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Yesterday I was working on a seaplane boom ship and had my first chance to be aboard and eat a meal. The food was excellent. It sort of stands to reason, the fewer the men the better the food
The weather down here is wonderful and the sun is warm and very invigorating. Our high yesterday was 73 degrees, but during the night the temperature goes down to about 40. This is good sleeping weather. I'm sure glad this ship of mine isn't going to set in Norfolk all of the time. This way I'll get a chance to see something.
All the windows have screens and shutters and above all around the outside is a wooden awning to keep out the sun. There is everything on the base for recreation plus movies, enlisted men's club_ soda fountains_ stores and everything that you would find in a small town.
The higher hills are spotted with radio, radar and loran aerials and roads winding around the low mountains. As you might expect there are Spanish personnel who work on the base so that the Spanish language is frequently heard.
When we docked yesterday there was a little old ramshackle boat in the harbor with 4 or 5 Cuban men selling pineapples and bunches of bananas. The meals are just like homemade cooking, a choice of many things, always a salad and plenty of fresh fruit and fruit juice.
This is indeed a land of beauty, relaxation, and enchantment A perfect land of paradise, so to speak. Navy personnel are a1lowed to wear tan shorts, and T-shirts during the day, so that everyone has a very nice tan. Movies of the countryside can never do justice to it because ha1f of the beauty lays in the warm sunshine_ cool breeze_ and the fragrant smell of the tropical plants and flowers.
I'm finally seeing the ship do some of its' real work. We have three seaplanes anchored around us and another is now on the hangar deck having some work done.
The watch system works like this. On Monday, I have duty 12 noon to 6pm, off from 6pm until midnight and then from midnight to 6am (Tuesday.) I sleep until about 12 noon, eat and have the afternoon off: evening off and Wednesday morning off and then start another watch at 12 noon. It repeats then just like Monday.
The radiomen stretch out on the deck and sleep during night watches, but the Telemen can't do that since we never know when the frequencies go bad coming from Washington and might have to locate a better frequency for reception purposes. We are furnished coffee and sandwiches on these night watches.
Most the of the radio shack gang had a beer party Monday, We all had a good time, some got drunk naturally but they paid for that the next morning. We had good food from the galley and the best part is the Welfare and Recreation Department paid for it. Went swimming in the ocean and it is indeed the warmest water I have ever been in, but salty as water could ever be. We had 8 hours of fun!
Did I ever explain to you that we always anchor out in the bay here and never go into a dock. You see, since we play nursemaid to seaplanes this approach is better when we are out in the open. Thus, we lose little going on liberty, since we always have to ride liberty boats back and forth. But you'd never know that you were on the sea, there is no movement at all, When we go out for war games, and we hit a rough spot someone always comes up with "another damn rough railroad track" comment.