RAS

10 May somewhere between Vanuatu and New Caledonia. The RAS (Resupply At Sea) is quite a complicated affair. Today’s RAS was performed in clear weather with winds of 18-20 knots. The Cleveland approaches parallel to the supply ship and shoots 2 guide lines to the supply ship. A measuring line is threaded along the forward guide line to keep the 2 ships a specified distance apart (looked like 150 feet), and the refueling lines are then suspended from the aft guide line. The cargo to be transferred has been placed on palettes, netted, and arranged on the aft deck of the supply ship. Cleveland’s 2 helicopters take turns hovering over the supply ship’s aft deck while the supply ship’s crew attaches the cargo net tackle to a hook on the underside beneath the cargo bay. The pilots then swing the helicopter over Cleveland’s flight deck, set the cargo on the deck with guidance from the flight deck crew, and then the heli’s crew in the cargo bay release the tackle. The helicopter pilots and crew seem like ordinary mortals when you meet them but they must be adrenalin junkies to do that maneuver over and over until all of the cargo has been transferred. Actually the cargo crew is also a rescue swimmer, and he said rescues are even more exciting than cargo transfers. Cleveland’s flight deck crew dash around on small forklifts to bring the dropped cargo forward, and then the ship’s personnel form a human chain to pass the chow and mail boxes into the mess deck. It’s a happy day to see boxes of mail, fresh fruits and vegetables. Pictures will be on my Flickr site.
Cheers to all!

Coral, and fishes, and wrecks, oh my!

9 May departing Santo, Vanuatu. I spent a couple of days of liberty going ashore to explore the sights. I’m accustomed to traveling alone so it’s annoying to me to comply with the navy security requirement to have 1 or 2 liberty buddies - you must be within eyesight of your buddy(s) at all times except in the bathroom. So finding someone(s) who want to leave and return to the ship when you do, and do what you want to do ashore can be a challenge (switching partners after departing the ship is not allowed). But we’ve all got the same rules so cooperation is necessary. The first day my liberty partner mistakenly changed too much money into local currency, so we shopped until we dropped, meaning that I bought a cacao pod and a papaya at the fruit market, a hand-painted sarong, tea, toothpaste, chocolate cookies, and a Cadbury chocolate bar (I was in major need of a chocolate fix!). Shopping is limited - despite there being many small variety shops in Luganville, they carry nearly identical merchandise. My liberty partner the second day wanted to go to Catholic mass before the snorkeling trip. Men and women sit on opposite sides of the main aisle and the singing was beautiful. We then met up with a group to go to a lovely resort for Sunday brunch and snorkeling. There were Cattleya and Dendrobium orchids growing on the trees at the resort. The Dendrobium were blooming with pale green and purple flowers. I asked a couple of local women what they call the flower, and after conferring with each other they responded “orchid”, so there’s no interesting Pidgin name for an orchid. The sky had turned cloudy and the breeze had kicked up by the time we got out on the water but the snorkeling sights were still great. Not as many fish as I expected but very good quantity and variety of corals, most of which looked quite healthy. Pieces of wrecked airplanes from WWII were visible, including propellers with and without engines, and assorted pieces of fuselages. Coral growth on a cross-section of fuselage resulted in an interesting structure. We finished off the day with my second trip to the excellent French restaurant for escargot appetizer and warm chocolate souffle dessert.

We’ve finished the first segment of the 3-part mission, and left Vanuatu today. We’re heading for a few days of liberty in Noumea, New Caledonia, which is a former French colony. Some personnel will be leaving for home and will be replaced by new faces. Santo was a great experience - lovely people, very long lines of patients, remote villages, helicopter rides with spectacular scenery, good snorkeling. The most unusual medical condition I saw, probably for most others as well, was leprosy lesions on a woman’s face (as pointed out by an Australian physician who has seen previous cases of leprosy). I’ve started spending a couple of hours on my non-work days shadowing the ship’s independent duty corpsman (medic) in the medical ward, which is similar to an urgent care clinic, to get additional experience. He’s a good instructor and I’m enjoying it.
Cheers to all!

WOW!!

