Wet Drill
17th February 2012
Once again, here we are in Castaway Cay, formally known as Gorda Cay. This week Clarita and I are participating in the new hire’s wet drill as we missed last week’s due to our work schedules.
Not far from the ship we had a scenario of being stranded on the rapidly sinking ship. The life raft had to be launched but how? One of the quickest ways is to chuck the life raft into the sea and pull the rope attached to the barrel containing the raft. Within a minute or so the barrel was cracked open and life raft inflated.
Up first was my group. Putting on our life jackets, one by one, we stood on the edge of the pier and walked off. It was only a three metre drop so all was good. I jumped first followed by an Australian new hire. Both of us wanted to jump for a second time! Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to. There’s a particular way of holding onto the life jacket when jumping so the impact from the sea doesn’t cause the jacket to upper-cut you in the chin. Apparently it can do some serious damage to your chin and jaw, even breaking it!
Three out of five in our group were good swimmers. However, we did have two who were terrified of water and couldn’t swim at all. They panicked once they hit the water. The Australian girl, from Youth Activities, and I had to swim along dragging one of the two who couldn’t swim. Total disaster. One of the safety trainers was horrified and even went as far as telling them both, if they are so terrified of water and can’t swim, maybe they should rethink where they work. In a disaster, if they panicked so much, people were going to leave them to die. Not a nice thought but in a real life emergency, I can see where he’s coming from.
Three out of five in our group were good swimmers. However, we did have two who were terrified of water and couldn’t swim at all. They panicked once they hit the water. The Australian girl, from Youth Activities, and I had to swim along dragging one of the two who couldn’t swim. Total disaster. One of the safety trainers was horrified and even went as far as telling them both, if they are so terrified of water and can’t swim, maybe they should rethink where they work. In a disaster, if they panicked so much, people were going to leave them to die. Not a nice thought but in a real life emergency, I can see where he’s coming from.
Wet Drill
Next up was flipping the life raft over. Getting on top of the capsized life raft was harder than it looked. Standing up with Mohammad, we held onto the ropes attached to the top of the raft and began to lean backwards to topple it over. Mohammad started to lean sideways a little, leaning into me. This caused me to slip off the edge of the raft and back into the sea. Coming up to the surface and the life raft was falling towards me. I had to quickly duck under but the underneath of the life raft caught my head… and boy did it hurt! The sea water I accidently gulped wasn’t particular nice either!!
Stage three was climbing into thermal body suits which expand allowing you to float once in the water. That was probably the most unpleasant part of the training. It’s incredibly hard to swim with the jump suit on, it positions you in a star fish position. It was a funny sight though!! I can’t deny that.
Stage four was lowering people from a height, such as a deck and into the life raft. The shorter you were the harder it was, so for me, it wasn’t particularly easy as I had probably the longest drop to fall and hope someone catches me! Afterwards we had a bit of a talk inside the life raft, shown where to collect rain water, storage space (water, sea sickness pills, flares etc.) The good swimmers could jump out from the life raft while the ones who couldn’t or didn’t want to swim, had to climb up the wall. Being able to swim, I took the easy option: jump out the life raft and swim to the ladder. Only a few people chose to climb up the ladder.
Wet drill was finally over. The sun was shining, sea was lovely and cool, crystal clear and Castaway Cay looked like an OTT Disney paradise. For me, wet drill was great fun. Although it’s hard in some areas and I’m sure a few of us will be walking away with bruises, it was an excellent experience and laugh.
Marcus, Me and Mohammad
Next up we met Marie our trainer, for a tour of Castaway Cay. The island is pretty big but very commercialised and American. In a way, it’s like taking parts of America and the cruise ship and sticking it onto a Bahamian island. I didn’t realize approximately 100 people live and work on the island for six month contracts. Nice job!
At the end of the tour we ended over to the opposite side of the island, the crew beach. Oh my word, it was gorgeous! White sand, crystal clear or turquoise water, hammocks attached to palm trees, volleyball court area, a canoe and kayak. There was an abundance of sun chairs which most of entertainment had nabbed and taken into the sea to sunbathe.
The crew have a barbeque every time we are on the island, it’s pretty much like the mess food but with burgers and hotdogs. Meeting Kate, we chilled out with Clarita and Aniko in the sea before catching some sun. Looking around, it was pure bliss!!
