So, we spent about 5 days in Prince William Sound, waiting for better weather in the Gulf before heading across. While we steamed around in circles and waited, a few things kept us busy. The first one being the small search for a missing boat that I wrote about in a prior post, and the other was our radar taking a dump. Since Radar is our most important navigational tool, we had to comprise a plan to get it fixed. We have a required secondary radar, but it’s old, outdated and has had some issues on this trip to the point where is wasn’t reliable. The closest port was Whittier, so after our engineer decided that it was beyond his abilities, we got on the Sat phone and made some calls. The end result, was a trip to Whittier, where we met with a radar tech from Anchorage and he got us going again with some new brushes. We landed the barge in the late afternoon and had a few hours of downtime and dinner. During that time, 3 of us took a stroll into the bustling community of Whittier where very few lights are even left on, let alone businesses open. It was 8 in the evening, so we didn’t expect much, but the only store in town was open until 9 and we were in luck. I think the tiny asian woman thought we were there to mug her, but we quickly put her at ease with our magazine purchases and toiletries. It was then back to the boat, and underway.
A day or two after Whittier, it was evident that the weather wasn’t going to get much better, so our captain decided it was time to make a run for it before things got any worse. There was a big super-storm brewing out in the Aleutians, and I don’t think he wanted to stick around and see if it was going to head our way. I knew that night was going to be nasty, so I popped motion sickness pill as a precaution, which in retrospect, I probably should’ve popped 2.
We decided to head out the main entrance to Prince William Sound, which is the main traffic lanes for ships heading into Valdez. The currents and wind through there are typically a challenge on an average day, and we were already beyond that point in the weather. About 2 hours into it, we were taking 25’ waves straight ahead and winds exceeded 45 knots. That combined with some large swell from the south and we were taking a nasty pounding. When I got up for watch around midnight, all I could hear was stuff crashing around in the galley that was fairly well secured, or at least we thought. I staggered out to find books, condiments, DVD players, napkins, coffee filters, playing cards and much more, strewn all across the deck of the galley. It was awesome, but my inner ear didn’t agree and soon I was feeling the effects pretty bad. I knew it was nasty when our seasoned engineer comes in from the engine room with the same look on his face that I had. His accent made it even better when he said “jeezus, man, this come nasty shit!”. He too wasn’t feeling well and immediately headed off to his room. All I could do was hang on for 4 hours until my watch was over. I wedged myself in at the galley table with a bucket nearby and watched the time click by. It was bad and probably the worst seasickness I’ve endured. I still managed to do my rounds, collect trash and so forth and I kept a good attitude despite the level of suckiness. The next day got better and I felt much better, the day after that, I was good to go. I typically only get seasick if the transition from calm to nasty is short. If it slowly ramps up over a few days, I tend to adapt fairly well. I know that others have experienced rougher conditions, but this was the nastiest I’ve seen on tug so far to date. It’s a great way to lose weight quick and start a new diet. ;-)
So, we made it across and are now on the inside passage near Ketchikan, heading south towards Seattle. We should be in port sometime Friday and then I get to head straight to class for a GMDSS Lab makeup. After that, I’ll be hopping onto a slow boat to Hawaii for a month. I’m certainly not fond of having to be gone so long right now, but if I want to get my license, I need to jump at the opportunity to get available sea time and income between now and next Spring. The short term pain is worth the long-term gain and soon I can fall into a better schedule of being home in between trips. School is out soon and so it’ll just be sea time to deal with.
Today, I sat down with our Captain for a few hours and went through my TOAR (Towing Officer Assessment Record) and he signed me off on a bunch of it. It’s basically a document that says you are ready to be an officer on a towing vessel. I was glad that he took the time to help me out because the TOAR is a big chunk of assessments that must be done before you work as a mate on a towing tug. Getting there…
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