Saturday, October 10, 2009

Crew Journal, Deck Department

Posted by POLAR SEA
October 8, 2009
Today is a good day as all of deck force is qualified in helm and lookout. SN Kern and SN Froom took their boards a few days ago, and SN Joseph is now also qualified. The next hurdle is for everyone to be DCPQS, Damage Control Personal Qualification Standards, qualified.

It is also an exciting day as we saw some really close polar bears! A mother and two cubs were spotted 3 miles out off our starboard bow by the lead scientist. Thanks to her sharp eyes the crew had time to grab cameras and run to the foc'sle. You could hear the rapid clicks as people took pictures like crazy while the ship slowly crept up on them. By the time we came to an almost complete stop they were only a few hundred yards off and everyone had a good view as the mother reared up on her hind legs twice. The two cubs were adorable and one was quite bold. Despite its mothers calling it came closer, and tried to show how bold it was by yelling at the big red thing and all the little things swarming over it. Finally after much debate between mother and cub they wandered further off, but the excitement on board stayed as everyone now rushed bellow to download images and see if they got anything good. Thankfully it was a little warmer, and not to windy but there was still a run on tea, coffee, and hot chocolate when everyone laid below.

October 9, 2009
Another exciting day in the arctic has come and gone. The seas have been rougher as of late, and some of the crew and scientists are feeling the effects of a Polar Roller. Despite being in the ice, the forces of the waves have broken it into chunks, and created a rolling motion of ice that is truly something incredible to see. The 10' waves can also create quite a stir in your stomach as well though.

We celebrated another birthday for the month of October, there have already been several, and are going to be several more. Birthdays are a welcome occurrence as they can mean some fun pictures, and also of course cake.

As 2000, 8pm, rolled around everyone gathered on the mess deck to listen to Dan Cox give a lecture on how to do photography. As a seasoned photographer he had some very good advice to those interested in it. He went over everything from exposure to composition and afterwards there was a brief question and answer time. Everyone left with an enthusiasm to go out and shoot something!

October 10, 2009
This morning was inspections at 1000, so after muster deck force disbanded to our spaces for cleaning. Thanks to a good field day Friday yesterday and a good job this morning, we passed inspections and were granted the rest of the day to holiday routine. Thanks also to Columbus Day this Monday; it is a three day weekend.

Quarters was a fun occurrence, while everyone was coming out to the flight deck, shivering to keep warm, deck force enjoyed the antics of the Support Group; FS, SK, PA. A few snowballs were launched at Chief Faur when he came out, and in retaliation he bent down and started digging into the pile of snow turning those behind him white.

~SN Klineberger
at 3:28 PM

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