Waleska On Cop Day

Breakfast
Debrief
VTS/VTC
Short meeting with Captain Loebl
Tour of campus and trip to the exchange
Debrief room to meet Steven Fernandez, representative for New Jersey Senator Corey Booker
Lunch
VTS/VTC
Debrief
Tour of coast guard vessels
Debrief
Student to Captain session

That was the schedule of my day. I want to thank everyone for having us and hope that Captain of the Port Day can somehow carry on throughout the year.

My favorite part of today was VTS (Vessel Traffic Services) which is all fancy language for bridge to bridge communications and monitoring. I liked the VTS because it all seemed familiar. Almost like the instructor station on the ABS simulator that we have.

Before entering they make sure you don't have any cellphones, cameras, GPS or recoding devices. Lieutenant Dunn walked us through the different functions of the room and told us about the special computer program where you can double click a vessel on the screen and you get the name, location, where they're heading, their speed etc. He explained to us how they monitor the traffic and weather, and monitor radio channels 11, 12, and 14.

He also explained that every morning they plan out the day, noticing anything that may be dangerous: for example, three 46 ft tall tugs that will be navigating on 50 ft of water under a lift bridge which the tugs may be too tall for.

Looking around the room I saw the real version of what the instructor on the simulator does: answering security calls, managing traffic, advising crafts about any severe weather, helping with directions etc. When I went to the VTS room in the morning it was my official second time there, and the visit in the afternoon made it my third, and Captain Loebl jokingly said that Harbor School should give a tour next since we should be experts by now, and it made me laugh.  But it was kind of true because as Lieutenant Dunn flipped through the slides I could think of quick summaries of each, and that made me very happy.Overall it was a great experience and I’m glad i was chosen by such a fine group of experts to enjoy shadowing the Captain of the Port of New York and New Jersey.