This morning at breakfast I mentioned to the Master that there were a few people back in California who were interested in tracking our voyage. He was quick to offer that we could email once a day. We agreed that the best time to do this daily would be after lunch from the bridge.
Then I asked questions about the ship and Cindy asked if there was a chart somewhere on the ship so that we could see where we are on a daily basis. An hour after breakfast the captain knocked on our cabin door and gave us a list of the "Ship's Particulars" and on the wall of the hallway outside of our cabin he put a large chart of the Pacific Ocean. He said the 3d officer would update for us at noon on a daily basis. It seems that Captain Bernd Schwalger know all about "Service About Self".
Breakfast with the officers was pleasant and there is more food than one could possibly want. They offered cold cuts, cereal, orange juice, toast with every conceivable jam known to man. The main dish was eggs sunny side up on top of toast with a tomato and onion between them.
Yesterday the Pusan Senator left Oakland at 5PM and we had a beautiful view of the Bay Bridge, Alcatraz, the San Francisco skyline, and of course the Golden Gate Bridge.
Soon after leaving Oakland, the third officer, Roselito Timosa (Lito) gave us a safety briefing as well as a tour of some of the amenities onboard. We tried on our life jackets, located the nearest fire extinguisher and got a tour of the gym which includes a dart board and a ping pong table. There is also a Sauna off of the gym and if we want to have it turned on we just need to ask the Chief Engineer. We then visited the Indoor Pool which is 10 feet by 15 feet by 10 feet deep. The pool was empty and if we want to swim we should ask the Chief Engineer and he will fill it for us.
Our tour ended at the Officer's Galley where we sat down to have dinner. There are 4 tables in the galley which seat 4 persons each. Cindy and I got our very own table and even though the tables aren't together there is conversation from table to table. A skill of bridge building behavior developed by many years of Rotary training.
The Master (Captain) and the Chief Officer (in charge of the containers or the cargo end of things) are German as are many of the other officers. When I say many, there aren't as many as I am used to. When I was in the Navy a small ship's company had 26 officers and 400 men. The entire complement of officers and men on the CMV PUSAN SENATOR is 23 total.
Even though the ship has such few men there is an Officer's Steward who does a marvelous job of addressing all one's needs. The first day before we even left port he showed up at our cabin with a full coffee service and a tin of Danish butter cookies.
Our cabin is titled as the Spare Officer #3 cabin and is very comfortable. We have our own TV with a VCR and there is a library on board with many popular videos, all in German. My German is getting better and Cindy is thrilled that we brought audio tapes from home, all the Harry Potter books which we'd never heard before.
In preparation for this trip we were so busy making sure that all our loose ends were tied up that the night before we left we only slept about 3 hours. Our first night on board the ship we slept for 9 hours and even though we could feel the ocean movement when we were walking about; we felt nothing when our heads hit the pillows.
We were heading North and at 10:45AM today we hung a left and got onto the Great Circle Route to Japan.
See you tomorrow at the Web site ------- that's Rotary5170.org ----------- Auf wiedersehn.
