night about 13 miles off the coast of Malta, right near two oil platforms. We're pulling into Valleta harbor tomorrow morning about 08:00. I heard there are some webcams of the harbor. Look for us. We should be docked very close to the city because it appears that the harbor is the center of the city. We're at, what I'm told, is one of the deepest anchorages in the world. We are surrounded by ships, mostly empty tankers, that are parked here awaiting orders.

I've got some tours lined up for next 3 days if they all run. The Regiment Office arranged a nice selection. It looks as if you could spend a couple weeks here to see all the sights Malta has to offer. It seems like a very interesting place. There are pre-historic ruins, Roman ruins, fortresses, huge cliffs, quaint fishing villages, Medieval and Renaissance palaces, and churches. LOTS of churches. I think they have one for every 1,000 inhabitants of this country. From the travel video I ran last night, Valetta looks a lot like Venice without the canals.

Link to webcam at Grand Harbour, Valletta http://www.visitmalta.com/webcam1

(Excerpts from Ship's Librarian, Rich Delbango)

July 6th, Malta Bound
The Mediterranean is beautiful. Calm and peaceful. It's been sunny for the last four days and getting hot. It's going to be scorching in Malta. Meanwhile we're just sailing along.

The Regiment Office is arranging some tours for us. They should be good..There is plenty to do and see on these islands.

July 4th, Happy Independence Day
Happy Independence Day everyone. What a difference this year's 4th is from last. Last year we were heading home at this time. This year we still have over a month to go. Last year it poured on our celebration. This year the weather has been gorgeous. The best thing is that this year it luckily corresponded with our Sunday at Sea and that means relaxation for most of us and barbecue for all.

There were no classes today. The only cadets working were those on watch or with extra duty jobs. The hardest working people on board today were the Chartwell's Food Service people who toiled all day getting the barbecue set up and cooking for over 500 hungry sailors. Thanks to Henry and his crew who did such a great job as usual. Burgers, franks and chicken for lunch; steaks and shrimp for dinner. Between meals, we had some fireworks as cadets shot off some expired flares and smoke marker grenades. Not the Macy's fireworks, but it would have to do.

We are somewhere in the mid-Mediterranean Sea, heading east. We will probably sail between Corsica and Sardinia to do maneuvers before heading to Malta. Everyone is getting anxious to get to land, especially to swim.

July 2nd, Refueling
We anchored last night, after I went to bed, only yards from the town of Gibraltar. After dropping anchor about 02:00, the bunker barge (really a small tankership) arrived. They tied up alongside, hooked up their giant fuel hose to us and began pumping over 1,000 tons of low sulphur ships oil into our tanks. I don't know what the gallon count is, but it is a heck of a lot.

The weather is warm and hazy, with some light intermittent drizzle. The Mediterranean is calm. Since we have a week to get to Malta, it is going to be a slow, meandering journey...Meanwhile, the cadets are keeping busy drilling and painting the ship. Last night they were practicing lowering the lifeboats right outside the Officer's Mess at dinner time.

In the Mediterranean Sea

(excerpts from Ship's Librarian, Rich Delbango)
Saturday, June 26
We left Dublin shortly after midnight this morning and we're now making headway south to the Mediterranean.

Tomorrow will be the first Sunday at Sea of the 2nd cruise. If the weather permits, they'll be a barbecue for all on the sun deck. Because it is the beginning of the 2nd part of the term and classes just began today, most cadets will have classes for at least part of the day. Next week there should be no classes for our second Sunday which also happens to be the 4th of July. Irregardless, I still have to work because thelibrary is open every day we are at sea, holiday or not.

Sunday, June 27
We hit some rough water, not the worst I've ever seen, but uncomfortable..The ship rolled all night. Anything not tied down rolled back and forthon the decks, including me in my bunk.

.....I was happy to see that things had calmed down enough for our Sunday at Sea barbecue which was already going on out on the sun deck. I wound up having burgers and hot dogs for breakfast. Yum! The day was gorgeous, sunny in the mid 70s.

