the new guy

This week on Spirit Cruises was my first official week working as a deckhand. So far I have been in training on the Spirit of New York and the Atlantica. In my training we cover man over board drills. These consist of actually throwing a life ring in the water to simulate the position of a passenger that fell overboard.

We have also practiced fire drills. These consist of pretending there is a "fire" in the engine room/galley/main deck or the entrance. We are taught to clear the area of passengers and any items that could possibly catch fire or make the situation worse.

Another main thing that Spirit teaches the deckhands is line handling.  This is an important part of the ship. Without the deckhands not knowing how to handle lines, accidents are not only possible, but likely. Line handling mainly consists of tying/securing the boat to the dock and taking the lines of the dock when disembarking. Though I've learned how to handle lines on the school's boats, different boats and different docks mean using the lines in different ways. Depending on what boat I am working on, we may take the lines aboard, or we may leave the lines dockside. Overall, it was an informative week.