Mornin’ Folks!
Well, e-mail’s down again – damnable Challenge-Athena Satellite! (That’s basically for GBS so’s she knows I’m not ignoring 'er) But my web browser’s up temporarily.
A beautiful, but tough day for flying, looms before the mighty IKE and we patrol steadfastly off the coast of Israel today. The seas are perfectly smooth, with nary an undulation save for our wake. We are literally in the doldrums! Not a breath of air. We’ll have to steam at about 22 knots to get enough wind across the deck to launch planes.
We have a low ceiling and visibility is unlimited, which will cause problems for our fly guys. The difficulty for them will be in identifying the horizen. The glass-like seas reflect the low clouds (not even a thread of blue can be seen!) encircling the ship and the planes in a bright grey orb with no visual reference points!
I went up to the flight deck this morning. All the way forward (a la Leonardo in Titanic) and was taken aback at the all-encompassing greyness. Up, down, port, starboard, close in, several miles away – all the same color, all the same brightness. Even standing there between catapults one and two, with a firm deck beneath my feet and 1049 feet of warship behind me, I became disoriented.
The lack of stuff out there is mind-blowing!
Venice was a blast Sunday! I chowed down on ensalada misto, gnocci ai quattro formaggi and manny, manny cups of caffe machiato!
Me and my liberty buddies got lost in the small dark alleyways which pass for streets in that beautiful, sunken citta. It took an hour to find our way back to the train station because of my bull-headedness.
“We’ll walk our way out of this maze!” I insisted. “Taking a water taxi or gondola is a pussy’s way out!”
The highlight (or possibly lowlight if you’re frugal) was sitting down at a cafe in the Piazzata de S. Marco and being charged 14,500 lire (about $7.25) for an espresso!
A couple of weeks hence, the next stop for the chief will be Souda Bay, Greece!!
Voted Best Sport
And narrowly averted the despised moniker Smiley Master
Forward deployed until 18AUG00