Maritime is like jail, but in a good way.
Don't confuse the statement. I am having fun, and am glad I'm here. But its true that the Academy is a lot like all the good parts of being in jail. All meals are provided. There's tons of time to read. You spend time with lots of people that you probably never would have met otherwise, and while they may not all be people you'll be close friends with, they have great stories and are interesting to meet. The primary activity is best described as "milling about". We muster on deck. We muster in the companionways. We muster in the gallery. We muster on shore which is the only place to smoke, which we also do a lot.
In most ways, a lot like the good parts of jail. This is only compounded by the new security regulations, which require us to maintain the harbor as a restricted area and hold watches. But we can leave pretty much at will before 11.
Got to climb in and out of life rafts and up the side of the ship on a Jacob's ladder today while wearing a survival suit, which is much tougher than it looks. The Chief caught a King Salmon yesterday and Al baked it up in the galley for a late-night snack. Its been raining lately, but we were swimming anyway. All in all, things are very well.
