While at sea we have three watches, the 12 to 4, the 4 to 8, and the 8 to 12. In the course of 24 hours, each watch is on duty four hours, off duty 8 hours, then on for another four hours, and off again for 8 hours. So, you work morning and night the hours of your watch. There is one ship's officer assigned to each watch. The Captain has 4 to 8, the First Mate has 8 to 12 and the Second Mate has 12 to 4.
From Lunenburg to Jost van Dyke I was on the 8 to 12 with the First Mate. In the morning we have breakfast at 7:30 and report for the ongoing watch muster at 7:50 am. We begin with the domestics (housecleaning chores) at 8am. When that is done we go to the bosun for ship's work assignments which keep us busy until the end of our watch.
Throughout the watch we are always rotating people at the helm and on lookout in one hour shifts. When the person on the helm is relieved at the end of their hour, they log the weather and sea conditions, chart our location and calculate how far we have gone during the past hour.
After leaving Jost van Dyke, everyone on the 8 to 12 watch rotated to the 12 to 4 watch with the Second Mate, Greg. In my opinion (and many others on board agree with me), the 12 to 4 is the most difficult watch in terms of getting sleep. After finishing watch in the afternoon there's not much time for sleep because there may be an all hands muster at 4:30 or 5:00, then dinner at 6:00. In this hot, humid weather we prefer to sleep on deck (the cargo hatch is prime real estate for sleeping) because the bunks down below are very hot and stuffy. People are generally socializing after dinner until 7 or 8pm, so sleeping on the hatch is difficult at best. It seems as though I've just gotten to sleep when I am awakened about 11:30pm to get ready for the midnight to 4am stretch of duty.
When we get off at 4am, sleeping on deck would only last about 2 hours at best until the 4 to 8 watch starts doing deck wash. So, I generally go below to sleep either on a sea chest or the sole (floor) of the Salon where there may be some breeze circulating...sometimes in my bunk with a fan blowing, but even that can be uncomfortably hot. And I usually wake up between 8:30 and 9:30am when the domestics crew starts cleaning.
I look forward to switching to the 4 to 8 watch, and I hope that will happen when we leave Panama to go to the Galapagos.
Comments