Transiting the Straits

We’re anchored right now in the straits of Magellan, an area of unspeakable beauty. I really can’t describe how amazing the area of Patagonia is, which is why I’ve uploaded a lot of pictures today. We’re headed back north now, having transited as far south as we’ll go. A picture of the “Southern Cross” marking the southernmost point of continental South America (Tiera del Fuego is farther south, but they are all islands) is on the right. That was a fun point for the crew to get out and mill about and take pictures, despite the cold weather.
The Straits of Magellan are treacherous. I conned the ship through the most dangerous part, with only about 100 feet of wiggle room on either side of the ship, where we had to make 2 90-degree turns in a matter of minutes. It required precision and many ships have run aground for not steering it perfectly. As we’ve transited the straits, we’ve seen a number of shipwrecks alongside—an ominous reminder that these straits will swallow your ship if you aren’t careful. While some ships have been half-sunk, others, like the one pictured here, looks like it was just sitting there. I’d love to go on the ship to explore, which I’m trying to finagle today, but I doubt it will happen. We’re anchored only a mile or two from it.
The reason we’re anchored is because of a large storm with 30+ foot seas north of us. We’re waiting for it to pass. In the meantime, we took advantage of the island we’re anchored next to, which shields us from the wind. It was actually pretty warm (30s/40s) so we went out and played catch amid the backdrop of Patagonia. I think we’re probably the only people in history to play baseball in the straits of Magellan… It was also nice because we had our small boat in the water, who made sure to pick up any baseballs that went over the side, so we didn’t lose any. I’ll stop writing and use the time to post more pictures. I’ll try to update again soon, with even more pictures. While pictures are nice, they don’t do it justice—it’s truly an area you need to see with your own eyes.

Biting Cold

The weather is becoming increasingly cold as we head farther south. With lows in the 30s on land, being out at sea with 30 knot winds make it seem like the low teens. We try to warm the inside of the ship, but it’s hard to do when it’s dipped in an ice bath around us. To the right is a picture of me when I was boat officer as we brought the small boat alongside the ship. I thought it might be good for you to see what it actually looks like. I'm the one wearing the white (boat officers always wear the white) and soaking wet.
We’re nearing the straits of Magellan as we go farther south, which is a true test of mettle for our watchstanders on the ship. Named after Ferdinand Magellan for his treacherous 1520 voyage through the straits, it is the natural strait that connects the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. It’s about 1000 miles north of Antarctica, and creates the border pairing the southernmost point of the South American mainland and Tiera del Fuego, the southern archipelago of the continent.
Going “around the horn” or around Tiera del Fuego, would be treacherous. Seas reach over 50 feet regularly, and our ship would surely capsize. Even outside of the straits, we must proceed up the inland waterways for about 1000 miles through the islands that dot the western side of Chile to avoid the awful waves the would split our ship in two. The islands help to shield the violent seas in this part of the globe. Since we’ll have a special detail stood up for the straits and inland waterways, I’ll be on for 5 hours and off for 5—for three days. It will be a busy time, as the currents and winds are incredibly strong in these straits, which could cause the ship to run aground at any point if we fail to maintain our focus every minute of our transit.
We’ll transit part of the straits (only about 8 hours) before stopping at the Southernmost city in Chili, Punta Arenas, for some liberty and time off. For Chili, it’s their highest holiday of the year, Navy Day (similar to our 4th of July). It commemorates a losing battle by the Chileans, so I’m not sure why they have it as a huge holiday, but I guess it was a moral victory or something… Go figure. We booked a hotel at a resort down there, so I am looking forward to relaxing for a couple of days and taking my mind off of work.
I probably won’t be able to update my blog while going through the straits. Internet will probably be down the whole time (the geography isn’t conducive to it) and I just won’t have the time. My off time will be devoted to sleeping and eating, and that’s about it. Despite the cold, we’ve tried to bundle up and go outside to throw the baseball around to help keep our sanity, as well as bundle up while indoors to watch a movie or two as well. Next post, I’ll try to put up some pictures of the transit, which I’m sure will have some beautiful landscapes to take in.

