Journey begins tomorrow...

The purpose of this round-the-world cruise of the Eternal Typhoon is many-fold. In addition to teaching us cadets all there is to know about oceanography and coastal geography, the actual scientists on board will be conducting coastline surveys, fish counts, and so on.

The cruise doesn't start until tomorrow, but we've had lots of indoctrination today.
We were given a tour of the TechnoOcean facility, including the many classrooms, and were shown all our textbooks - which are already on the Typhoon and ready for us to start work with them tomorrow. We were also given our uniforms - we'll be wearing bright blue uniforms from now on - they look pretty cool.

TechnoOcean, a pretty huge company that builds various kinds of ships, and underwater habitats, and so on, took over a failed university several years ago, one located right on the coast and turned it into their own school and private research facility, called, appropriately, TechnoOcean Academy.

I also met my new roommate. The ship's decks are divided - all the women are on their own decks, and all the guys on their own decks. Each room is large enough for two people, so of course we have to share. No big deal. I just hope she - her name is Shannon Black - doesn't snore! I'm a very light sleeper and that will keep me up at nights, guaranteed.

I'll go more into the rules and regulations we'll have to follow tomorrow. The whole ship is going to be run in a quasi-military manner - more discipline than most high school kids are used to, I suppose. Well, we'll see how it goes. For myself, I'm not going to kick or break any rules. I don't want to screw up my round-the-world cruise, and anyone who does is a fool!

We're starting our trip tomorrow from the Tampa Port Authority. That's where we load onto the ship we'll be living on for the next year. We're not going very far to start with, however, - we'll be anchoring off Key West, the southernmost island in the Florida Keys, the group of about 1500 islands that extend south and east off the Florida peninsula.

All of our education will be focusing on oceanography and coastal geography, but we'll be learning a little about the politics of each country we sail by, as well. Including the history and politics of our own states, I guess. After all, it's the politicians who determine how much pollution manufacturing plants can send out into the oceans, whether or not refugees for manatees and other creatures will continue, and so on.

So although this sounds like it's going to be a pleasure trip...and it will be...we've also got a whole lot of work in store for us, too.

One day to launch

For most people, January 1 is going to be a holiday. They're going to celebrate the onset of a new year. For me, it's the onset of my new life.

I'm one of 1,000 high school graduates who had the test scores to be accepted to Techno Ocean Academy (from which Techno Ocean personnel are drawn), and on January 1 I'll be boarding the Eternal Typhoon oceanographic research ship, which will be cruising around the world in the next 365 days.

We start at Key West, Florida, then head North up the east coast of the United States, up past Canada, Greenland and Iceland. We'll then head south again, past England, Ireland, France and Spain, following the coast of Africa all the way down to South Africa and the Cape of Good Hope.

Then North again, up the eastern African coast...except on the other side of Madagascar, and far away from the coast of Somalia.

Up then, cruising along the coasts of Oman, India and Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand and so on, and finally around Australia, before heading North again and the eastern coast of the Phillipines and finally Japan.

From there, the eastern coast of Russia, over to Alaska, up to the Arctic Circle for a while, then down the western coast of the United States, then the western coasts of Mexico, then Central and South America. Before rounding the tip of Chile, we'll visit Antarctica, then back up past Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, then curving west to take in Venezuela the Bahamas, Cuba, and fnally back to Florida.

It's going to be some trip! We'll learn how to scuba dive, how to operate submersibles, how to operate all the various oceanographic research equipment the Eternal Typhoon has, and so on. We might even get to perform resues on lost ships, find sunken treasure, and fight off pirates!

I arrived in Florida today, in Tampa to be exact, which is located on the west coast or Gulf of Mexico side of the Florida peninsula. I'm staying at the TechnoOcean Academy campus for the next two days. My parents and friends gave me a great send-off, including this laptop computer so I'll be able to stay in touch with them on the journey, not to mention keeping this blog.