Linda's trip through the Suez Canal

All,
Recently I had the opportunity to do something I never expected to do on this deployment …we transited the Suez Canal. It was an unexpected and interesting change in plans. I was lucky enough to be stationed on the Bridge for a third of the transit and since most of the work involved the CO, Canal Pilot and the conning officer, I had very little to do. So, luckily for you all, I took tons of pictures.

This is at about 0700, sunrise over the desert.

One of the bearing shooters while we slowly made our way across the Great Bitter Lake. You can see all the ships in the distance waiting to join our convoy.

Me, very very close to land… a little too close if you ask me.

It is like driving down a narrow one way road…

Beach goers in Ismalia.

The swinging bridge

I left the bridge when we had about 30kms left, pretty sure it looked a lot like this the rest of the way.

By the way, I fly home in 2 weeks from today!!!!

Linda

Hello All,
I can add a new stop to my list of places I have been. We just left the Seychelles where we spent 5 relaxing days. It would have been one of the top most beautiful places I have been if I had not already seen Palau. Apparently I am spoiled. I am to the point where I am like “If you have seen one tropical paradise, you have seen them all.” It is sick. But, Seychelles is definitely a beautiful place and I did enjoy myself. It is a little quiet and very much aimed at honeymooners, so a ship full of sailors who have been underway for 45 days was a little overwhelming. I think we drank the island out of the local rum.

I did a dive trip the first day I had off. It was a smaller version of the group that went out in Palau. It was a little cold and rainy when we went out, so the visibility was not so great at the first spot. But each one got better. We saw a bunch of different fish and coral than in Palau, so it was very cool. I saw my first eel in nature as well as sharks, giant sting rays, an octopus, dozens of lion fish, puffers, huge Oscars, rock fish, and the most giant sea slugs I have ever seen.

We went on 2 reef dives and one wreck dive. They were very cool, but the highlight was the lunch. Our guide and boat captain drove us to a secluded beach and made us an amazing lunch. It was so nice.

We have a change of plans and a new port visit added to the schedule. I will let you know more when it happens…
I am down to less than 6 weeks left onboard! The count down has begun!

Love you all!Linda

Linda's trip home. The sweet C-130 ride, complete with cargo hold. An UNREP from the oiler to a French ship and the helecopter ride back to the ship!

Back to Work

I finally made it back to the ship after 10 days of traveling. After 5 flights that took me from Jacksonville to Atlanta to Norfolk to Detroit to Amsterdam to Bahrain, I spent 2 nights in Bahrain where the one day I had there I slept all day. I met up with 4 people reporting to the ship and an NCPACE instructor who were going to make the rest of the trip with me. I am so glad I did not do the originally Everett route. Those guys had taken 7 days to get from Everett to Bahrain on military flights. No thanks.

We went to the military airlift airport with no clue where we were going. Ends up we were taking a C-130 to Djibouti. Talk about no frills. A C-130 is a cargo plane that they stick some seats in and haul passengers around. Not fun for 5 hours. We touched down in lovely Djibouti were I think the cash crop is plastic bags. They pretty much are on every tree, bush, fence, all over the place. Dirtiest place I have ever seen. I was scared with the mention of an overnight at the camp they have there. It would have literally been in tents. Thank goodness the ship we were riding down was already in port. We spent the night there and left the next morning.

Luckily I had a room to myself (it was HUGE!) since I was up all night on east coast time. Without anything to do during the day, I am still feeling the jet lag. The helo ride this morning was cool, very short.

Hopefully I will get on a normal schedule now that I am back to work. I think I am off the hook for watch today, although I might volunteer for a mid-watch since I think I will be up anyways.
Linda

Heading back to work

After a long and sad month at home, I am headed back to the ship. I am currently sitting in the Amsterdam airport on a 4 hour layover after my 4th of 5 flights today. I leave for Bahrain in a few hours and then make a trek to my ship via oiler to wherever it is (I would tell you...but then I would have to kill you, sorry). I am literally taking the slow boat to get back to work.  After 10 days of travel I am going to need another break to recover. 

Taking a month off during a Fifth Fleet deployment is not normal, I guess I am benefitting from that "kinder, gentler" Navy Dad is always rolling his eyes at. I am not complaining.  I will need to hit the ground running when I get back since I only have about 2 months left on the ship before I transfer and head to Monterey.

The posts below are from the first half of my deployment starting in March. They are in order, but not dated, sorry.  Enjoy!

Rock the boat...don't rock the boat baby

I have been leading you all to believe my life at sea is all glamorous and romantic with stops at exotic ports and what not. Well, today I am going to let you in on the not to cool side of life at sea…

 

We have been having some very smooth sailing these past few weeks, gliding along the calm tropical waters of the Sulu, Celebus, South China and Java seas. Last night we went through the Sunda Strait which connects the Java Sea to the Indian Ocean. At about midnight we exited the strait and entered the Indian Ocean and man oh man, we were welcomed with open arms.

I, luckily, was asleep, but felt the gentle rocking and rolling. It shook me awake a few times, but I was able to go back to sleep, one of my many skills. I got up in the morning and took my shower. Taking a shower in rough seas is kind of an adventure in itself. You are wearing shower shoes, which quickly turn into ice skates on the shower floor. You have to get your feet pressed against both sides of the shower and hold on with one hand while you wash your hair and stuff. It is a delicate science.

 

I usually do not get sea sick, so I was not noticing how bad it was. I walked back to the flight deck for Officers Call and passed medical. There was a line of dead soldiers all curled up in the fetal position outside, moaning and pale. It was ugly. Apparently the docs had been running from berthing to berthing giving IV’s to all the people who had barfed up all their fluids.

We had two UNREPS this morning where we go alongside an oiler and receive gas and food and stuff and this usually requires a large portion of the crew. Too bad half the crew is in their racks hating life. I ended up taking two different peoples watches and kicking one guy off the bridge and taking his watch after he puked 4 times in about as many minutes. He had a trash bag to puke in, luckily, unfortunately it was clear. That, more than anything, might make me lose it. I toughed it out and was one of the few at lunch today.

 

All part of the glory of being a SWO.

 

Later,
Linda