Made plans? Fahghettabout it!

Well we made it to Guam safely. It was by far my favorite ocean passage yet while on board. I had minimal to no traffic almost as soon as we cleared Japan. It was so nice to not have to deal with those damn little fishing boats and shipping that makes that region one of the busiest in the world. One thing I didn’t quite see coming when thinking about doing this route is how stressful it can be underway.  Having to maneuver through and around constant traffic for 8 hours a day can be pretty stressful. Thank goodness its broken into 4 hour segments. Though I’ll admit, it’s excellent practice for navigation, radar plotting, and ship handling.

We were in Guam for 5 nights and 4 days. We offloaded a whole bunch of old ordancince that will make its way back to the states via another ship. I didn’t have too much to do with the cargo offload. I tried to get off the ship as much as possible when I wasn’t on watch and enjoy the tropical climate to its fullest. I went on nice long runs and took some amazing naps on the beaches. I found one trail on a run that was kind of overgrown, like nobody had gone through it in years. So I ran down it and it opened up to a beautiful cove with a completely vacant beach. This is where I wish I could report that there was a scantily clad island girl beckoning me into the almost bath-water warm waters…..but it was just me, some lizards, hermit crabs, and a couple of harmless snakes. 

I only went off-base a few times,  mostly at night. The base itself is in immaculate condition and very well maintained….not so true for the city outside the base. It was just kinda run down and crowded. Though there were some nice beaches. I went off base to do some shopping and get a good steak. If we were there longer I would try to go over to the east side where I here its nicer.  We were on the Southwestern side.

So after a mild sunburn and newfound island energy, its was time to pull out. The ship that is taking our old stuff away and giving us fresh stuff was coming in. We were going to go up the North end of the island and do some practice ops with the local Navy Helicopter squadron and some special forces in the region, then go up North to the island of Saipan and anchor. We would come back into Guam a week later and pick up the ammo. The whole crew was looking forward to it.

However I came up for watch last night and the Capt and 2nd Mate (navigator) were busy talking about the sudden change of plans. We are now going to Yokosuka, Japan. We were routed there by the Fleet commanders to go pick up a submarine periscope and bring it back to Guam. We are going to pull into Yokosuka, spend about 2 hours loading this periscope, and then turn around and head back to Guam.  Like you couldn’t put it on a cargo plane bound for Guam? You have to re-route the entire ship? Its like going the distance from San Fransico to NYC and back for this periscope which measure about 20 feet long and 1.5 feet diameter. Oh well…a job’s a job. Though I’m not looking forward to dealing with that damn Japan traffic again so soon. I was just starting to get used to Guam!

So this whole ordeal has put a 5 day delay in our overall schedule, which had been planned out until the end of April. So after we get back to Guam, anything can happen. We are all hoping we’ll get an extended stay…but not about to put money on it.

So that’s that. We are certainly keeping busy over here. Its much better than sitting around Chinhae, Korea doing nothing like we did in January….which seems like ages ago.

Just Runin Around

It's been a while since the last update, but not too much has happened.  We made it Sasebo and hung out in the harbor at anchor for a couple of days. We moved a little bit of ammo ashore, but nothing significant. I was able to go ashore in Sasebo for the first time, but there really isn't anything significant there. I wound up just going for a couple of long runs through town and eating at the CPO club on base.

We left Sasebo and went North to Yokosuka and tossed out the anchor over there. We gave the Navy base there fresh missiles and what not while we got old stuff from them to make its way back to the states. We wound up having to leave early due to a major front coming through that was going to be putting up 40 knot winds, which would have most likely caused us to drag anchor. So we pulled up the hook and made a night departure for Okinawa.

It took 2.5 days to get to Okinawa, one of Japan's southern-most islands. The base here is GIGANTIC. Its not really one base, but a conglomerate of separte Airforc, Army,  Navy, and Marine Corps bases. Its a relatively tiny island and the bases take up quite a bit of real estate. I can see why the local yokals want them out. We were here to deliver a bunch of ordnance to the Marines stationed here. It was 2 full days of cargo ops. We also picked some of their old/used stuff that will make it back to the states for refurbishing or proper discarding. I didn't have too much to do with ammo ops.

We have a bus that runs us to the Airforce base about 20 mins away. I hopped on it for a ride over for lunch and to do some shopping and what not in the exchange. I have to say, of all the military personnel at the bases I've been going to, the Airforce seems to have the win when it comes the attractive ladies. I was pleasantly surprised, and used to opportunity to do some socializing over lunch. I plopped down across from an AF Capt named Ashley who was sitting alone eating and struck up a conversation.

What I was just figuring as an awkward lunch conversation turned into a pretty lengthy one and we wound up walking around base chatting it up for the next few hours. I have yet to meet a stranger anywhere I've been going! Anyways, she gave me her number to give her a call to go out sometime the nextime we pull into Okinawa. So that was day 1 off the ship.

Day two was a take it easy day for me. I've been on the midnight to 8am watches here so I have all day off. It consisted sleeping til lunch, then sleeping a little more after lunch.  After the post lunch slumber, I decided I had to take advantage of the gorgeous weather here. It's been in the mid to upper 60's and pretty sunny. I laced up the Nikes and went for a 3 hr run out into town just to see the sites. I got back in time for a quick shower and dinner, after which I fell asleep watching a movie and didn't wake up till 11:30 for watch. Boy it felt good!

So we leave Okinawa tomorrow, I partly wish we could spend a few more days here. But we are Guam bound next, and everyone on board is looking forward to that! We are dropping off all of our old and used ordnance that we've been picking up. That'll take about 3 days, then we pull out and another ammo ship comes in picks the old stuff off and drops of fresh stuff, and we go back into port and pick up the fresh stuff.

I don't know how long all that will take, all I know is that its quite a bit of cargo being moved, so it might be a while. After Guam I have no idea where we go. It'll be somewhere in the Japan/Korea area, but our schedule of specific ports changes about 5 times a day. The office just can't be happy with one schedule. Its driving the Capt. nuts.

Speaking of the Capt. In Sasebo we got a new one. The old Capts time was up so he rotated back home and this one came on. He's from the older generation of Capts here, and I think this is his last trip before he retires. He seems pretty good. Straightforward and easy going, I don't think I'll have a problem with him. I've gotten lucky with 2 good Capts, there are a good number of ones that are much much more difficult to get along with.

Thats about all I got for now. Til next time,