Finally, a break

Yes, the rumors are true. Sorry about the break in writing. I've been "busy". While I'm enjoying a speedy broadband connection, it's not free, so I'm going to post some off-line writings here for now, and I'll try to fill in the rest of the details soon. Here's an update from Thursday...


Thursday
It's been a couple days since I've had a chance to write. Let's see... Last time I wrote, I couldn't see straight, I was so tired. I did manage to stay awake until 2000, then I crashed until about 4am. Why get up at 4am? The ship was going to shut off the showers at 5am and I wanted to make sure I had a chance to rinse off before they shut down the showers. After my shower I went back to bed for another couple hours. Why in the world would the ship shut down the showers at 5am?! Remember the little bit I wrote a while back about the CHT tanks? If you recall, the 'H' stands for Holding and the 'T' stands for Transfer. Normally at sea, the transfer happens all the time, porting the "stuff" overboard into the world's biggest water treatment plant. But, when you get too close to shore, the effects on beaches and inland waters can be less than desirable. So, as we approach the shore, they stop transferring and hold everything on board. Close to shore, you ask?

Yes, early on the morning of the 29th (that seems like a long time ago already), the ship entered port at Jebel Ali, United Arab Emirates. We were moored by 0830 and liberty was called away by 1000. I had to wrap up some last minute paperwork issues (E-5 Evals, Still!!) so I didn't step off the ship until about noon. Liberty begins by paygrade on big ships like this. First, they let all the officers off, then the senior enlisted, then all hands. By the time I left, all hands were free to go, so there was a big crowd down in the Sandbox. The carrier docks in an industrial part of UAE call Jebel Ali Free Zone, where a large part of UAE's shipping commerce is handled. There's not much there in terms of quality of living. It's a maritime industrial area. But, adjacent to the carrier pier, there is a large fenced in area with several food and souvenir vendors, hosted by the USO. At times when security is tight, ships may pull into Jebel Ali and liberty is restricted to the Sandbox.

Fortunately, we were allowed to venture beyond the fence line this time. My liberty buddies and I walked down the brow, straight through the concessions area, and got in line for a cab. One of the rules we have for liberty in foreign ports is that no one can be out in town by them self. You must always have a "liberty buddy". When we signed out to get off the ship, we had to write down the name of our liberty buddy. The idea is two fold: first, this provides safety in numbers, and second, (and more importantly) liberty buddies can help keep each other out of trouble by extracting each other from potentially bad situations (too much to drink, confrontations with locals, arguments with cabbies, you name it). Part of the problem with leaving the ship after all hands liberty had been called was the flood of people waiting to leave the sandbox. There is nothing near Jebel Ali for several miles. The nearest city to Jebel is Dubai, about a 30 minute drive to the north. Dubai was the destination for several thousand anxious sailors and marines. The navy did a good job of arranging over 30 buses to move people back and forth to the city. But with the initial flood of folks, the busses couldn't keep up and the line was LONG! We thought we'd beat the system, and get a taxi. There were 4 in our group and splitting the fare wouldn't be too bad. Unfortunately, even the line for taxis had grown long, as the taxi's couldn't keep up with the demand, either. So, we waited 45 minutes for a taxi.

Our first stop in Dubai: Wolfi's Bike Shop. A cyclist buddy on the Eisenhower had recommended this place to us (we have several avid cyclists and triathletes in the squadron, including the CO, my roommate, and several other officers). In fact I was with those two and one other guy from another squadron who also happened to be a rider. We met Wolfi, a great German gentleman who was very proud of the technical superiority of the bikes and equipment he offered in his high end bike shop. We offered Wolfi some HS-8 geedunk (hat, shirt, stickers, patches, etc) and he gave us each a hat and water bottle in return. We also found out about some club rides that his shop hosts a couple times each week. The next ride would be on Friday morning (the next day). At 0600.

OK. Here comes a decision point for me. I've brought my bike with me, half way around the world. At that point, it was still hanging in my stateroom, waiting for an opportunity to be used in an exotic foreign port. But 0600?!! Is it really worth it? I do enjoy riding, being a new convert to the sport of triathlon. But 0600 on my first full day of liberty in port? I wanted to ride, but 0600? Here's where the motivation of the Liberty Buddy system can kick in. Both the CO and Tugger are avid cyclists with very expensive bikes. They were going to ride. Guess what? I was going to ride. Now, don't get me wrong. If I really didn't want to, I would have easily found someone else for a liberty buddy. But that was good motivation for me to follow through and enjoy the use of my bike.

As we were looking around at Wolfi's, a local woman walked in, dressed in a full traditional arab dress with only her eyes exposed. She was looking for a pair of biking shoes. Dubai is an odd mix of middle-eastern and western cultures. I know there is more to her life than her traditional conservative coverings imply, but it's hard to conceive of this same person garbed in typical cycling gear (which is not particularly conservative), out sweating on the road.

From Wolfi's, we continued on to our Hotel, the Grand Hyatt Dubai. All of the department heads (5 of us) and the CO chipped in together to get a room for 3 of the 4 nights we were in port. The rates seemed to be getting higher and higher the longer we stayed, and the 4th night just wasn't worth the outrageous cost. Granted, the 3 nights aren't going to be cheap either. But, it's been a long time at sea and we're all ready to be pampered just a little. And oh boy, is this the place for it. More on that later.

After a late lunch at one of the six restaurants in the hotel and an hour of relaxing in the room, it was time to head out for a re-enlistment for one of our sailors. The CO and I were the only officers to go, but we met AZ2 and several of the chiefs and other petty officers at "Rock Bottom Cafe" across town. One of the unique privileges of re-enlisting in the Navy is that sailors can request just about any location and circumstances they wish for the occasion of their re-enlistment. Many sailors opt to re-enlist in flight in the cabin of the helicopter. Some simply want to get it done without fanfare in the ready room. The focal point of a re-enlistment ceremony is the recital of the oath of office, administered by an officer of the re-enlistee's choosing. In this case, AZ2 had requested to re-enlist at the Rock Bottom Cafe with the CO as her re-enlisting officer. Rock Bottom is an American styled biker bar tucked away in a small hotel. The kind of place you would never find by chance. It was a lively crowd already when the Skipper and I showed up at 1700. We enjoyed the company for a bit, and finally went through the quick formality of the oath around 1830, right there at the bar.

We met back at our Hotel at 1900 to head back to ship to pick up our bikes. In preparation for the early morning ride the next day. It took a while to find a minivan taxi that would have room for our three bikes in the back. By the time we finally started moving, traffic was pretty heavy between Dubai and Jebel, so it took about 3 hours to get back to the hotel with our bikes. Finally, a late dinner of pizza at another of the hotel restaurants. It was just after midnight before I was quickly fading off to sleep on the floor of the hotel room. Three of the six of us in the room would only be sleeping for a couple hours, so we left the beds to those who would be coming in later and sleeping much later.

OK. That's is for now. I'll continue the adventures soon...