Monday, June 28
It has been a real quiet day. The seas were calm and the sun was strong. Everyone is settling in to the 2nd half of the cruise. We're in the Atlantic, off the northern coast of Spain I think. It's hard to tell because the interactive map with the Seawave e-mail system dosn't seem to be working this year and my hand held GPS seems to be on the fritz too. I can always go up to the map room and ask where we are, but it's a long way up from where I'm stationed (8 decks).

We're cruising fairly slowly, below 10 knots. We'll probably make it to the mouth of the Mediterranean by Wednesday and anchor by Gibraltar to take on fuel on Thursday. Since we're not docking at Gibraltar, I'm going to have to see if I can use my binoculars to spot any of my little monkey friends on the top of the rock.

Dublin

Dublin Castle

Dublin

(Excerpts from the ship’s librarian: Photos by Joseph Williams)

June 22
Dublin, of course, is a very lovely city so in the limited amount of time

I have I've been trying to make the most of it.

Dublin

To The Bay of Biscay

June 19

(Excerpts from the Ship’s librarian: Photo by Joseph Williams)

As we emerged from the Straits of Gibraltar and into the Atlantic, a change has overtaken the water. Where once the smooth seas of the Mediterranean lay beneath us, it has been replaced by the slow and steady rocking of the Atlantic. The water looks different visually as well – it is somewhat grayer. But, on the good side I did see a dolphin or a small whale today peaking up with its dorsal fin. It was just a passing glance and I didn’t see it after the first look.
We are now about 80 miles off the coast of Portugal and moving at roughly full steam north to the Bay of Biscay and then the waters of Great Britain

Balearic Isles

(Excerpts from the Ship's Librarian: Graphic by worldpress.com)

June16
We are finally pulling out from the Balearic Islands today and our course is set for the Straits of Gibraltar. We can expect to be there within a couple of days, and then out to the Atlantic, and then the cool waters of the Irish Sea.

At Sea En Route To Dublin

Students using ship's library

(Excerpts from the Ship's Librarian: Photos by Joseph Williams)

June 11

Ships naturally need to communicate. In the old days, they used to use flags (this was after they discovered that burning smoke signals on a wooden ship was not a good idea). Flags, however, have become obsolete and are now used mostly as decoration. Radio communication predominates, but also heavily used are lights and sound.


June 14

At the time of this writing we are passing through the strait between Sardinia and Corsica again following back our tracks toward Gibraltar. Weather and seas have been pretty calm; like they have been through most of the Mediterranean.

Williamson Circles

Tower of Winds: Greece

(Excerpts from the ship's librarian: Photo by Joe Williams)

June 9:
I found out today is that one cannot simply stop a ship like a car. In order to stop a ship, you need to have about 2 miles (or more depending on your speed). So if something comes up in your way, you can’t simply hit the brakes so to speak. Rather, you need to maneuver the ship around the obstacle. That is why among other reasons you need to have watches, and you need to keep ships at a safe distance. The larger the vessel, the harder it is to stop it. And how do you stop it? By reversing the engines, yet you can imagine how much power it would take to stop something as big as an oil tanker. Now, imagine this situation and somebody goes overboard. The best you can do is throw them one of those life rings and execute a circle (called a Williamson circle). The person in the water has to wait until the ship can complete the circle and hopefully they can fish you out.

Grecian Isles

Joe being ferried to Andros

(Excerpts from the Ship's librarian June 5 -7
Photos by Joseph Williams)

June 5
Today was an enjoyable day at Andros, the northernmost island of the Cyclades.We zoomed over the water and arrived at the dock where groups of SUNY Maritime people began to outpopulate the native Androsians. The town has a population of 1,500 and you have to figure about 600 of us went for the day trip.

The town of Andros itself is small, but terraced along a mountainside. The pastel-colored architecture is just plain awesome to look at and has many narrow streets.

