Familliar Sights and Strange Sounds

Well currently we are back in US waters off the coast of good ol' Catalina, and well, home. Sure, we're only 2 hours away form the Port of Long Beach, but we wont be heading home until Monday morning. The USTS Golden Bear will be making up its lost liberty day. So I am heading home a day early. This is gonna be great, however sitting here drifting off of coast of home is making the hours drag on. When we get back on the 29th, unfortunately the show isnt all over at that point in time. WE have to get back at midnight and then do the official change over the next morning, and that will be the end of cruise.

Today a very interesting thing happened at quarters. We heard what seemed like two repetitive explosions and the whole helo deck shook and it felt as if something smacked into the back of my neck. Now the rumor going around the ship are that either it was a sonic boom from a plane from the nearby Naval Air Base at Miramar or artillery shells from San Clamenete Island. Some people were even talking about Naval war games, but the ship can sometimes be like a big water cooler.

All strange sounds aside, I'll be home in a few days.

See ya around and,

Stay Frosty,

Steven Robert Schiesser

More Photos!!!

This cruise must make life such a beach...
Few knew of Superman's sidekick "Sailor Boy", because he had to always arrive by 500 ft boat, which needless to say made his appearances limited.

This is what they call a building or as they say in Mexico "edificio". Some may go as far as to call it a "iglesia, casa de dios" but lets not get to crazy.

Another caption-less photo from our roaming adventurer. I am gonna go out on a limb and say this is a beach in Mexico.

I call this drink the "Dirty Sea Seamen" add one part sailor boy, two halves of underdeveloped mustacio, shake (don't stir) and allow to settle for two months on the Golden Bear. Umbrella is not optional. (No terms were meant to be taken in explicit manner, eww)

I am gonna lean towards the "mustache" and less the "age" part for why the high schools were "weirded out" at the local clubs in Puerto Vallarta....

Captions provide by: John (I hope you have enjoyed my attempts at witty comments)
Photos: By Stevie & friends

It's the end of the world, as I know it and I feel fine?

Some thing that is very interesting about living a lifestyle that is so very focused and different from that of what you have had before and one that is drastically different from the rest of the world, you aren't really sure how you exactly you are going to adjust to the way you used to live. Even when it has only been a short time of living like this, you still begin to wonder how living like this will have changed you, or if it even will; you wonder if you will snap back into normal life, or if even 2 short (well not that short) months on the sea have left a lasting impression. I think I really started to think about this when we were riding on the bus in Ecuador. For the last 2 months I have gotten used to going from one country to another, spending a little time sailing the ocean, but in a few days, everything will be back to normal and this life that I have been living will be all gone away. As I get closer to returning from this little journey of mine, I have begun not only counting the days, but other things like classes, meals and watches. I am very excited to return back to Newport and see everyone but I will definitely miss the traveling, but I have plenty of time to continue that, so I really. When I look back at the places I have been, I feel truly blessed. With Mexico sinking below the horizon my current country count is at a nice 11 countries.

But how about some change of pace, so we picked up our new Commandant of Cadets (in Mexico (haha that sounds really funny) and he is a retired Marine Corps Colonel. He seems pretty legit, he is wearing his desert digital camouflage with the blacked out birds (the insignia for Colonel), but instead of the name tape over the right pocket saying U.S. MARINES it says CAL MARITIME. He addressed us at quarters today and when he walked up and the Captain gave him the megaphone, I totally guessed he would not use it and just talk and have everyone be able to hear him, which is exactly what he did. He said he would be learning from us more in the next year than we would be learning from him and that he looks forward to working with us, which is basically the end of the Casual Maritime Academy.

We also got word passed on to us that due to our rapid exit stage left from Puerto Vallarta, we possibly could be getting into Long Beach a day earlier than planned. Now this is a possibility, and it is still being discussed with "the highest authorities" But I will keep y'all update as to the sit. rep.* of that.

