June 5, 2012

Journal highlights:

• Arrival in Kingston, Jamaica
• Johnny B.
• Devon House, dinner at Norma's on the Terrace, and Usain Bolt's Tracks and Records
• "No money, no honey." - Capt. Claudiu-Florin Crisan

Pictures (apologies for the last two being so dark.  My phone doesn't have a flash):

A sailboat

Lighthouse

Bird perched on the crane

Pilot boat

Fishing and Coast Guard vessels

Coast Guard vessels

The pilot who brought us into the harbor

Approaching the dock

Shore crane

Mooring lines are really big ropes

The mall

Left to right: two unknown Jamaicans, Harvey, Capt. Crisan, and Eric

Devon House

Dinner at Norma's on the Terrace.  Left to right: Eric, Capt. Crisan, Harvey, and myself

Usain Bolt's Tracks and Records.  Left to right: Eric, Johnny B., Capt. Crisan, and Harvey

Videos:

Docking approach in Kingston

(the full journal entry follows.  If you don't see it on this page, click the "Read more »" link below)

June 4, 2012

Journal notes:

• Breakfast is at 0640, not 0600
• See a CMA CGM ship in the morning, and an unidentified ship at night
• Walk around the upper deck
• Meet the chief cook
• Introduce the 3rd Officer to Drive-By Truckers

Pictures:

The Caribbean Sea

The other vessel, which I believe may be the CMA CGM Puget

Zoomed out so you can see the distance from our own ship

Forward-facing view from the aft deck

Pilot access ladder.  This is one of the ways the pilots get on and off the ship

The forecastle (marked F'CLE on the engineering diagram)

Crane #1

Yours truly.  I'm votin' for him

The Caribbean really is this blue

Our wake is turquoise

The other ship we saw at night, from afar

The other vessel we saw at night, zoomed in as good as I could get it.  This is at least 12 km from us

(the full journal entry follows.  If you don't see it on this page, click the "Read more »" link below)

June 3, 2012

Journal:

• Meals on the ship
• Clocks going back 1 hour tonight
• Safety overview
• Meeting the chief officer and 3rd officer

Pictures (taken from the bridge):

Chief Officer (Bogdan)

3rd Officer (John Raniel)

(the full journal entry follows.  If you don't see it on this page, click the "Read more »" link below)

June 2, 2012

Journal Entry for 2012-06-02:

• Boarding the Matisse in Savannah
• Family could not see me into the port because I had not given their names to the port agent
• Taxi driver's brief history
• Drank vinegar by mistake at dinner
• Met the ship's master, chief officer, messman/steward, and the two other passengers
• Departed after midnight; saw my family as we passed the riverfront.

Pictures:

Lifeboat

Savannah Harbor

Those containers are on a different ship.  Still, it's pretty darn impressive

These tires were so big they had to take the roof off the containers.  They were unloaded in Manzanillo.

Dock Workers

Impressive coordination, like an army of ants

The tug that helped us down the river

We passed this ship on our way out

Dolly Parton Museum

Southern LNG, a re-gasification plant on Elba Island

(the full journal entry follows.  If you don't see it on this page, click the "Read more »" link below)

I'm On A Boat!

I made it aboard the ship.  Our scheduled time of departure isn't until around midnight, so I'm just kind of killing time until then.

We had a bit of a mix-up with the port authority this afternoon.  I wanted the whole family to come see me board the ship, but when we got to the gate, we found out that they couldn't be granted entrance (even with our escort) without prior authorization.  The gate and port agents were really nice about it, and they even tried to get us some last-minute authorization, but since we had carpooled, not everyone had their IDs on them.  So, the family had to be dropped off in a parking lot outside the gate while I went on to board the ship without them.  Lesson learned: if you want your family to see you off, make sure to make the proper arrangements ahead of time.

When I got on board, I met with the ship's master and he checked me in and showed me to my room.  A little while later, the steward came in and gave me a quick tour of the ship, and even took me up onto the bridge.

