We are moving today. At 11:00 am this morning, we heard the call to hoist the anchor so that we could set sail for Nicaragua. We were so excited that Lt. let us go to the bow of the ship and watch them bring up the anchor. The anchor is massive and has to be hauled up by a large machine. As the links of the anchor’s chain are brought up there are certain markers on how deep the anchor has gone. With each marker they will ring the ships bell to announce how many feet deep the anchor is coming up from.
In addition to watching for the markers, the sailors also have to wash the muck from the ocean off the chains and the anchor. That is a lot of hard work. The fireman’s hose they use has a great deal of force behind it so you have to be pretty strong to hand on to the hose and still be able to wash the chain off. Lt. Victor, one of our pharmacist, gave it a try. It took about 30 minutes to raise the anchor and for them to declare “Anchor’s Away.”
Because this was our only day to pack for Nicaragua, the pharmacy was frantically trying to count medicines and label them. Even though we had roughly twenty volunteers at any given point during the day, we ran into a few snags along the way. The first problem was that we ran out of plastic bags to put the meds in. Nicaragua is our last stop and unfortunately some of our supplies have run low with no chance of restocking. Once we found some paper bags we began to run out of staples to close the bags. Then we realized we only had to small packages of labels left. However, with a little ingenuity from the Chief and HM2 McSherry we were able to use the IV label printer to make more labels and some packing tape to close the bags. When all was said and done, we ended up packing 19 pallets and 10,000 pounds of medications for the people of Nicaragua.
NIcaragua is slightly different then all of the other countries we have visited so far because it has mandated that whatever medications that we take into the country have to be left there. To many, this seems like an unusual request, but my past experience with this country tells me that the Ministry of Health does not have the money to provide healthcare to all of its people. We weren’t opposed to this plan because we are not heading to any other humanitarian assistance ports for this trip but this might have limited exactly what came ashore if we did have to go to another country after this.
In the middle of the transit day, we had two scheduled events to look forward to: a bridge tour and the abandon ship drill. Tracy, the Project HOPE coordinator, set up a bridge tour for us. Third mate Joe was the person who gave us a tour and explained how things worked. He is part of the MSC (Military Sealift Command). Joe took time to explain our route back to see and then over to the Coast of Nicaragua. On the maps it looked like we made a backwards J to get to the coast. We have to go back out to sea to “exchange” some water on the ship.
Meg asked if she could drive the boat for a little while and the helmsman agreed. After Meg finished, I asked if I could drive. It was really easy since the seas were not rough at all. In fact, I barely had to move the rudder 2 degrees in the 10 minutes that I was driving the boat. According to Joe, we were going about 18 miles an hour and to be honest, I couldn’t even tell that we were moving at all from the bridge. I am grateful for the bridge tour because it gave me a chance to learn a bit more about sailing and to see all the equipment that is involved in making a giant ship move.
Another scheduled item for the day was a fire drill and an abandon ship drill. At 3:15, the call went out that this was a fire drill. Two of the pharmacy personnel, McSherry and Chief Bone, are tasked with fire duty and are firefighters for the ship. For this drill, everyone will go to the place that they normally muster, take roll, and wait there until the drill is over.
Right after this drill, we roll right into the abandon ship drill. For this drill, we go to the pharmacy put on our long sleeve shirt, life jacket, and hats. We need to have the long-sleeve shirt and hat to protect us from sun exposure in the event that we needed to stay in the lifeboat for an extended period of time. Once fully garbed, we hurry to the flight deck were several sailors are holding signs with numbers. Since I muster with ancillary services, my number is 3 and will be placed into lifeboat 3 in the case of an actual abandon ship. It is really neat to observe the blue and orange sea of people everyone from the whole ship piled onto the flight deck around the helo waiting for those in charge to account for everyone on the ship. Once it is confirmed that all were present and accounted for, the drill is over, and we head back to the pharmacy for the rest of the day.
One of the other things that Project HOPE set up for our day of traveling was to serve in the galley. I was really excited about this because I wanted to see how the kitchen worked to prepare enough food for hundreds of people. However, when I got there I found out that I was serving on the mess deck. This is a thankless job for anyone who has ever done it.
For the 2 hours that food is being served, these men and women stand alert waiting for someone to spill something or make a mess on the salad bar. To be honest, until I did this job myself I didn’t know that these people existed. They simply appear out of nowhere to supply extra bowls, sweep and mop the floor, do anything to keep the area clean. If that is not enough, after dinner, they must wash down all of the tables, put away the napkin holders and salt and pepper shakers. Then, they will sweep and mop the floor. It really is a hard job.
Working in this humbling capacity taught me a great deal. The first thing is that I should always appreciate the people who work behind the scenes. They work very hard and seldom get credit for their long hours. Second is to take a few minutes out of my day to tell them how much that I appreciate all of their efforts. The last thing it taught me was to become more observant of my surroundings. There many, many people who have seeming insignificant jobs around the ship but without them the Comfort would not run smoothly.
Today has been long and full to the brim with new and exciting experiences. There is always something interesting to do or see on board the ship. Each day brings an adventure and when I close my eyes to rest, my mind always begins to wonder what the next day will hold.
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