Dentists, Ambassadors, Parties and Casinos

We recently pulled out of Montevideo, Uruguay. We were there for about 45 hours, and 24 of those I was on duty, so I made up for it with my off time. My trip to Uruguay started out by getting a trip to the dentist. A couple of weeks ago, I bit down on something hard and my tooth started to hurt. I didn’t think much of it until a few days later when it was still hurting, so we scheduled a trip to the dentist. Turns out it essentially created a hole in my tooth, so he filled it the same way they do with cavities. I was worried about the quality of Uruguayan dentistry, but I can say for sure that this place was even more high tech than the states—they had cameras in my mouth and fancy tools I’d never seen… It was impressive. The long drive through the city to the dentist showed me what a great city it was. It was much more relaxed than Rio, with a much larger European influence. I’d love to go back some day.
Later on that evening, I came back to the ship and changed to go to a reception on our sister ship, USS Boone. (Boone is making the whole deployment with us—she’s a Mayport, FL based Frigate.) The reception was amazing—lots of beer and drink, ice sculptures, beef wellington, crab-stuffed shrimp, as well as about a dozen other equally-delicious foods. As I was standing at a table talking with some ensigns from other ships, a man came over to join us. Turns out, he was the American Ambassador to Uruguay. We talked a lot about foreign policy and economic policy as well, because he previously served in the state department in that capacity. Amazing guy.
After he left, another man showed up who was the regional director of affairs in South America—he explained to us the Russian and Chinese influence on Uruguay and how they were competing with local countries for sway within Uruguay and for their resources. It was really interesting stuff. I also talked with a Chinese general and some Chilean admirals. After getting our fill of dignitaries and drinks, we went to a casino to meet up with another contingent of sailors. We played some blackjack and won a good amount of money. Then I played some roulette and decided to put 50 on red and 50 on odd. Of course, it rolled a zero, so I lost all of that. I decided it was time to stop.
The city was a whirlwind trip—I had duty the next day and, despite one of the worst hangovers of my life, had watch at 7:30 in the morning followed by showing around members of the American embassy for 3 hours after that. It was interesting to see these people so far away from the states with their families, eager to interact with other Americans outside of their own little world.
We set sail today to head south to Chile, where there will be a little bit more time in port and a lot more events with foreign navies. One of our longer time periods out at sea (still under a week!) we will use the time to catch up on work and recouperate. I recently received 18 baseballs in the mail (thank you to the Wildas and Nana/Poppy!) so I’ll be sure to bundle up and go play some catch outside when I get some free time.

Man Overboard!

Time on the ship ebbs and flows. Usually, it’s pretty dull and not much is going on, but there are two times when, no matter what you’re doing, you drop everything and run. One of those times is general quarters, when the ship is being attacked and they pass the word over the loudspeakers throughout the ship, “General Quarters, all hands man your battle stations.” Everyone knows where to go and gets there quickly.
The only other time where that happens is for a man overboard. Both general quarters and man overboard drills are scheduled regularly so that we can be nearly perfect at executing both of them. But normally, whenever there is a drill, we know about it in advance so people don’t panic.
Yesterday, I had laid down for a nap and just fallen asleep when I heard the word passed, “Man overboard! Man overboard! Port side!” I scrambled out of my rack (the navy term for bed) and threw my shoes on to go to combat. We want to make sure that all people are accounted for in a man overboard situation to find out who has fallen over. The place I go to and check in is the combat center. After checking in, I went up to the bridge to see what the problem was, when I was grabbed by the Officer of the Deck (the officer overall in charge of the ship) to go be the boat officer.
We have a RHIB (Rigid Hulled Inflatable Boat) on board that we can put over the side and drive around. It’s basically a speed boat that we can drop in the water. It’s highly maneuverable, and if the seas allow, the quickest pickup method for a man in the water. Since it is technically a vessel of its own, it needs and officer on board to control it. I ran down to the boat deck as they were bringing the RHIB to the side of the ship. Still not knowing what was going on, I climbed into the boat, only to hear over the loudspeaker, “All personnel accounted for. Man in the water has been identified as trash and garbage.” I laughed to myself, thinking that we were going to go and climb out of the boat and continue everyday duties, until I heard them yell, “Lower the RHIB!!”
They dropped us in the water and the Captain came on the radio telling us where to go to pick up the trash. Apparently, somebody had thrown trash over the side in plastic bags (we are allowed to throw paper overboard outside of 12 miles because it is biodegradable, but we are never allowed to throw plastic over). We drove out to the bags and dutifully picked them up before coming back to the ship, soaking wet from the ocean spray.
We’re pulling into Montevideo, Uruguay, as I type this. We’re only here for a couple of days before heading south. Our next port of call will be Punta Arenas, Chile—one of the southernmost cities in the world, right along the straits of Magellan. It’s in the low 50s out now, and pretty chilly, but it’s a refreshing change of pace. Punta Arenas has a forecast of snow next week… Weird that it is going to be so cold in May…

