North to Alaska?

We have been sailing through life this past month or so, just not so much of it "on the water." 
 

Following our Captain classes and a few other classes to obtain additional endorsements on our licenses, a vacation was in order so we sailed to St. John and then on to Tortola and Jost Van Dyke where we spent a lot of time in the water.  While Waterlemon Cay, in Leinster Bay, St. John is still by far our favorite snorkel spot, we really enjoyed spending a few days at Soper's Hole and in the water at White Bay, Jost Van Dyke.

Vacation was over and it was time to return to Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas to prepare for the next round of classes.  This time it was the "Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping" course a/k/a STCW, which covers first aid/CPR, social responsibilities, survival training and firefighting.  It was a 3-day course in Red Hook, on the far east side of the island from St. Thomas.

Although there is a marina right next to the school, our cruiser's budget does not allow for docking fees and we won't anchor in Red Hook as it is a very rolly anchorage.  Not to mention, when the ferries come through (many times a day), it sends the boats and cruisers for a rough ride.  For us, it was much better to catch a safari to class each day; however, we were most fortunate to be offered a ride to class for 2 of the 3 days by our new friends and classmates, Barbie and Fredrick.  Thank you two so much!!!

Our first day was a full day of CPR and first aid.  This class was taught by Captain Joe Stone, who kept us laughing while filling our brains with a lot of important information followed by practicing CPR on a mannequin (they don't like to be called dummies) and then being given real life scenarios and instructed to demonstrate how we would deal with the injuries by properly applying first aid to our victim (another student).

Day 2 was 1/2 day of class instruction and testing on social responsibilities and firefighting before heading to the dump for actual hands on firefighting.  This class was taught by Captain Mike Sealey, retired US Coast Guard.  Yet another great instructor who kept us entertained while conveying most important information for those of us planning our next careers in island hospitality.  And, yes, I did say "to the dump!"  A smelly yet well organized garbage dump.  It is atop a hill with a SPECTACULAR view.  What a waste of such beautiful scenery, but I guess it has to go somewhere...and most every hilltop in St. Thomas guarantees a SPECTACULAR view.
 

After pairing off in teams, we extinguished a wood fire, followed by simulating the extinguishing of an electrical fire in a circuit breaker box (don't want novices practicing that one in real time), putting out a grease fire inside a stove and finally extinguishing a Class "B" diesel fire using AFFF (Aqueous Film-Forming Foam).  The fireman suit was HOT and the fire made it HOTTER!  Adding Jim to that equation made it REALLY HOT!!!

My firefighting buddy, Renee and me

Suiting up

 

Our first fire - Class "A" fire  (white smoke)

Extinguishing the fire

Backing out

Mission accomplished

Receiving instructions for our second fire

US Coast Guard Instructor, Capt. Mike Sealey,
encouraging us to go big or go home

 

Class "B" fire (black smoke)

Moving in

Jim and his firefighting buddy, Dave, suiting up

Attacking their first fire, a Class "A" fire (white smoke)

Receiving instruction for their third fire, a Class "C" electrical fire

Power is off and they are on their way to the burning electrical box

Jim and Dave discussing strategy for attacking the Class "B" diesel fire

US Coast Guard, Capt. Mike Sealey, looks on as
Jim and Dave prepare to attack the diesel fire with AFFF

 

Day 3 came and it was hard to concentrate as we were all excited about the "Gumby" suits and ready to head out on the water, or so we thought.  Being under the impression we would be headed for Christmas Cove (translation: calm water), we were all wide eyed and a few OMG's were said when they surprised us by stopping just outside Red Hook in some ROUGH seas with a squall in the distance followed by our instructor's announcement that due to the weather conditions (wind, rain and swells), these were the most realistic conditions in which he has taught.  We were in for more of a challenge than we thought.
 