5 May Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu. Saturday and Sunday were 2 of the best days of my life. I was part of a 16-person medical team that went by 2 helicopters (MH-60S Knight Hawk) to work remote clinical sites. The 2 villages are on the coast and otherwise accessible only by boat (beach landing) or foot/horse. Some logistical complications on Saturday led to the helicopters landing on the black sand beach some distance from the originally planned site. So we hiked with the supplies about 10 minutes to the village nearest our landing, and set up clinic in a tiny church, with registration outside under a huge mango tree. A member of the tribe used a shell to call the villagers to the church to announce that the clinic would be held there. The people were shy but after the first brave ones stepped forward we had a steady stream of patients all day. I collected childhood vaccination and malaria infection information for a country database. In the process I started learning some Pidgin English spoken by the locals (“Wanem nem blong you?” means “What’s your name?”). They served us a lunch of yams, manioc, taro greens, pork, plaintains(?), and coconut, which we sampled to supplement our MREs. Their ailments were similar to those we saw in Tonga - ear infections, joint pain, repetitive motion injuries, skin infections, dental and eyesight problems. Lack of dental hygiene results in rotten teeth, and the working conditions for the dentists and dental techs were difficult because the patients needed to be seated in folding camp chairs that we carried in. The landing logistics were solved for the second day and the helicopters landed on a grassy plot at the originally planned site. We hiked a short distance and set up clinic in 2 thatched huts and a church under large trees in a village common area just 40 yards from the breaking surf. The patients were waiting for us that day and there was no hesitation to stepping forward. You couldn’t wipe the smiles off our faces all day long. Again our hosts prepared a lunch for us, and we shared a few extra MREs with them. We were fortunate to have a vacationing young couple from Tasmania assist us as interpreters - they had heard while in Luganville that we would be coming to the area and they kayaked in to help since they’ve become fluent in Pidgin. At the end of the day there was a kava ceremony where the tribal chief presented our team leader with a 7-foot long carved barbed spear to honor our visit. I’m sure that the villagers, like the medical team, will talk of these days for years.

The 30-40 minute helicopter ride each way was awesome. Santo is primarily rugged mountains, with the tallest peak 6000 ft elevation, and covered with dense jungle. The pilots gave us thrilling rides zipping around the ridges and out over the ocean, but the photos through the windows aren’t as great as the actual view because the doors to the cargo/personnel compartment had to be kept closed due to the cargo. Dense clouds on one of the trips made finding a safe route through the mountains a challenge for the pilots. The propellers stirred up the sand for a free dermabrasion during the first day’s beach landing not more than 20 yards from the breaking surf, and it took a while that night to clean the black sand out of our hair and ears. I’m fairly certain that I saw blooming epiphytes in some of the tree tops but I can’t be certain that they were orchids.

Monday was a liberty day and I went ashore with some of the dental folks to a lovely resort to relax, swim in the pool, and have a massage. Dinner at a French restaurant was a treat - escargot appetizer and warm chocolate souffle for dessert were divine. An adventurous person in our party ordered the “flying fox” (fruit bat) entrée, which was served with head on and big teeth showing - looked like a pterodactyl on a plate. She said it tasted like chicken, of course.

I worked patient registration/triage on Tuesday and Wednesday at the hospital in Luganville. This hospital is larger and has more services than the hospital in Vava’u. The days were draining as we saw nearly 800 patients on Tuesday, the weather was oppressively hot and humid, and I was coming down with a massive head and chest cold (respiratory illness seems pervasive on the ship). But the Navy rock band showed up on Wednesday to play for a couple hours near our outdoor triage area, and that definitely added a cheerful touch - my patient and I sang along together to Van Morrison’s “Brown-Eyed Girl” as I took her vital signs (I'm surprised that she seemed to know some of the words), and the patients in the registration queue laughed as the nurses and corpsmen played air guitar and danced the twist and bump.

I’m laying low for a day with this respiratory crud and hope to enjoy shore leave the next day or two.
Cheers!