Street in Andros

June 6

After we arrived in Athens, I took leave early in the day and went into the city by myself using the metro. The walk to the subway was rather long, but I think it was closer than Malaga. I landed at the Monastratiki stop and looked up to see the famed Acropolis of Athens.

Scene In Athens

Joe at the Acropolis in Athens

June 7

Today, I visited the island of Aegina in the morning

where I saw the Temple of Aphaia, which are very well-preserved Doric ruins..

Aegina

Temple of Aphaia in Aegina

At Sea

Students Plugging a leak aboard the ship

(Excerpts from the Ship's Librarian, May 27 - June 2: Photos by Joseph Williams)

May 27:
Midnight on The Bridge:
While on the bridge, I was first introduced to the technical navigationaland GPS equipment they have. While their GPS equipment does not providevocal directions such as, “Turn starboard at the next reef.” The system is incredibly intricate where the navigators lay in waypoints. In the training ship, they also use paper charts to plot the ship’s course. They use triple backup systems since this is an educational voyage, and safety is paramount.
By the morning, we had left the island of Majorca behind and now we are sitting and recalibrating the compasses in front of the island of Minorca..

May28:
Today we saw the first drops of rain in about 2 weeks with apassing shower, and the sea has been remarkably calm. Today, we also passed through the Straits of Bonifacio, which separates the islands of Sardinia and Corsica. I only saw Sardinia, and Corsica was out of sight.

May29:
So last night we passed through the Straits of Bonifucio between Sardinia and Corsica.Tomorrow we will pass through another strait, this one will be the Strait of Messina which was considered perilous in ancient times because of its rocks and whirlpools. According to Encyclopedia Brittanica, “The strait was greatly feared by sailors in antiquity, mainly because of the rocks and whirlpools known as Scylla and Charybdis, personified as female monsters in Greek mythology.”




May30:
The ship today went through the Strait of Messina and now we are in theIonian Sea. It was rather dramatic looking, since there is a wall of mountains that suddenly drop into this patch of open water. I took some pictures and it was somewhat hazy out, but I did get good views of MountEtna.

June 2:
We are now in the realm of Odysseus, and much like the “man of twists andturns” the ship is going on its own odyssey through the famed Aegean. We have already passed our anchorage and Andros, and now we are going tobe circling islands. All of the ones I have seen have been very rugged,very mountainous, and many are covered with windmill farms. Generally speaking, everything thus far has been very scenic.
One of the things I have noticed is that our students have an intense curiosity about where we are going – not just for the recreational stuff –but they also want to learn more about the history of the ports andcountries that we are visiting. There is something beautiful about taking two weeks to get to a port since it allows time for curiosity to build.

The Odyssey of “Empire State VI”: En Route to Greece

(Excerpts from the Ship's Librarian, May 24-26)

May 24:

We are back at sea and going nowhere. By that I mean that we have moved the ship about 5-10 miles away from Malaga (very clearly in view) and are at anchor while we do drills (they even lowered the lifeboats today). If we were to just go full steam ahead to Greece, it would probably take us only a couple of days or so to get there. “Empire State VI,” much like Odysseus, is going to take a long and leisurely route before we finally raise the Hellenic lands. This scenic tour of the Mediterranean is going to test the navigation and piloting skills of cadets… particularly when we encounter the Sirens and the Clashing Rocks.

May 25:

Today we fell out of sight of land and are now in the middle of the giant salt puddle known as the Mediterranean Sea. Today nothing really noteworthy happened (we haven’t met any Krakens, Sirens, or seen the Clashing Rocks yet), but I did happen to have my first official meeting with the Captain. The Captain wanted to talk about some of the content to put in my port guide for Greece. There is apparently going to be a three island tour offered, as well as a tour of the Acropolis. All surrounding this will be two receptions. One when we anchor at Andros, and then a huge reception on the ship on the night of the 6th. Alumni and industry leaders will be there. In addition, once we are in Piraeus we will be offering tours of the ship, etc.

