"Mostly cloudy, humid, quite warm today but no rain. But we were, about an hour ago, heading toward pretty dark clouds on the horizon. Probably rain tonight. We changed time zones yesterday to match C.R. Although Costa Rica is due south of Atlanta, they're on central time (without daylight savings). So it's now sunrise about 5 a.m. but sunset at 6 p.m. Strange native customs.
"There's a pole on the front of the ship called a jack pole. I really don't know it's function, but you can probably see it in various ship photos. Anyway, 3 red-footed boobies have been roosting there all day. One on the top, two on rungs a bit lower down. Occasionally one will fly around the ship for a few minutes, then come back. They seem quite content to travel
across the ocean in comfort and luxury. They'll probably even send postcards back home about having been on a cruise. They're the only birds I've seen actually land on the ship. But the cadets aren't so happy. One of the cadets on watch has to stand at the bow of the ship, beside the jack pole. When I strolled up to the bow this afternoon, the cadet on watch was standing a bit off to the side and said 'they'll fire on you.'
"Cal Poly students will be ashore on Cocos Island (seen in the opening scene of Jurassic Park as the helicopter approaches it) from 10-2. Faculty do better, since one boat will take faculty and staff back and forth so we're not tied to a schedule - other than returning before the ship leaves. A "wet landing." They're going to unload a floating dock and anchor it in about 4
feet of water. The launches will unload on the floating dock, then you've got to jump in and wade/swim ashore. Since it's likely to rain (or pour) during the day, I think we'll all be in wet gear regardless of whether we're swimming, snorkeling, hiking, or just sitting around.
"I've only 2 classes tomorrow, one being a midterm. And then 2 on Monday, also one a midterm. So fairly quite until we leave Costa Rica next Friday."
No comments:
Post a Comment