Feel free to still email me even though I only have 3 classes, 1 essay, 1 final, 164 pages of Clive Cussler's Navigator, 1 security watch, 16.5 meals (I don't count continental breakfast as real meals) 12 hours in the gym and exactly 6 days 10 minutes (2050zulu) until I am off the USTS Golden Bear.

Stay frosty,

Something Really Snappy

* That is Situation Report for those of you who haven't seen Generation Kill.

Sun Sand and... Storms?

Well we are just heading out of the last port of the trip and now we are steaming the last 7 days home. Currently we are ripping through the water at a speed of 18 knots, a day earlier, for reasons I will get to soon enough.

But first the tale of a Man, a city and a Walmart.

Day 1:
After completing a slingshot maneuver with our anchor in order to get into our berth at the cruise ship terminal, we arrived in probably the most American Port of the trip (you know besides San Fransisco and Long Beach. Through some very foggy pair Oakleys, the beautiful American embassy of Walmart could be seen across the road. The first day was spent walking around the boardwalk or "malecon" of southern PV. We went from restaurant to beach bar enjoying the beach and staying out of the rain. The majority of my time spent in PV was spent relaxing, as in 2 weeks once Ive been home, my life will be shifting back into high gear at Career Orientation Training for Midshipmen (CORTRAMID) in San Diego. After we roamed around south PV finishing up some final souvenir shopping and such, we walked the 2.5 miles (or 4.02KM) to the Ship... in the rain... why ever would we do this you ask. The phrases "its not that far" and "we've got times I believe are the main culprits to said brainless idea. Anyway after a thoroughly wetting experience we hung around the ship for a while, then called it a night.

Day 2:
Well Day 2 was our class day, so me and the other Globostars from my major got onto the bus expecting another day full of churches and museums, which is a nice change of pace from what students usually want to do. We get off the bus on the malecon, a little confused and our teachers tell us we are free to do whatever we want until 1900. We had a "cultural day" so after checking out some churches on our own, we walked down as far as the PV coast line would take us, being hustled every 3 minutes by different street... er beach vendors? Anywho, once we got to the end of the beach we grabbed some sand and layed down under one of the countless umbrellas along the shore. After spending a good deal time, we headed back to check in with our teachers and then were released for the rest of the night. After that we grabbed some food on a upper story establishment which had a great view of the beach... and then it started to rain.... After waiting out the storm, we headed to a fine place called Senor Frogs. Now Senor Frogs is a club designed for young people, especially young Americans, so the place was packed with freshly graduated high school kids. It was quite amusing (and depressing)to see the CMA kids try to mingle with those former high schoolers, and see those high school kids get weirded out by these older mustached gentlemen who are just so eager to talk to them (you would be too after being on a boat for 2 months) Well, after rotating through several different similar establishments we headed home, this time in a cab. It was a good day and we all were making big plans for the next day, something we had even held ourselves back for, inorder to go all out the last day.

Day 3:
This day was by far the best day that has happ...
TODAY'S ACTIVITIES HAVE BEEN CANCELED TO DUE AN EARLY DEPARTURE MADE IN ORDER TO AVOID TROPICAL STORM ANDRES:

"Tropical Storm Andres brushes Mexico; 1 killed

By NATALIA PARRA, Associated Press Writer Natalia Parra, Associated Press Writer

ACAPULCO, Mexico – Tropical Storm Andres flooded homes and knocked down trees along Mexico's Pacific coast, killing at least one person as it headed toward a likely hurricane-force scrape with land on Tuesday.

Mexico issued a hurricane warning for the strip of coast from just south of Manzanillo to near Puerto Vallarta. To the south, the storm dumped heavy rains on Acapulco, where flooding forced about 200 people to evacuate their homes on Monday.

A fisherman drowned when choppy currents overturned his boat in a lagoon Monday in Tecpan de Galeana, between Acapulco and Zihuatanejo, a state police report said. The sun peeked through cloudy skies in Acapulco on Tuesday, but the government closed all schools..."

