Summer Cruise 2007

Summer Cruise 2007

My journey began this past spring on the island of Okinawa. Just getting to Okinawa was an adventure itself. There are strong currents that flow south and west from mainland Japan that mix with equally strong currents flowing north and west from the Philippine Islands. The result is one heck of a choppy ride. On my very first Bridge Watch, we’re riding 8 foot waves with white caps all around. The bow of the ship is rising and falling almost to the waterline in sync with the waves. It is 2:30am and my job is to keep a sharp lookout ahead of us to watch for other ships, buoys, or any other hazards to steer around. I last all of five minutes before passing out from nausea. The Chief Engineer catches me as I fall and I come to laying on the deck, green as a toad. To this day, that is the worst sea sickness I have experienced.

We arrive in Okinawa and I instantly perk up. The water is light blue, like the Caribbean, and I am happy to get off the ship. Kadena Air Force base is located in Okinawa. I was able to stock up on bottled water, peanuts, gum, and other nice things to have on long trips. Dinner at Chilli’s that night on the base was a nice treat too. The next day, I went jogging on the beach and found this neat cave up on a cliff.

Our next port visit was to the muslim country of Brunei. They are one of the world’s leading producers of oil in this part of the world. We were dodging their oil platforms left and right on the day before pulling into port. I counted no less than 40 oil platforms before giving up. One of the platforms was burning natural gas. There was a solid fountain of fire spitting vertically into the air. On top of that was a bright pillar of light beginning from the flames and towering straight up into the heavens. This pillar of light could be seen from miles away. It was an awesome sight to see.

Due to the great amount of oil exports, the Sultan of Brunei is one of the riches men alive today. He rules his country guided by strict social law. There is no legal alcohol consumption and we were also told not even to make eye contact with the local women. Seriously, it is considered a crime for an outsider to look directly at the local women of Brunei. It was definitely a culture shock.

If Brunei was the strictest country I have ever been to, then it was definitely followed by the most liberal country I have been to: Thailand! Thailand is a gorgeous country of smiling faces and beautiful places. Pattaya Beach is a tourist port of shopping, kickboxing, drinking, and female companionship. Thailand is also home to the trans-gendered “lady boys.” There are hundreds of them out there; men that dress up and act like women. Some were so well dolled-up that you couldn’t even tell the difference. I didn’t care too much for this port because I’m not much of a drinker and even less of a womanizer. You can’t even walk down the street without the go-go girls coming out the bars to try and tempt you to come in. One grabbed me by the arm and said, “big sexy man, you come home with me tonight.” No thank you. One of my buddies told me the girl dancing on the bar in the background of this picture might have been a lady boy, but I couldn't tell. The ladies in this picture were nice. I spent a couple hours at their bar drinking beer, playing Connect-4 and also playing Jenga. Good times were had by all.

My general distaste for the lack of morals in Pattaya Beach kept me on the ship most days. I would go to this one rice shack right off the pier to get food on almost a daily basis. The owner of the shack was a kindly old lady we nicknamed “Sugarfoot.” Her cooking was phenomenal. She made this one dish of spicy octopus and rice that was out of this world. By the time we left, Sugarfoot had taken quite a liking to me. I gave her my ship’s hat and told her she was my number one girl, in Thailand. As you can see, that made her day.

Thailand was also the first time I played 18-holes of golf. I played this one luxury course with rented clubs, a cart, and caddy for a very reasonable price. Admittedly, I was pretty bad. My golf swing was more of a hockey swing. My caddy didn’t speak English very well, but she did manage to communicate I hit the ball better when I was smiling. There were two mountains in the distance. One had a giant Buddhist Temple on the peak facing the second mountain. The second mountain had an image of the Buddha laser-carved into the very rock. When I got frustrated with the game, I looked up and realized learning to play golf under the palm trees in Thailand was still very much an easy day. I think the next time I play golf will be back in North Carolina with my father. I owe him that for waiting so long to finally pick up the clubs.

After Thailand, my next destination was the island nation of Singapore. Singapore is an autonomous city state on a small island just south of mainland Malaysia. It is an island of Eurasians (transplanted Europeans), Chinese, Malaya, and Indians (from India) all living together in peace and harmony. English is the official language so it is very easy to communicate and get around the city. I saw Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End on opening night in Singapore. I thought it was pretty neat considering the second scene of that movie began in Singapore, and there I was in a Singapore theater watching the premier.

I especially liked Singapore because I ran in to two shipmates from both Officer Candidate School and the Navy Supply Corps School whom I had not seen in over a year. The first is Renee. Her ship arrived shortly after mine and we were both very surprised to see each other so far from home. The second shipmate I saw was an old friend named Gina. Gina was on a training assignment at the base there in Singapore and I actually met her at the bar. We had a few drinks, caught up on old times, and marveled at how old friends could find each other on the other side of the world.

The British guns of Sentosa military base still stand to this day as a silent monument to the men who fought and died there. Sentosa guards the entrance to Singapore harbor and was one of the first British forts to fall after the Japanese attacked Hawaii in 1941. In the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, three divisions of Japanese troops marched over a thousand miles across mainland Malaysia and crossed over to Singapore island in the night. All of Sentosa’s guns were facing the sea to defend against a naval invasion. When the Japanese attacked from the mainland, the British had to turn what guns they could to the mainland to defend against the mainland invasion, but it was too little, too late. Along with naval air support from their fleet, the Japanese conquered Singapore in five days and took Sentosa.

We had an Officer’s dinner in Singapore at the Hard Rock café. Steve, one of the other Junior Officers played a joke on me there. He told the waitress it was my 21st birthday. They announced it over the loud speaker and sang Happy Birthday to me. The bad news is I had to stand on my chair with all eyes in the house on me. The good news is that I got a free sundae. I did end up getting my buddy back. I got a picture of him at Disneyland Hong Kong hugging Winny the Pooh. His exact words were, “Hey Isaac, take a picture of me hugging Winny the Pooh so I can make my little sister jealous with it.” Instead of giving the picture to his little sister, I gave it to the Executive Officer who put it in a Navigation Brief for the whole crew to see. When that picture came up on the screen, the whole crowd erupted in laughter and Steve knew I had got him back.

Speaking of Hong Kong, that was our next port of call. We pulled in to Hong Kong on an overcast morning. Skyscrapers of varying scope and size line the very waterways coming in to the harbor. They were everywhere! Hong Kong is like the New York City of the East. We moored to a buoy right there in the middle of the harbor and rode a liberty boat from our ship to the shore to go out in town. On the first night, the Officers were invited to the American Club of Hong Kong. It is an exclusive members only club for expatriated Americans living in Hong Kong. They treated us to dinner and drinks that night as a special thanks for all the hard work and sacrifices we have made and continue to make for our country. From their 47th floor balcony I was able to get this beautiful photo of the harbor. My ship is so far away that you can't even see it in this picture. It's out there though, moored to a buoy close to the large wide building with the flat roof.

I took a day and went to Disneyland with two other junior officers. It reminded me of the Magic Kingdom at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. There was the Mainstreet USA, Adventure land, Fantasy land, and Tomorrow land. Many of the Disney characters were dressed up like pirates to promote the new Pirates movie. Others remained in their traditional outfits. Taking pictures with the Disney characters was a chance to feel young and goofy again.

After Hong Kong, I went to a few other places, but those were mainly for ship’s business and exercises. I have purposefully left out stories about the ship and our exercises due to the unclassified nature of this blog. There is more to tell, but it will have to wait for another place and another time. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Therefore, I will leave you with a few more of my favorite pictures from the cruise.