So Long, Rio! Hello... Rio?

Long thought of as the pinnacle to our deployment, Rio de Janiero was a port that truly lived up to its billing. A multi-million person city, its crowded streets reminded me of New York City, but its culture reminded me of Southern California. With so many days (6) in the city, I’m finding it hard to pare down what to write about. I conned the ship into the port underneath a huge bridge that spanned the bay. On our left was the famous Jesus Christ statue with his arms open wide over the city, on the right was the naval station we pulled into.
In port, we worked with other navies during the day, and they held receptions at night. On our first night out on liberty, we ate dinner and bought bottles of champagne before roaming the streets in search of nothing in particular. We stumbled upon a hostel that had the same name as one we had visited in Salvador and decided to stop in. I met some Americans there, as well as some locals and a girl from Canada. It was 25 Reals for all you can drink (about 16 USD) so we camped there the rest of the night.
The best day was Saturday, where we went to the beach during the day. The beaches here are great. Beautiful sand, water, waves, and yes, women. (Side note, Brazilian women in Rio really did live up to the billing as the capital of supermodels. I honestly have never seen such a population so attractive in any of the places I’ve lived.) We went out into the 71-degree water and body surfed in the huge waves for a while before heading back to the ship in the afternoon. We went back to change into our summer whites uniform and go to the Argentinean ship for a reception. The only drink they served was a special red wine made only in Argentina. It was amazing how good it was. It was hard for me to use my limited Spanish to bridge the language barrier, but we got to talk with some other navies. For the Argentinean navy, this is the highlight of their year—the only time they ever leave Argentinean waters. It’s a stark contrast with America, who thinks of these exercises as relatively insignificant. The wine ran out quickly, though, so our Captain and Executive Officer (the “XO” is #2 in command on the ship) decided we needed to go downtown in Rio to party, since it was a Saturday night.
Rio is famous for its parties. Beginning around midnight and going until 5 a.m., the bar scene is pretty fun. Up until that night, though, we hadn’t had time to experience the city nightlife, as we had to catch buses back to the ship at 11 p.m. But this night, we had the opportunity to get a hotel and stay out overnight, so we took full advantage. We went to the bar strip downtown known as Lapa. If you’ve ever been to Beale street in Memphis, that’s Lapa in Brazil. It was a Mecca of bars and clubs and people, and it was a really neat experience to take in.
We’ve been underway for a couple of days since leaving Rio, and they’ve been tough. We’ve been busy with exercises between the different navies, as well as catching up on all the work that piled up in Rio. We have 9 civilians onboard to shoot off airborne drones off giant launchers we put on the ship, and we’ve been shooting them off and using them as target practice in firing exercises.
Early next week, we pull into Rio Grande, Brazil—our last port in Brazil and the end of our work with the South American navies who have coastlines on the Atlantic side. Pretty soon, we’ll transit back to the Pacific side and begin operations with the South American Pacific countries. It’s strange that 50 days into deployment, we already are nearly done with half of our exercises, and about to come through the straits of Magellan to head back to the States.

(Side note, we just fixed our TV system on board. Now we get 3 channels-- sports, news, and miscellaneous. I got to see the Sox get spanked by the Angels yesterday, but I didn't care... It was worth it just to see baseball!)