The Sea Olympics

On March 7, while at sea between Vietnam and India we celebrated the Sea Olympics. Every residential hall on the ship is divided into “seas”, sort of like our own dorm. There are about ten different “seas”, all having the name of one of the world’s seas. My hall, the Red Sea, competed against all the other seas in events all day long – from Simon Says, to synchronized swimming, pie eating contests, tug-o-war and a huge ship wide relay race. It was a nice break from classes and so much fun. There was an opening ceremony the night before and everyone got really into it. What was most exciting about the Olympics was the prize: the sea that wins gets to get off the ship first when we arrive in Fort Lauderdale on May 5th. While this didn’t sound like such an awesome prize to me, since I could stay on the ship forever, the prospect of not having to sit and go through customs all day long did sound nice. It was the most gorgeous day, clear skies and warm air – we were ahead of schedule so the Captain decided to anchor the ship in the middle of the Indian Ocean for the day. I can’t even describe how beautiful it was.

A few days before, we refueled the ship near the coast of Singapore, in the Straits of Malacca. The day that we were refueling, the Singapore government issued a terrorist warning for oil vessels operating in the Malaccan Straits –there is one section that narrows to just under a mile wide, this section has been known for is easy accessibility for pirates. It was all over CNN and the entire ship sort of buzzed with questions. The crew sped up the ship to over 24 knots, we hardly ever go that fast, to quickly get out of the area. We had armored ships on either side of us the entire time. It all turned out fine, and is a great story now – but at the time everyone was ready to get out of there.

But because of this incident, we were several hours ahead of schedule so we were able to just float the entire day – which was incredible.

There were different events scheduled throughout the day, each member of each sea having a different event. There was running scoreboard on every ship TV and we spent the majority of the day tied for about second place. Later, we won the ship wide relay but we had to wait until the closing ceremonies to see who was crowned the winner. Before closing ceremonies we had an incredible cook out on the pool deck. It was a night that I will always remember. I don’t know if I have really ever felt more content in life. All of us just sitting outside listening to awesome music, eating great food with wonderful people and watching the sun set as we floated through the Indian Ocean. What an incredible memory I will always have. I will remember how I felt, so happy, so lucky. I kept thinking “Why do I get to experience such an incredible thing right now? How did I ever get to be so lucky?” That feeling has been recurrent throughout the entire voyage, but it all culminated on this evening and I was completely touched by my complete surroundings.

After dinner we all proceeded to the Union for the closing ceremonies. We waited patiently as each sea was called with the point totals. Finally – it became apparent that the Red Sea was going to win! We were all so excited and when our name was finally called there was mass celebration. It was so much fun, one of the best days of the trip certainly. And on May 5th I will be one of the very first ones to touch American soil, hug my mom and start the process of entering the real world again.