Mess Duty starts with supper and ends with lunch. It's a lot of cleaning, cleaning and then cleaning. There is also food preparation, serving and then more cleaning.
You will recall that we were sailing along in rolling seas last night and making great progress. Well, today the seas have grown, sometimes as high as 15 ft and they are on the beam (coming from the side). This means that the ship rises and rolls as each wave passes under her. Depending on whether she catches the wave at the bottom, halfway up or at the top the motion of the ship varies. Our greatest heeling angle has been 38 degrees.
Now picture carrying out galley duties on a floor that is moving randomly in two directions at the same time. I've played hockey games that were less exhausting. Not only are we doing this, but we are also going from the main deck or weather deck where the gallery is to the lower deck where the Voyage Crew's mess is, up and down 14 very steep stairs holding on to the railing with one hand and carrying something up or down with the other hand while holding on with the other hand and swinging with the ship's roll. I am now convinced that this is how Popeye got his famous forearms!
Once the dishes, plates, cups, bowels, cooking trays, flatware etc. are soaked in soapy water they are placed in a large plastic tray and put in an Electrolux dishwasher washer, which is on gimbals, for sterilization. The cycle goes quickly and when the dishwasher door is opened a cloud of steam is released adding to the heat and humidity in the galley. We then hand dry them and put them away.
Today is Sunday, so Sunday Dinner (lunch) was chicken, roasted potatoes, a mix of steamed carrots, spinach and cauliflower. Desert was icecream. Vegans had a very tasty nut roast and soy yogurt.
I'm in my bunk now resting up for my next watch, which is 8 to midnight. From what I've heard, the temperature has dropped a bit and the wind is still blowing about 20 to 25 knots.
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