Today started at 0600 hrs. Jeff and I got the Zodiac ready and took it from the jetty where the Moose was docked over to another jetty and waited for the Moose to arrive. When we arrived at the other jetty, we were about 20 ft below the actual jetty and the ladder was very barnacle encrusted so we had to be very careful going up the long ladder. Once the Moose arrived, we assisted with tying her up and then went on board. We then refueled the Moose. I was given the position of Event Recorder and had to record all of the times of all the events that occurred during the refueling. This included such things as when the initial briefing was, what time the hoses were hooked up and refueling actually started, etc. Once the refueling was finished, we went back onto the jetty to help slip the boat; then jumped back into the Zodiac and came alongside the Moose to get back on board. After the Zodiac was secured on the quarterdeck of the boat, Jeff and I sat down for breakfast of pancakes and bacon (this was at 0900 hrs). We got about half way through eating when a man overboard drill was called; so we got dressed up again, launched the Zodiac and out we went to recover the floating flag (the “man-overboard”).Once this was done and the Zodiac was again secured back on the boat, we were able to go back and finish breakfast. Jeff and I laughed about it, because it was more accurate to a real situation as they can occur at any time. We sort of had that feeling that we had done so much in the first 3 ½ hours of the day before some people even get up for the day. The Moose then navigated through an extremely narrow passage, which from a distance did not look wide enough for the boat to even fit through. We did, but it was tight. I was able to watch this passage from the front of the boat. It was very cool as we entered the passage, the sun was still rising at the other end.Jeff and I have been taking turns on the helm for 1 hour shifts. When the boat is going through very tough areas, the chief engineer is the one who takes the helm as he is much more experienced that Jeff or I (the first time for either of us was on Monday, so it makes sense to us).Supper tonight was pork sovlaki, rice and carrots. The cook made a tzaziki sauce where he used blueberry yogurt.
There are two senior officers on board the boat for this trip; one from the Canadian Navy and one from the Royal Navy. Turns out that they both know my dad. Small world indeed.Obviously, even after all this time, I can run, but I can’t hide.
Chemainus is a very, very small town. The local fish and chip shop was advertising that they also serve Chinese food. We got a bit of a chuckle out of that. Jeff and I went out for a beer. There were only 2 bars. The first one was a sports bar that closes at 8PM every night (including Friday and Saturday). The second one was a bit nicer, so we went there and bumped into some of the senior officers who are doing the assessing for this trip. It was good company and very informative.
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