Its annoying as ever, but these be the ways of the sea.

Stay Frosty,

Sometimes Rain Sucks

(Runnin from a Hurricane... sounds like a good song name... some should write a song like that... I would listen to it.)

"Sometimes I wonder if the people back at home will ever truly understand what's happened here..."

These words inscribed in an over head of a bunk truly speak to just some of the odd things that go on while on board the good ol' TSGB. Now I'm not really sure how to explain it, because in order to explain it I would have to understand why it happens. But there is this strange phenomenon of habits people pick up while on cruise. Cadets start smoking a lot more cigarettes and dipping tobacco, some of who before cruise had never done anything like this. And its actually kind of sad to see people getting addicted to some of these things and then realize they don't have a way of getting anymore of said substance since we are on a bloody ship. It's both sad and amusing to watch at the same time. I have heard so many times, "Oh I just am doing this for cruise." I guess it speaks to just how much life is different when on a ship.

Speaking about life being different, me and one of my good friends were sitting around yesterday (as we have done many other times) and we came to a rather odd realization. Being on the ship is like being on prison for several reasons. 1. We all wear the same color (some prisons even wear khaki) 2. Nutrition is questionable 3. We have forced labor 4. We're stuck in one confined area 5. We take classes so that we are better off when we get out 6. We all are counting down to the day we get to leave

Oh yes well since I am getting closer and closer to getting home, please email me and let me know if you desire my presence at some point in time while I am home between June 30th and August 8th, before I go to training in San Diego for a month.

Hope every one has a great day

Sailors Really Sing

" A capital ship on an Ocean trip, watched the hallowing winds go by
No winds that blew dismayed this crew, nor troubled the captains mind.
The man at the wheel was made to feel contempt for the wildest blow,
Though it often appeared when the gale had cleared that he'd hidden in his bunk below.
Well roll you and roll I roam and I will go,
I'll Stay no more on Latin shores so let the music roll,
I'm off on the morning train I'll cross the raging main
I'm off to the sea it's the place for me and there I'm gonna stay."

More Pictures of Stevie

Division 3 PRIDE

Action Shot!!!

The unlikely team: Sea scouts from the Tiki-Too, the Renegades and Chaser

Plumber's Nightmare


We all can't be models, its ok...

I don't know what has gotten into me...

but I have just been in very blogging mood these past few days. Maybe its the fact that some things have actually been happening, maybe its my desire to make you read alot about my life, because in 13 days 14 1/2 hours (at 0530 ZULU) my life will become non-blogging worthy, or maybe it is because I am avoiding studying for my midterm tomorrow... I'm going to guess its a little of all of them.

Well it seems the TSGB is doing its work for the community by not just training mariners to support the 90% of Global trade which travels by ship, but rather to help out your friendly neighborhood meteorologist. Good ol'NOAA (the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration) requested our assistance in the deployment of several "ARGOS floats". We have made several deployments that have been occurring on the Golden Bear at specific positions on our route for the past few days. Once in the water, these floats lower themselves to depths of nearly 2,000 meters and then raise back to the surface at regular intervals. Along their vertical journey, they record things like water temperature and salinity at specific depths, all things I know nothing about. Each time they return to the surface, they beam their data to a satellite and then begin another cycle. The cycles continue for a few years until they sink for the last time... into Davey Jones' Locker... yarr... its very technical.

I'm glad I haven't gone crazy yet... well then I guess that other people who haven't been on this ship for the past 2 months will have to be the judge of that.

Oh yeah and we're in the Northern Hemisphere again, surprise! So my toilet spins the other way, the weather will be getting hot as we pass through the hot zone, the water on the ship will be nearly boiling when it comes out of the cold water tap (I get my cold out of the hot one now (no seriously I do, it is really sad)) oh yeah and it seems like the water is a lot bluer, its really odd (I just guess thats because the Northern Hemisphere rocks (I mean our seasons make sense and everything)).

Stay Frosty,

Sailor Reporting Salinity