Santo Opening Ceremony

29 Apr Luganville, Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu. The Opening Ceremony on Santo was quite different in many respects from the Closing Ceremony in Vava’u. The ceremony was held outside of the chief’s community hall. The hall was built of all imaginable materials - the roof was corrugated plastic covered with dried palm fronds secured by chicken wire, the walls were solid wood, lattice wood, woven pandanus, bamboo, and cloth, and the floor was concrete. I thought the simple but rich textures were a lovely contrast to the dull gray concrete block buildings erected in the former East Germany during the Soviet occupation, which Hilarie, JoAnn K, and I saw 3 years ago on the Christmas Nutcracker Tour led by Helga and Jack of Posh Journeys.
Today’s ceremony started with a tribal dance by native ni-Vanuatu (Melanisians) wearing loincloths, palm fronds, leaves, headgear, painted torso and face, and performed in a tight cluster facing inward while chanting and pounding the ground with long sticks. There was also a pig on a leash, and from Michener’s description of the importance of the boar in ceremonial tribal culture in “Tales of the South Pacific”, I had a feeling that it wasn’t going to be a good day for the pig. And so it wasn‘t, as the pig was sacrificed to honor the occasion while we watched. I believe it would be served at a feast in the evening (I‘m eating fish onboard Cleveland, thank you). The sun then broke from behind the clouds, and there were many speeches honoring the hosts and guests. The people of Santo are still very grateful to the US Navy and Army for defending the island during WWII, and for the lasting improvements they made to the Luganville area that are still enjoyed today, e.g. fresh water catchments and filled marshland that reduced the mosquitoes. The ceremony was concluded with a reception line in which the Pacific Partnership personnel formed a line and the locals walked the line shaking the hand of each of us. Thus I got to say hello to all of the local attendees personally. Compared to Tongans, the ni-Vanuatu Melanisians are much darker, shorter, and thinner, and seem more reserved although certainly friendly. I’m putting some photos on my flickr photo stream http://www.flickr.com/photos/babs-pp11.
Cheers!

Arriving in Vanuatu

Thurs 28 Apr. We arrived this morning at the island of Espiritu Santo (“Santo”), Vanuatu under a gray sky, and set anchor at 0900. The ellipticle in the mini-gym on the bridge once again provided a good view of the action. We had blissfully calm seas and light winds for the entire transit from Tonga, although some personnel still got sick either from the conditions or their scopolamine patch. Transit time was spent doing physical training (PT) or mission training, e.g. use of medical equipment, preparation for helicopter transport, etc. We were confined to berth quarters one afternoon during military exercises so we turned our berth into the “girlie” spa, and did a facial/hair make-over, gave each other shoulder/neck massages, and watched a DVD movie. I haven't had this much fun with "the girls" since my days living in the dorm at Mary Washington College. Any other spare time was spent reading or walking the flight deck to enjoy fresh air and natural light. Never in my wildest dreams did I see myself in the middle of the Pacific walking the flight deck of a Navy ship, nor preparing for helicopter transport to a remote medical site, which is my nursing assignment for Saturday and Sunday (more on that afterwards).

My brother John gave me a copy of Michener‘s “Tales of the South Pacific“ to read on this trip. Michener based the book on his time on “Santo” during WWII. The musical “South Pacific” is also based on the islands of Vanuatu. I just looked at the Project HOPE Public Affairs Officer’s (PAO) aerial photos taken from the helicopter when we first arrived this morning - this is definitely a tropical paradise. This is becoming a popular destination for wreck diving so I’ll be interested in seeing what the town Luganville has to offer when we have a liberty day.

In case you had trouble finding my photos on Flickr, here’s the weblink address http://www.flickr.com/photos/babs-pp11. And you can see the PAO's photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/radder86.

Cheers to all!

Wallowing along

24 Apr somewhere between Tonga and Vanuatu. The heat finally broke in Tonga on Friday, our last liberty day, so I snorkeled on a cloudy rainy day with thunder, lightening, and 25 knot wind gusts. We were a merry band of 14 Aussies, 2 Kiwis, and 4 Americans. Our host captains did their best to make it a great day for us by choosing a protected snorkeling spot, serving lunch on the boat instead of a beach BBQ, and keeping the rum punch flowing. The fish and coral don’t care about the weather so there was plenty to see. I don’t think it was my imagination that the coral didn’t look as healthy as on my trips in 1998 and 2005.