May 26:

Allow me an indulgence to express my annoyance at doing concentric circles around lovely islands without any intention of stopping there. Majorca, which is the island we are circling now, is a beautiful island, and, according to one of the officers, is a “really great port.” Of course he thought I was joking when I asked him to pull over the ship so we can get out, even for half a day….Weather has been humid and growing hot. The seas, however, have been especially calm as we do our concentric loops.

Liberty in Malaga

The Empire State VI arrived at its first port, Malaga, on the morning of Friday May 21.
(Excerpts from the Ship's Librarian, May 21-23)

Friday May 21, Liberty in Malaga: After coming into Malaga, the inspection went well and liberty was granted starting at around 10:30 a.m. One needs a liberty card to leave and exit the vessel. I´m very happy to have my ticket to freedom right here in my pocket. Students have been let out in waves, and no matter where I went today, I kept bumping into some. I did a random walk through the town (very windy and warrenlike) and decided to go to the Alcazaba and the Castille de Gibrafalo. Both of these are Moorish ruins that provide excellent views of the town. I have already been back and forth to the ship, the ship is moored perhaps a mile and a half away from the main city but once you are in the city, everything is in close proximity to each other. That´s it for now. I have to decide what to do for tomorrow. I think I might be doing an outing to one of the towns nearby.















Walk up to the Castille de Gibrafalo.

Saturday May 22, A Day Trip to Ronda: If you ever get a chance to go to Spain, go to Ronda. The scenery alone is gorgeous. Ronda is the largest in a series of fortified towns in the mountains and probably the most awesome in its location being set upon a gorge that is crossed by a cliff. The town itself was about an hour and a half bus ride out of Malaga and it goes straight up into the winding hills. This town is known as the birthplace of modern bullfighting, an inspiration for Hemmingway, and also where Orson Welles had his ashes scattered.















Ronda´s Gates














Ronda, a town on a cliff















Ronda´s ¨New Bridge¨ spans a deep gorge.

Sunday May 23, A day at the Alhambra: Our destination was the fabled Alhambra, the citadel of the last Moorish kingdom of Spain. Our tour guide was a man named Frederico who was fluent in about four languages. His erudition really impressed the cadets and crew that were on the tour, but even more impressive was the Alhambra itself.















The Alhambra















Frederico our tour guide with rapt cadets and crew
















A ceiling of the Alhambra

Images of a ship at sea

A calm day at sea

Using the Sextant

Joe Williams, Ship's Librarian with the Azores in the background

A Sunday barbeque at sea

Life boat

Cadets learning to tie knots

Raising the Azores

(Excerpts from the Ship's Librarian, May 17)
May 17: In the morning we finally reached the Azores. These dramatic looking, mist-shrouded islands rose pretty much straight from the sea and are dotted with rural communities and bustling towns. Today, on the whole, was a quiet day in terms of activity in the library, probably because everybody wanted to look at the Azores (we stopped the ship here for a while), and also because the heat problems in the library have been continuing. At my request, they have brought fans that will be installed on the walls in the library. This should help with air circulation.

Stormy Seas and Setting Sights on Land

(Excerpts from the Ship's Librarian, May 13-14)
May 13: Right now, we are encountering some fairly heavy turbulence and nobody is allowed to go out on deck. I do not think it is extreme weather, but it’s heavier than it's been since we started sailing. It is very cool to look at however, and any photo I take of the water does not do it justice. The library was very quiet all day due to rough weather. Reports of sick students throughout. This a.m. Captain came with two crew to secure library.

May 14: Ship rolled heavily though most of the day then finally settled by the midevening. We are one week out of Spain and should raise the Azores over the weekend. Reference questions have now begun to turn a bit more toward our first port of call with students asking of things to do in and around the port. Those using the library seem to be here for study.