Day 1-Prepare to Get Underway!

The first 24 hours have been a whirlwind of activity; learning watch roles, performing safety checks, and practicing emergency drill positions and  line-handling. Our students have also been learning how to take care of the boat, their shipmates, and themselves over the course of our four month adventure, from how to wake up a shipmate for duty to cleaning soles (floors), bulkheads (walls), and heads (marine toilets).

There have been a lot of "firsts" during the past day--first anchor watch, first muster, first boat check, first meal aboard, first flag ceremony, and first wake-ups; first deckwash, first brasso duty, and first head cleaning. These are activities our students will be performing daily, even hourly, for the next four months.

We finally complete our ship's compliment today after yesterday's canceled flight, and plan to get the ship underway bound for the British Virgin Islands sometime this afternoon! All are well aboard and excited to haul Gamage's sails up--for the first, time.