When I first got onboard I was informed of one of the most important duties for a cadet: When in port in Honolulu, get the hell off the boat and enjoy yourself. I did my best on this first week in Hawai'i.
We arrived in port around 7 PM on Tuesday night. The deck cadet and I (since he had the same mandate given to him) got cleaned up and went up the street. Decided to start downtown. I had gotten some suggestions from my friend and fellow cadet, Seth, as well as from another friend I had met more recently, Kim, but hadn't had the chance to get any internet and so I didn't know what they had said. We ended up asking a group of people and they told us to go to Indigo. We went and had a terrific Ahi dinner, and then I fired up my laptop to discover that this was precisely the place Seth told me to go. After that we went out looking for a saloon to frequent. The ropechoker is a bit younger than I, so I think he still has some magical expectations from a night out at the bar. For me, if the beer is cold and the service is good and there some form of entertainment, whether it be music or pool or just the other crazy assholes in the place, that's a good night. But I think the deck cadet is still at the point where he thinks maybe if he just goes to the "right" bar there will be a girls gone wild party going on and free drinks and diamonds falling from the ceiling.
So we spent a little while checking places out until we found one that suited his tastes, but it was fine. They had Guinness on draft and even tried to make a Dark'N Stormy for me (though not very well) and there were some interesting people there. We called it a night a little after 1:30 and headed back to the ship and I discovered one of the extra joys of Hawai'i. I was almost completely broke after the first night.
As a cadet I get paid, but very little. Essentially, I get paid enough that I can blow it all as soon as get into port without even trying very hard, which I'll admit has a certain sailor appeal. Between the taxi, dinner and drinks I had blown through a hundred bucks in a night, but then that's just another part of the experience.
The next morning I went out to Wai'ki'ki with Joe to try out surfing. We got there around 7AM and it was already packed. The surf wasn't very good, but I still had fun making a fool out of myself and playing in the ocean. Was struck again by how spoiled we are on the Lakes, as I don't have the natural defense mechanism to close my eyes and mouth when under water. But it was ridiculously warm, and a beautiful day and a great was to spend a morning. Went back to the ship for a quick nap, and then ran out on the town with some of the engine crew. We ended up at Gordon Biersch which I think is a pretty common chain of mini-brewery restaurants in the West, but the one in Honolulu is not to be beat, right on the Harbor with a huge patio area.
After we were there, Deckie and I went over to Wai'ki'ki (taking the bus this time... much cheaper) and I spent my last $20 between a couple of bars in the area. I say a couple of course because we had to keep going until we found the "perfect" bar, which of course we never did because it doesn't exist. Anyway, a good night and I headed back to the ship. The next day we had planned to meet up again at the other brewery bar, the Brew Moon, but our sailing time got moved up so there wasn't time. I was out of money, so I just wandered around the city for a while.
I went down for maneuvering again when we left Hono and then had to be back down 4 hours later when we arrived in Kahului on Maui. Its a pretty small town, on the other side of the island from the trendy nightlife part of Maui. But I got to catch up with my Troupe friend Kyle, who actually works in Kahului at the Observatory, and we hung out on the beach and watched the kiteboarders for a while.
Left Kahului that night and we were now on the Western part of the voyage back to California. I'd like to talk this week a little about the duties of a cadet. Its kind of a difficult position to be in. By the very nature of the job, you are non-essential, you have no official duty and are not required to sail the ship. For this reason you are the least important member of the crew. However, you are in training to be an officer which makes you one of the more important members of the crew. I live on the crew deck but use the upper deck officer's laundry. I eat in the Officer's mess but use the crew's linen and have crew size quarters. I am onboard as an observer, but also frequently do some of the less savory jobs as training. It is customary after a few weeks on board for the engine cadet to run the throttles, which is a first engineer job, but it is also customary for the cadet to hand crank the lifeboat back up after it is lowered in drills.
So its a strange contrast. I haven't hated my time as a cadet at all, but I will be glad to be done with it. Especially at 31, being treated like an 18 year old and shown which side of a hammer to hold on to gets tiring. And it will be nice to get things like health insurance and real money and vacation. So the short version is, I have no duties, but am assigned what to do by the first engineer on a daily basis.
This week I have stayed on the 4-8 watch in the morning and doing an 8-12 work watch after. The 4-8 has been the same as it was last week. As far as projects go, I did a little welding and tool fabrication, which is a pretty typical cadet duty. The 1st wanted a tool made up to use for checking the deck machinery, so I cut up some bar stock and welded it together with some sockets at the end and created a T-wrench that would work on all the bolts and caps needed. I also beefed up the special made slide hammer tool that was used to remove filters on the turbo generator, which was another bar stock and welding job. Another day I worked on some Excel projects for the Chief, flashing back to my days with The General. I also did some inventory and the standard assortment of small odd jobs.
Its the last week for Gary, the 2nd engineer I've been on watch with. Only been on with him for a trip, but its been a real good time, and I'll miss having him on the watch. Though the new guy will probably be good too. Tomorrow we get back into California. Talk to you next week.