Bill Seney's

Semester at Sea: Rock 1

20 - 21 August 2005

I spent 2 days in Toronto visiting my friends Mike and Lorna and generally recuperating from my trip to the UK.

22 August 2005

Went to the bank in Toronto to pickup foreign currency for my Semester at Sea voyage (pre-ordered before I left Calgary – even in Toronto there isn’t a lot of call for Kenyan Shillings), then off to the airport for my flight to Newark. The flight was routine and I took the SuperShuttle to the comfort Inn – Central Park West in New York.

23 August 2005

Went down to Battery park, checked the Statue of Liberty / Ellis Island schedule, the walked back up town, visiting Trinity Church and the World Trade Center site, as well as St. Paul’s Chapel (part of Trinity church, just across from Ground Zero). NYC has banned street peddlers from Ground Zero, which means the remaining ones at least have to be discrete, and tend to wander off if you try to take their picture or even if you stare at them when they try to sell you something.

After that I went up to the Rockefeller center, where I went book shopping, then to dinner with Susan at this nice midtown Greek restaurant, the Avra Estiatorio, where my culinary horizons (and my waist line) were suitably expanded.

24 August 2005

Got to Battery Park early enough to get a ticket for the Statue of Liberty tour, then boarded the ferry for the Statue of Liberty, then Ellis Island. I spent a full day they, and was greatly entertained by the tour the park rangers gave. I suspect some of them are frustrated stand-up comics but the tours were fun and they were very knowledgeable.

After the tour I went back to my hotel for an early night before my flight the next day.

25 August 2005

Up at 0400 to catch the SuperShuttle back to Newark for an 0850 international flight to the Bahamas. The flight was held for about an hour on the taxi-way due to airport congestion but we eventually got on our way and had an uneventful flight to Nassau in the Bahamas.

On arrival I checked into the Red Carpet Inn, then went for a nice seafood dinner at

The Red Carpet Inn is budget accommodation (half the price or less of the Atlantis resort) and its layout is basicly that of a motel or motor lodge. It is an older hotel, so it has large rooms with high ceilings, but it has been renovated recently so it has air conditioning, refrigerator and a microwave. It is also located next door to a strip mall that includes a bank (with ATM), grocery store, a number of fast food places and an internet café.

26-29 August 2005

I spent the next 4 days sight-seeing. I went by the Atlantis resort, which has an interesting layout in that to get anywhere you basically have to go through the casino, but most of my time was spent snorkeling with Bahama Divers. They take boats of scuba divers and snorkellers out to some of the more scenic dive spots around the island. They provide the snorkeling equipment (including flotation equipment for the poor swimmers) and have wet suits available for rent at a nominal price as well.

The first day I used a flotation device, but I switched to a wet suit for the next two trips as I became more comfortable in the water. The wet suits provide some flotation and also protected my back from the sun. Floating on the surface your shoulders spend some time on the surface and I was concerned about sunburn.

Places visited included the Lighthouse Wreck (a wreck and artificial reef), the LST Barge (another wreck) and the White Hole (an area of sand surrounded by reefs). All were marvelous snorkeling opportunities and I had a great time.

30 August 2005

Sailing day!

I took a taxi to the cruise ship dock, where they were boarding the 700 passengers on MV Explorer for Semester at Sea. It was fairly well organized. We went through a check-in and security screening line, tagged our bags with our cabin numbers and passed the bags to the dock crew who loaded them on trucks for transport to the ship and delivery to our cabins. We then walked out to the MV Explorer. Compared to some of the other cruise liners in port the Explorer looks small, and it isn’t until you get up alongside it that you realize just how big it is.

As a Senior Passenger I got the VIP treatment, being escorted through the check-in lines and able to go to the head of the lines for ID card, registration forms, etc. I have a cabin to myself (number 5033 on the fifth deck), and while not large it has a window (or a large, rectangular port-hole), and bathroom with sink, toilet, shower and hair dryer.

We sailed at 1700 (5 PM) and one of the Semester At Sea staff, Gordon MacLeod, put on his kilt and treated us to a medley of bagpipe music while we were leaving harbour. Shortly after sailing we held our first lifeboat drill, which went fairly well, although some people had to be reminded to wear long sleeves and long pant, and closed toed shoes. My lifeboat station is A5, on the starboard deck near my cabin.

After lifeboat drill we had dinner, served cafeteria style but with a nice salad bar and a variety of dishes including a vegetarian option, and in the evening had our first general meeting, held in the student union (the largest room on the ship), with overflow rooms watching on closed circuit TV. The Executive and Academic Deans made us welcome, went over some of the basic policies and then let us settle in for the evening.

Some statistics:

685 students from 268 universities (451 female / 232 male)

26 faculty members

38 staff

29 faculty and staff families

11 adult passengers

About 300 ships officers and crew

31 August 2005

I slept well overnight. Waves were gentle and there was no more than a gentle rocking so I did not need the motion sickness medication they provided. Breakfast was followed by more briefings and faculty/student conferences where students could ask about classes and consider last minute changes to their registration.

After lunch we had our first session of Geography 1000 – Global Studies, which is taken by all the students and strongly encourage for faculty, staff, family and adult passengers as well. It was a good introduction to some of the things we should pay attention to while traveling and some of the issues that will be discussed.

Dinner was followed by a deep tissue massage in the spa, then in the evening we had

1 September 2005

Days at sea are divided into alternate A and B days with different classes on different days, with the exception of Geography 1000 – Global Studies, which is offered every day. This was the first A day and I sat in on a Global Studies and a couple of other courses. I had originally hoped to take Oceanography and Anthropology courses but they were both full and Undergraduates of course have priority on classes, but I found space in a couple of communication courses – one on Intercultural Communications and the other on Nonverbal Communications. These are both taught by an expatriate Canadian, Dr. Norma Dunbar from Long Beach University. She had done here doctorate at the University of Arizona under Dr. Judee Burgoon and is a very good speaker.

In the evening we had our cultural introduction to Venezuela, where we got some background on places to go and the local food.

2 September 2005

The first B day. In addition to Global Studies I sat in on a World Theatre course, taught by Dr. Annie O. Cleveland from Colorado State university in Fort Collins. Another interesting speaker (I suspect the Academic Dean got to hand pick the lecturers – I’ve heard good things about all of them), her background was in costume design. I also sat in on a third communications course, Interpersonal Communication, also taught by Dr. Dunbar. This is an intro level course, while the intercultural and non-verbal courses are more advanced courses, so this should not only help me with my communications but make it easier to follow the other communication courses as well.

After dinner we had a meeting on the field programs (trips) in Venezuela and a safety briefing, followed by Salsa dancing lessons to get us into the mood.

Tomorrow we dock in Venezuela!