a view from the bridge

today, I went on a bridge tour.



It was very interesting. Since we are in the middle of the ocean, we were steering on autopilot the whole time we were up there. They have cool electronics:



(which I trust works speedier than the internet access we get!). They have 3 separate radar systems ...







and they also manually update the printed map with our location to be sure we'll know where we are if we lose electronic navigation systems.



The equipment is all about 2 years old. It was replaced spring 2005 when the "wave incident" occurred and the bridge was flooded.

the windows have wipers:



who woulda thunk?, though clearly it makes sense. And an amazing view. This from the very front:



We also learned about the fresh-water-creation systems and the fire suppression system. The ship is divided into segments and fire doors can be closed at anytime anywhere on the ship to keep fire from spreading. The crew has 2 minutes to respond to a fire alarm before the sprinklers start.



We create our own fresh-water from the salt-water. We create 6 tons of water a day and we store 2 days worth of water at any time. We were told that we make more water than we ever use in any given day. When we go to countries where the water is contaminated, we'll stop taking in water about 24 or 48 hours before port and our water consumption aboard will be restricted. The water -- have I mentioned? -- isn't very tasty. Coffee-drinkers are grumbling too. They test it hourly for proper chlorine balance & ph balance but it's pretty awful tasting.

The MV Explorer has 4 engines. We're currently running on two, but if we had to run away from pirates or typhoons, we might use all four. At our current speed, we burn about 3 tons of fuel per hour for a cost of about $1000 per hour.

And just in case all else fails, the bridge has images of saints on the wall. I asked who the saint is (there is a saint for safe travels, isn't there?) but the crew person giving us the tour didn't know. He said he was a Greek saint, because the ship used to be operated by a Greek company, but he didn't know which one. Anybody recognize him?



The weather today was glorious. Brazil's humidity has totally dissipated as we move east. I fell asleep outside by the wake for about an hour today and it was very very pleasant. Eating outside was neither too windy nor too humid.

We lose an hour of sleep tonight. And then again tomorrow night. And then again the night after that. Just so you can be assured that life aboard ship isn't entirely idyllic ... wish me luck ...