NOAA Teacher at Sea
Tamil Maldonado
Onboard NOAA Ship Fairweather
July 18 – 28, 2005
Mission: Hydrographic Survey
Geographical Area: North Pacific
Date: July 17, 2005
Personal Log
I was supposed to fly on July 15 at 9:40 a.m. by United Airlines, going from San Juan, Puerto Rico to Chicago, then from Chicago to Anchorage, Alaska; and finally from Anchorage to Kodiak. All the same day.
Well… this is what really happened. I woke up at 5:00 a.m., traveled from Humacao to San Juan, got in there at 7:30 a.m., and United Airlines attendant told me the flight got cancelled. They changed my airline to American Airlines departing at 1:30 p.m., therefore I was not going to get to Kodiak that same day.
I checked my bags with American Airlines… sending them to Anchorage. My flight with American got delayed for two and a half hours; therefore I missed my flight from Chicago to Anchorage. I had to stay in Chicago one night with no bags, leaving to Anchorage the next day in the afternoon.
July 16 at noon I was back in O’Hare Airport in Chicago. My flight was again delayed for an hour. I got to Anchorage with no place to stay. My flight to Kodiak was going to be for the next day, July 17, in the afternoon. It was 2:30 a.m. in the morning and I still couldn’t find a place to stay. Every hotel was packed, no place to go. Finally somebody cancelled their hotel reservation and I stayed at the Johnson Howard Hotel.
During this time I kept calling Elizabeth McMahon, the XO Lieutenant E.J. Van den Ameele, the hotel at Kodiak called the Buskin River Inn, and my family to let everybody know about my locations.
I got to Kodiak on July 17, 2005 at approximately 5:00 p.m. I e-mailed the XO and found a taxi to drive me to NOAA’s boat. I came into the boat, they gave me some paperwork and forms (emergency information and NOAA Ship FAIRWEATHER visitor orientation packet). I got to know few people on the boat: Abigail, Daniel, and Mark. Abigail showed me around the ship including my cabin room, the galley (kitchen), the different decks (floors), the lounge, computer labs, the bridge, etc.
I went to downtown Kodiak and got back to the hotel.