Below are some pictures I took and a video of something cool that happened not long after I opened my cabin window.  But first, a few thoughts/notes:

• The ship is scheduled to depart at midnight.  We had originally planned for the family to gather downtown so they could see me as I went by, but that probably will be too late for them.
• I was provided a hand towel, a bath towel, two bars of soap (full-size, not the smaller hotel-sized bars), paper towels, and toilet paper, but no washcloth and no shampoo/conditioner.  Not being sure of the amenities, I brought my towel (thank you, Douglas Adams) and washcloth, as well as soap, shampoo, conditioner, and laundry detergent.
• The room comes with a mini-fridge, and one of the officers brought me a bottle of water and a coke, a sprite, and an orange fresca.  Sadly, there was no Sun Drop.  If anyone would like to send me a care package in Australia, a 12-pack would be much appreciated.
• There are drawers under the bed and sofa for clothes, and a small closet where I hung my suit, hoodie, and vest.  There are also a couple coat hooks by the door, which were just perfect for hanging my new Stetson hat.
• Electricity is 220v/50Hz and uses European plugs.  The only device I brought with me that requires A/C power is my laptop.  Everything else either uses batteries or plugs in via USB.  The adapter kit I bought has several different plugs, so I can use it while I'm on the ship and also when I get to Australia.  The South Korean and European plugs are nearly identical, except the prongs in the South Korean plug are slightly smaller and closer together.  The North Korean plug is a hamster wheel.
• The info packet they gave me said they don't have Internet on board, and to contact the steward if I need to send an email.  Thankfully, my phone has a wifi hotspot and a 3G signal, so I'm good until I get out of cell phone range.  My pre-paid plan expires towards the end of June, and I'm not sure if I get international roaming, so this is probably going to be the last time I have Internet access on the ship.

And now for some pictures:

My cabin, as seen from the entrance

My own private bathroom

The shower.  It's cozy.

My cabin, as seen from the blurry end of the room

This is what's outside my cabin window today

This has been going on all afternoon

Adventures in Savannah and Hilton Head

So yesterday we were bored and waiting for Charlie, Rachel, and Corbin to get down to Savannah, and we decided it would be a good idea to do a little sightseeing.  We drove by the Garden City terminal and saw the shipyard where I will be boarding later on this afternoon.

Mom snapped a quick shot of this container on the way to the shipyard.  It might wind up on my ship.

The Savannah riverfront has a nice little park where you can hang out and watch boats and ships go by.  This one is named after the founder of the Girl Scouts of America.

We watched the Georgia Queen go up and down the waterway several times on river tours.  It was "cute".

The Godpigeon

C'mon, Tugger!  Makin' movies, singin' songs, and fightin' round the world!

Not my ship, but impressive nonetheless.  This is roughly the same size as the Matisse

You can't have pictures of Savannah without some spanish moss.

After Savannah, we drove up to Hilton Head, where I did my casting call for the pilot of the upcoming NBC revamp of Baywatch, called Baywatch: HHH.  (I'm told the "HHH" stands for "Hilton Head Hillbilly")

Dad and I waiting outside the beach to film one of the scenes

This little girl was adorable.  In the episode, my character saves her from drowning and then revives her with a mysterious clear liquid from a Mason jar.  (for filming, we just used water)

In this scene, the high winds snap the bungee cords holding the surfboard to the Jeep's roof rack, but my character saves the day with a roll of bailing wire and a pair of pliers.

The girls were a pleasure to work with, and very professional.

Sadly, I won't be able to continue filming, due to my leaving the country.  Fortunately, I'm told that my character's role is going to be picked up by Lucas Black once the show goes into full production.

Bon Voyage

Well, today's the big day.  The Matisse is about 60 miles out, headed to the Garden City terminal in Savannah, where I will board her this afternoon.  According to the port agent, she will leave around 2100 or 2200 tonight (that's 9 or 10 pm to those of you who don't do 24-hour time).  I'm quite excited, and also a little nervous.  I still can't believe this is actually happening.

These last couple weeks have been a bit hectic, at least in terms of making sure everything is squared away.  I finished moving out of my house in Cookeville last week; I had to go back up Tuesday to finish moving again, and brought out another truckload of stuff.  In hindsight, preparing for this trip would have been a lot easier if I wasn't also moving out of a house.

I got to see some old friends before I left, which was great, but there were a lot more people that I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to.  I guess that means the rest of you have to come visit me in Australia.

I've added some links to the blog recently.  Check them out, especially the info and pictures of the ship.  You can follow my progress to Melbourne with the details and tracking link.

Mom, Dad, and I went downtown yesterday and ate on the riverfront.  Mom took a bunch of pictures of boats and even got a few of a ship as it launched - the YASA Ozcan.

As much as I want to pretend I'm doing this by myself, it takes a great deal of support from those around you to make something like this happen.  Thanks to everyone (especially my family) for lending a hand and putting up with me these last few weeks of preparation.  Thanks to Mom and Dad for keeping my dog while I'm gone, and Jim and Marilyn Ault for keeping her while Mom and Dad are sending me off.

I don't know how much I'll be able to update the blog between now and when I land in Melbourne, so pictures and stuff may just have to wait.  I'm scheduled to land on the 4th of July, but anything can happen between now and then.  That's the adventure of ship travel :-)