Day 13; Steele Beach Picnic

A magical thing happened this day. I can not stress enough the number of rules you have in the Navy. Immediately following "muster" we read the POD (plan of the day). For this one day we were allowed to wear appropriate, conservative PT (physical training) gear on the flight deck. It was stressed multiple times that all male personnel had to wear a shirt. I guess for females, this is optional.

Here we are on the flight deck out of uniform. No blue shirts and no khaki pants. This night we will park outside the first locks of the Panama Canal. After seeing so little traffic on the ocean, we will anchor in a virtual parking lot of ships awaiting transfer.

Fun was had by all. Well with the exception of 2. The flight deck temperature was 114 degrees. We had 2 heat related injuries. The first was 2nd degree burns to feet. The person wearing those feet, wasn't wearing shoes, only socks. The other injury involved one of the "sumo wrestler's" fainting from the heat, losing her helmet and bumping her head. Tomorrow we enter the Panama Canal.