Day 23...CROATIA DAY (plus Bridge Tour)!!!

Day 23/C9, July 7th:

Just sit right back and hear a tale…

Well, I am not on Gilligan’s Island as the opening line suggests but we could have been because I sat in the Captain’s chair and turned the steering wheel for the ship on my tour of the Bridge today!  About 10 of us, all met up in Timitz Square and were escorted by today’s lookout up to the Bridge for our tour.  I am not sure who the lookout was while he came to get us, but I guess we survived!  We learned about what each of the instruments does and how to tell where we are located while in the middle of the ocean.  It was pretty cool.  They have all of the flags for each country and all of the flags for each letter of the alphabet, which symbolize different things.  They also showed us how they talk to other ships nearby and the various Coast Guard Stations around the world.  When we arrived on the Bridge, no one was even there!  We asked, “Where did everyone go?”  They actually put the ship on autopilot for most of our journey.  They have a two options to choose from in autopilot mode: 1) pick a destination and a time of arrival and the ship changes speed to get there at the specified time, or 2) they can set a speed and the ship will just travel at that speed.  Pretty neat!  They also must fly the flag of the country in which we are located, even if we are just in their waters.  While we were there, one of the other ships contacted the Coast Guard, so it was neat to hear them on the radio.  The radar also shows all of the other ships around us including how many passengers are onboard, where they came from, where they are going, the ship’s name and home country, etc.  They even have typewriters!  They use typewriters instead of computers incase the electricity is terminated for some reason.  They also monitor and control the ship’s fresh water management system.  The controls and monitor were pretty cool to watch as people onboard were using water and the numbers changed.  The best part, however, was taking pictures in the Captain’s chair with his hat and steering the ship.  He also arrived just before we left, so it was cool to be able to talk to him and ask him questions.  Definitely the highlight of the day!

Moving on to the rest of the day…  I had my first exam in International Trade today.  It was one essay question about China’s economy and the problems they are facing today.  It was very easy.  It is a pretty laid back course as we are getting more out of the course from questions than from lessons.  We really haven’t had a lecture yet, but rather have all of our questions answered about the countries in which we visit or any other countries around the world.  It is very neat to hear all of the different perspectives of the students since we come from all over the US and the world for that matter.  I also love the fact that we learn what we want rather than what the professor or course require.  This is why Semester at Sea is so awesome!  Everything is tailored to us on our voyage. 

We also had our logistical and cultural pre-port for Croatia tonight!  For those of you that don’t know, Croatia uses Kuna for their currency.  It doesn’t look a lot like tuna, but it sure is spelled a lot like a tuna.   The exchange rate is about 5.65 Kuna per 1 US dollar.  They also speak Croatian!  I had to include that random fact because one of the many dumb Californian girls on this ship asked that question today during our cultural pre-port.  Also in this port, we also get the chance to travel to Bosnia or Montenegro.  Several SAS trips go to both of these countries and everyone in the “group” would like to go to at least one of the while we are in Croatia.  I probably will go to Mostar, Bosnia if I go at all, but everything is up in the air right now.  Everyone on the ship is just planning to kick it around Dubrovnik for the next four days as no one really made definite plans for Croatia.  Dubrovnik is supposedly really cool and I am looking forward to seeing the Old City and the City Walls.  Clark, Danielle and I are planning to do that tomorrow.  It should be fun and exciting! 

Does anybody want anything from Croatia?  They supposedly have some awesome handmade ties as they may have actually created the tie itself.  I could try to bring you back a cool fish from the Adriatic Sea if I go snorkeling…which I really want to do, but that may be considered smuggling if I bring back a fish!  We also may have to ride in the lifeboats while we are in Croatia!  Don’t worry…we may have to tender to shore on Saturday (Day 3 of Croatia for a few hours).  I kinda hope that we do tender just to be able to say I was in a lifeboat (but for a good reason…).  I just want to be able to experience it for the whole 15 minutes it would take to get to shore.  Why not experience it now, right?  Better now than later!  hahaha

Okay, here is a very tentative schedule for the next four days in Croatia:

Day 1 (7/8): Explore Dubrovnik and see the City Walls
Day 2 (7/9): Find an island and go snorkeling
Day 3 (7/10): Visit Mostar, Bosnia for the day
Day 4 (7/11):  Hang out near the ship and/or see what others are doing?  Maybe try to go on a Service Visit to the Children’s Hospital with SAS?  On-ship time is 18:00.

P.S. We actually are about to pull into port!  We arrived early and they can dock early because another ship is leaving earlier than planned, so we will be docked around 24:00 tonight.  The pilot comes onboard around 23:30, so I want to go watch us come into port since this is the only port we will see at night!  Should be exciting! 

Noon Report for July 7th:

442 NM since Naples, 284 NM since noon yesterday with an average speed of 11.83 knots, 135 NM to Dubrovnik, average of 11.28 knots since Naples, distance to nearest land is 12 NM NE of Punta S. Cataldo (Italy), sea depth is 394 ft (not a typo…less than 400 ft deep), sea swells are 3.2 ft, water temperature is 75.2 degrees, air temperature is 73.4 degrees, sunset 20:22, sunrise 05:17, currently +6 hrs from EST.

P.S.S.  WE ARE NOW DOCKED IN DUBROVNIK!!!!!!!!  Just wanted to give you all that update!  It was pretty neat coming into port while it was dark.  The bay we are docked in is very very small.  I don’t know how the Captian could back this huge ship into this little narrow bay to dock.  It would harder than parallel parking a limosine in a regular parking spot in downtown Charleston.  The Captain was standing on the little platform that sticks out of the Bridge and he kept hollering at somebody at the back of the ship.  It was pretty funny, but I would hate to be that guy.  The pilot was even shaking his head too.  Maybe it was really tough to get us in here…I don’t know.  I give him made props because I couldn’t do it!  Okay, it’s time for bed!  I have to be up for breakfast in less than 7 hrs.  Dovidenia!