We set sail

Hello from the middle of the Caribbean Sea. We are currently on our way to Puerto Rico, heading at a whopping 10.3 knots. I will describe life at sea in a little bit, but first I will finish a recap of The Bahamas.
On Friday, we (Alex, Alissa, Chris, Joanne and Sari (Alissa’s mom)) planned to go snorkeling with a tour at 8 in the morning. Upon waking up at that awful hour, we realized that the snorkeling would not be very good. The skies were rather cloudy, which would not only block the necessary light, but would make the cold water feel much colder. Since we had already gone on our own and the trip would cost $60 a person, we felt it would be better to go back to bed. Upon waking up at a much more reasonable hour, 11, we did laundry and Joanne and I decided to pack up our remaining things. We all headed in to downtown Nassau after a quick lunch and Joanne and I dropped off our things on the ship. We were then joined by Kevin, who was given a brief break from his orientation to the ship. We walked around downtown and did some window shopping and sightseeing. Alissa and Sari decided to go back to the condo, have dinner and spend some time together. The rest of us headed back to the ship for dinner. All of the meals on the ship are quite fantastic. After dinner, Alex and I went to The City of Atlantis. This is a huge hotel/resort that is themed after the lost city of Atlantis (which “sunk in” with Alissa after about 5 hours on the premises). Atlantis is a bit like Disneyland and Vegas meet the water. Everything is ridiculously expensive, fake, and at the same time a bit amazing. There are tanks with every type of sea creature from colorful tropical fish to 8 ft. wide sting rays to 8 ft. long sharks. It is something that must be seen just to be believed. After Alex convinced me to delay losing my money at the casino, we left by taxi for the ship. It was our first night on the ship, and went a lot smoother that sleeping on land. The mini twins were surprisingly comfortable and provided a good 8 hours of sleep.
We had to wake up early on Saturday because the ship was leaving for portage at 9. At breakfast we passed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who had joined the ship sometime in the night. He is an adorable, short man who you would immediately feel was a long-lost grandfather. Alex, Joanne and I left the ship and returned to pick up Alissa and Sari and check out of the rooms. We went from the condos at Sandyport to The Atlantis. After Sari and Alissa got comfortably settled in their new rooms, we headed out to the famed pools. Atlantis has a ton of pools, a lagoon with sharks, sting rays and eels and a beautiful ocean beach. To top that off, they have water rides ranging from the quite nice lazy river to the more daring, but fun, shark slide. The shark slide is a water slide tube that goes through a tank of sharks. Unfortunately you cannot see the sharks when going through because the spray from going to fast splashing into your eyes. An hour after the meeting time, we finally ran into Kevin who had been let free. We showed him the sights of The Atlantis, had a delicious (if a bit Americanized) dinner, and headed back to the ship.
On Sunday morning, the 670 other students boarded on the ship. Alex and I were planning on waking up early and watching the long lines, but were a bit disappointed when we finally realized that our view was blocked by the port authority building. Alex and I have been quickly nicknamed “the brothers” by the 1000 other people on the ship. Alex and I met tons of new people, of which whose names I remember only a few. Most of the people I have met have been great people. When Alex and I were sitting by the pool, we were joined by a UCLA student from Santa Cruz named Jay. He is a very cool person who seems to get the sarcastic humor that Alex and I use so frequently. I feel that he will be a good friend for the entire trip, and possibly for some time after. We have also become quite good friends with Alissa’s roommate Sheryl. She is a University of San Diego Student who lives in Poway, CA and also has the harsh bite of sarcasm. She is also someone that I feel we will be friends with for some time. There have also been some less that inspiring people that I have met. I am doing my best to keep an open mind, but at times that can be quite challenging. For me there is just something so obnoxious about the stereotypical college frat boy. After a bit of lounging we were joined by Alissa, who had a later check-in time. She felt quite relieved to finally be on the ship. Sari joined us for a few hours and then said her final farewell to her daughter. Every parent, even some whose kids were staying on the ship was crying hysterically when it came time for them to finally leave the ship. After this we had our first emergency drill. Wearing long sleeves, pants, close-toed shoes, a hat and our lifejackets we headed up to our muster station, C7. Luckily, Alex and I have a muster station that is indoors so were not as affected by the heat as were the other voyagers. Upon completion of our emergency drill, we were finally ready to set sail. The captain gave the horn to leave and everyone waved goodbye to their parents on the shore. Somehow my parents missed the get off the ship announcements and will be heading with us for the rest of the voyage. After dinner we began our extremely long orientation.
To recap this orientation, meeting on semester at sea purpose, introduction to staff, sea (a bit like a floor on a dorm) meeting, sleep. Breakfast, semester at sea purpose meeting (yes twice), safety meeting, UVA honor coded meeting, lunch, introduction to faculty and academic dean, Global Studies meeting, introduction to student life, dinner, introduction to traveling, done!!

Things I have learned in The Bahamas and the first few days at sea:
Driving on the left side of the road really is wrong.
Alleys really aren’t too small for busses.
You don’t need a perfectly round tennis racket to lose at tennis.
With the exception of alcohol, everything really does cost more in The Bahamas.
Bahamans move at a different speed (slow)
Walls really do move.
That pit in your stomach is from hunger, not sea sickness.
Engines shake (which makes an amazing room now a massager as well)

Now from a adult learner perspective

While I thought I would have much time to read, sketch, work out and the like, I have found myself very busy. Kevin is working very hard as today was his first day of classes. Today was his Aids in the World class. What an incredible opportunity for the students to really see first hand the impact that this pandemic has had. He had “sitting room” only in his classes and had students from all different majors. We have heard good feedback from his students. We have met some amazing “grown-ups.” We are all bound by a thirst for adventure, a desire to travel and meet new people and an appreciation of the possibilities that come from education. I am in awe of the students as well. Some have never had a passport or left their own small homes. Some have never seen their parents travel. To embark on this sort of adventure takes such courage and they are embracing it fully. I have spontaneously met and chatted with several that seem “almost” as nice as our boys. We all have started classes. I am taking the Global Studies class, World Music and Art and Religion. Having not ever been away to college and also having been a serious science student when in college, I welcome the chance to be here and to learn some other disciplines that I never dared to try. Look out family…I may have more answers the next time we play Trivial Pursuit.

We had the honor of having dinner the first night at sea at the table with the Archbishop. He loves the students and finds a new group to join with each meal. We are also very comfortable and settling into some routines. I am enjoying working on my consulting job for my company in the area of Occupational Health and Safety. In doing so, I have often thought about the disparities that will exist for workers in the places we will visit and the progress our country has made in protecting it’s workers. I am glad to have the opportunity to try to make a difference in the health and safety at my company while I travel.


We have become used to the constant rolling of the ship and I am beginning to realize that after three plus months it will feel very strange to be on non-moving ground. We bump into walls and stagger down halls. Since we left port I have seen a school of dolphins and today we had our first sighting of a whale. The sea is so beautiful and you come to understand why they call this the “Blue Planet.” The ocean is so blue.

Tomorrow is our first port experience in San Juan Puerto Rico. Tonight we will have our first port briefing and I here it will be followed by Salsa music. I am sure Kevin will be the first to join in. We hope to get to an internet café and upload some of our photos to the site, so check back with the site in a day or so.
For now we all send our love and our friendship