Divided into 4 teams, we were Team No. 1 so we were first on deck to enter the water via jumping ship in proper form.  Yelling "Clear," crossing our chest with one hand and cupping our mouth and nose (no nose pinching allowed), we each jumped from the deck.  Me, being second in line, climbed to the deck, took position and, having never successfully resurfaced when jumping into a body of calm water, the sight of the swells submerging my team member Jim, the distance to the water and having a hard time standing due to the pitching of the boat, I had a moment of panic and stepped back to build some courage while letting my other team members go ahead before I stepped up and took the plunge.  Pretty sure my form was not perfect on this jump, but ecstatic that I actually manged to jump, our team was off for a swim of 50 yards and 10 minutes of treading water before returning to the boat.
 

Having jumped the Damajaqua Cascades (27 Waterfalls) while in the Dominican Republic, the second jump went better for me as we were wearing life jackets.  The tricky part was we had to locate them and put them on with our eyes closed.  With no one yelling in pain, it was evident we all crossed our legs and avoided the dreaded "water enema."  Finally, with the 4 of us and our rescue diver in the water, we were instructed to take turns uprighting an overturned life raft followed by everyone entering the life raft unassisted.  Having been given several scenarios and correctly answering  questions about the location and use of standard equipment supplied in a life raft (i.e., a knife, throw line, first aid and fishing gear), we swam back to the boat to wait for our next jump... the Arctic Cold Water Survival Suit, better known as the "Gumby Suit."




 

Our team donning life jackets for the second jump

Taking turns uprighting the 8 man life raft

As the afternoon went on, although the water was cold, the seas had calmed some prior to our donning the "Gumby" suit.  Why do they call it the "Gumby Suit?"

Sherry taking the plunge in the huge "Gumby" suit

These heavy neoprene suits are used to help prevent hypothermia when spending any amount of time in frigid water, mostly used in waters 32 degrees north and south of the equator.  With only a small portion of your face exposed and due to their size (one size fits all) and weight (15-20 pounds dry) these suits are not comfortable and are awkward and exhausting to maneuver in.  Furthermore, if you suffer from claustrophobia, this is not for you.

Given 2 minutes to get into the suit, we raced to jump in, velcro the leg straps, put our non-dominant hand into one arm and glove, put on our head cover followed by forcing our other hand into the arm and glove, zipping up the zipper which has been encrusted in salt water while wearing the oversized "Gumby" gloves and finally securing the face flap, upon which time we realized it is not easy to breath in these things.
 

Back to the deck we go, making sure to use proper form as we have been promised a redo if the rescue diver witnesses us close our eyes or fail to cross our legs on the way down.  This time jumping wasn't the scary part.  If you don't jump straight, you will either come up feet first or face down.  With the lack of maneuverability and the thought of having to repeat this exercise, I made sure this jump was done with perfection.  Down, down, down I went as the suit began to cling to my body as if I was being heated in shrink wrap.  All the time remembering Jim saying, "Just relax and everything will be alright."  Suddenly, the suit expanded, filling with water and I resurfaced with swells of water rushing over my face which was covered with the face flap and hearing the instructor yelling for me to swim out to my team so the next person could jump.
 

Catching up with my team, we rafted up in head-to-toe formation and waited for the rescue plane to show up.  Spotting it, we turned loose of each other and started thrashing in the water hoping to be rescued.

Head to toe body rafting while waiting for rescue plane

Splashing so rescue plane can see us

Someone from the boat yelled, "Shark!!!" and everyone burst out laughing.  The instructor belted out our next command, "Everyone into the life raft!"   Just swimming to the life raft in the suit was exhausting enough, but then we had to get into it.  We had already decided the women would go first as it would be easier to pull the men up than it would be to push them.  The other lady went first and couldn't do it, so I managed to get in and helped pull her in followed by the men.  At this point, we were doing good just to sit in the life raft, but were given another line of questioning followed by instructions to swim back to the boat. 
 

Happy to be back on board and having passed yet another certification, it was unanimous neither of us intends to adventure to waters 32 degrees north or south of the equator.
 

Do you really think we spend our days holding umbrella drinks while sunning ourselves on the beach?