Kate, from Essex, was talking to me about working at the O2 in London before joining ship. We both said the same, who’d have thought that only a few months (Kate) to nearly a year (for me) we’d be sitting on the beach in the Bahamas, where we travel to weekly, for free. The thought alone made you smile. Just 10 months ago I was doing a no end job at ASDA, to simply pay the rent and for my studies. Now, I’m working as a cruise ship photographer, doing a job I was trained to do, travelling the world and getting paid for it – not very much, but still getting paid rather than doing the paying.
Kate
Kate, from Essex, was talking to me about working at the O2 in London before joining ship. We both said the same, who’d have thought that only a few months (Kate) to nearly a year (for me) we’d be sitting on the beach in the Bahamas, where we travel to weekly, for free. The thought alone made you smile. Just 10 months ago I was doing a no end job at ASDA, to simply pay the rent and for my studies. Now, I’m working as a cruise ship photographer, doing a job I was trained to do, travelling the world and getting paid for it – not very much, but still getting paid rather than doing the paying.
While taking it all in, someone had found a large, orange-red star fish sitting on the sea bed. There was a bloody massive pelican swooping in and out of the water catching fish. It was a very, very surreal moment. Being there didn’t feel right. It felt like I should have been somewhere else in the world, like at my parent’s in Uruguay rather than sitting on a beautiful beach enjoying myself.
Aniko
We were all back on board to begin work at 15.30. All of us were scheduled for long shifts in Shutters as it is the last day of the cruise, the main selling day. Bjanka even got told to come up and work in Shutters until the early hours and she’s signing off tomorrow to be transferred to Disney Dream. Poor Bjanka hadn’t even packed her suitcase yet.
Shutters was incredibly busy and there was an abundance of frustrated people who had left everything until the last minute and couldn’t find their photos. They expected us to walk around the gallery, holding their hands, finding every single one of their photos for them. No way José!
At the end of the night we had one lady who was insanely pissed off because two photos hadn’t been added to her GTP package. The photos in question weren’t even of her, but of her teddy bear! This particular lady who is easily in her 40’s and travelling with her mother, couldn’t understand why we wouldn’t have put it on her CD! We didn’t know where to put the photos as they weren’t actually of anyone’s face, who was staying in a cabin. We couldn’t locate the face to the cabin. This went over the lady’s head but in the end the problem was resolved. There are some odd duckies around!
At the end of the night we had one lady who was insanely pissed off because two photos hadn’t been added to her GTP package. The photos in question weren’t even of her, but of her teddy bear! This particular lady who is easily in her 40’s and travelling with her mother, couldn’t understand why we wouldn’t have put it on her CD! We didn’t know where to put the photos as they weren’t actually of anyone’s face, who was staying in a cabin. We couldn’t locate the face to the cabin. This went over the lady’s head but in the end the problem was resolved. There are some odd duckies around!
While in Shutters I saw a red light flash in front of me. Curiously looking up, it was Jenn with her daughter Jade taking a photo of me working. They are my favourites guests on this cruise and were entered in as my Magical Family. Jenn is only a couple of years older than me and lovely. She’s a good laugh. Plus, she makes my photographs look great - a bonus! For the past couple of days they’ve been getting me to jump into the photo with them.
Jenn and Princess Jade are two of the very few normal guests we have on board this week. Boy, did we get some wierdos! Even Wes from Entertainment popped over to my studio, asked what I thought about this week’s guests and gave his opinion – they are "simply odd wierdos".
Papped by Jenn!
Formal Night on Black with Jenn and Jade
Jenn and Princess Jade are two of the very few normal guests we have on board this week. Boy, did we get some wierdos! Even Wes from Entertainment popped over to my studio, asked what I thought about this week’s guests and gave his opinion – they are "simply odd wierdos".
By the end of the night I’d shamefully only sold 7 folios, something I was far from impressed about. In fact, I was damn right pissed about it!! That’s only $7 on top of my basic wage. Pathetic. I did ask every single guest if they wanted a folio and as Kate said, sometimes it’s just luck of the draw. Going down to the lab, I picked up my schedule for the following cruise. Morning sale, 06.00 start and it was currently 23.30. Guess that’s the price you pay for a couple of hours of enjoying yourself on the beach!
Jenn's Photos
Princess Poses
Formal Night on Disney Magic with my Magical Family
Princess Snow White-Jade and Myself
Last Day of the Cruise for Jenn and Jade.
How tanned do we look?!
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