On Saturday morning we stowed and secured our belongings, and at 1500 we left Vava’u for Vanuatu. I decided to multi-task by working out on the elliptical in the mini-gym on a bridge overlooking the ship’s bow, while watching the crew hoist the anchors. Soon we were headed out the channel into the open Pacific. There was a glitch 3 hours underway, which kept the engineers busy for a few hours, but all seems fine since then. Thankfully the Pacific is living up to its name so far - peaceful - calm seas and about 12 knots of breeze. The Cleveland’s class of ship has a wallowing motion like an alligator, hence her gator logo/mascot. So she rocks slowly back and forth, more to port than starboard, while the bow swings from side to side, and the rocking seems to pause now and then. Definitely an odd motion, unlike any sailboat that I‘ve been on. I wore my wrist seabands for the first 24 hours to avoid seasickness, but have removed them for now. Getting around ship isn’t too difficult in these conditions so I hope they hold. There are 2 straps to hook vertically across the rack (bunk) opening to prevent you from rolling out in rough seas. The elliptical faces starboard so when she heels to port you need to hang on to the handles to keep from being pitched off the back. But the view is fantastic - blue water with occasional whitecaps, puffy clouds on the horizon, and no land in sight!

The mess has run out of salad greens, so it’s canned/frozen vegetables until resupply. I hope the apples and grapes don’t run out as they are the only fresh fruit available now. I’ve put some photos on a Flickr site (this should be the link to my photostream): http://www.flickr.com/photos/babs-pp11/ . It was miraculous to be able to upload them considering the bandwidth limitations, but they’re unorganized until I figure out how to do that.
Cheers to all!

Fond Farewell to Vava'u, Tonga

21 Apr 2011, Vava’u Tonga. Can it be true that the Vava’u Tonga mission is winding down already? I spent most of the past several days working in the diabetes clinic testing blood glucose levels, checking blood pressures, and talking to patients about diet and exercise. We improvised with the supplies at hand to clean an older man's ears that were heavily impacted with wax. He left with a big smile because he could hear again. But now the last patients have been seen and it’s time to move on to Vanuatu. The Closing Ceremony was held today at a public school where repair work was done by as part of the civic mission. Speeches were made to honor all participating nations (Tonga, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, and the USA), the US Navy band played, the Tongans sang and performed traditional dances, and a luncheon feast was served. It was a bright sunny day with no breeze and wilting heat/humidity, but there were smiles all around. I admit to a wave of homesickness as I remembered my two previous trips here with Fred and wished he was here again with me to see the happy Tongans.

Food is always a good item for cultural exchange. As much as we were interested in tasting Tongan food, the Tongan staff at the hospital were interested in tasting “that food you get in the brown bags”, i.e. our lunch MREs (meals ready to eat). So on the last day at the hospital I offered up my MRE to a couple of curious Tongan nurses, and I ate the fresh fruit that they brought for us (pineapple, bananas, papaya, coconut) - I know I got the better end of that exchange.

From my volunteer hours at the RotaCare clinics in Santa Cruz and Monterey I know the important contributions that the volunteer interpreters make to the medical care of our patients. The same was clearly true in Vava’u. The interpreters included the hospital staff, Latter Day Saints missionaries (young American and Tongan men and women), American Peace Corp volunteer(s), English-speaking family members of patients, and English-speaking patients themselves who stayed to help at the clinic after their own treatment. We had a few simple phrases about diet and exercise translated to the Tongan language to use for diabetes and hypertension teaching materials for those patients who don‘t speak English.

My last day at Vava’u will be an all-day sailing and snorkeling trip to Ovaka Island and Swallows Cave. I hope the reefs are as healthy now as they were in 1998 and 2005. The next challenge will be living aboard while underway. I hope the seas are calm as I’m not looking forward to navigating the steep stairs in rough seas. My berthing area is aft, and 1 deck below the mess hall and 3 decks below the computer room. I think it will be a 5-day sail, arriving in Vanuatu on 28 Apr. Cheers!