Mumbai to Mombasa: Misadventures at Sea
- Natalie Penry
- Jan 26, 2023
- 5 min read
Welcome Welcome Welcome!! I’m not a clickbait person, but it needs to be said that this post has everything: medical emergencies, shaved heads, fish guts.
We’ve just completed our traverse across the Indian Ocean, landing soundly in Mombasa, Kenya, and it has been quite an eventful eight days at sea. Dive in below to some of the best (and worst) moments from this leg of the voyage.
Our first story starts just 21 hours after leaving the Port of Mumbai…
Rerouting….
Just past 17:00 on January 18th, my roommate Annakate and I noticed that the sun was moving across the room at a rather hurried pace - to which we *expertly* deduced that the ship was turning around, confirmed by the Ship Tracker available on everyone’s cabin TVs. Naturally, we started brainstorming the least likely explanations for what had happened - there was another ship in distress, someone fell aboard, this was the second coming of the Titanic - but had to go about our days as normal. Just after 19:00, they made a special announcement explaining the real reason:
Due to a non-life-threatening medical issue, the ship would be turning around and heading back to Mumbai. More information to come at our (pre-scheduled) mandatory lecture tonight.
I appreciate HIPPA; I am also the chronic sufferer of an overactive imagination, not to mention a twenty-something stuck on a ship with 500 other twenty-somethings. It’s a collective generational tendency to imagine the worst and spread it like wildfire. Within minutes, everyone was abuzz, sharing rumors that may or may not (but definitely did not) connect to the mystery medical illness or passenger. All we knew for sure: the MV World Odyssey was absolutely booking it at a speed of 16.7 knots back towards Mumbai.
At the lecture that night, Dean Dan gave a more comprehensive recap: A voyager with a non-life-threatening but serious medical issue needed to be evacuated. The crew was appealing to the Indian government, that they may send a ship or helicopter to intercept us. This option was unlikely, as it was after sunset and they were not likely to authorize a transfer at night. Regardless of the transfer modality, there was hope that the two SASers left in Mumbai (had stayed behind due to another non-life-threatening injury that had the misfortune of occurring right before we left port) could rejoin the ship now instead of meeting us in Kenya.
Dean Dan also implored us to go forward with two words of intention:
Perhaps, which can be at least as helpful as flexibility, and
Gratitude, as a thank you to our medical staff, captain, and crew, all working feverishly to ensure the safety of all passengers while maintaining our schedule.
We ended up coming within 12 miles of Mumbai before the Indian Coast Guard intercepted us the next morning, just past 10:00. We weren’t able to transfer the other students back to the ship, but they will join us in Mombasa. As of right now, we are (by some small miracle and an inordinate speed of knots) scheduled to arrive in Mombasa on time or a handful of hours late, weather permitting. Considering we lost around 38 hours of voyage time, this is quite impressive - three cheers for the Bridge!!
And, of course, an update on the evacuated passenger. As I said, I respect and appreciate HIPPA and general privacy, but I am encouraged to tell people that the Life Long Learner who was evacuated left to seek treatment for a detaching retina; they underwent a successful surgery on the 20th, and are recovering nicely, though they are anxious to rejoin us at a later point in the voyage once given a clean bill of health.
Never a dull moment on the MV World Odyssey!
Finding Our Sea Legs
The excitement around the evacuation quickly simmered, in large part due to the arrival of “larger seas.” As we finally edged away from Mumbai, leaving the continental shelf behind, the waves got bigger and the ship responded accordingly. I am thus far still unaffected by seasickness, but unfortunately, several SASers have been…struggling…the last few days. Not twenty minutes ago, as I sat outside the Union writing the previous section, did I witness the elevator door opening to reveal a poor unfortunate soul losing their lunch and running towards the nearest restroom.
On a less gross note, there’s an extra challenge to working out now, aside from trying to avoid a spectacular fall off the treadmill: if the waves are in peak condition, the dumbbells have been known to roll across the deck. I’m still deciding what would be worse: getting unexpectedly hit by a rolling dumbbell, or watching said dumbbell fall off the outside exercise deck into the ocean. Neither have happened to me yet, but I can’t say it didn’t come close.
Neptune Day
A time-honored tradition in the Semester at Sea process is the crossing of the equator, taking you from lowly pollywog to respectable shellback. In Voyage 131, our first time crossing the equator occurred on this stretch, sailing from Mombasa to Mumbai, and the powers that be kindly deigned to give us the day as a semi-holiday, a nice break from the six straight days of school we’d had prior.
The day started *early,* with a parade of staculty going through the cabin hallways and banging drums to wake everyone up. My friends and I grabbed a quick breakfast and headed to the pool on Lido, where the ceremony would take place. Around 500 students crowded around the pool, eagerly waiting to see ‘King Neptune’ - an awesome staff member who dressed in head-to-toe green, complete with face paint.
We collectively begged Neptune for his permission to cross the equator and recited a pledge of loyalty before getting down & dirty - that’s a literal description: the gauntlet of Neptune’s Pledge includes getting fish guts dumped on your head, kissing a dead fish, and visiting the “Royal Barber.” We also had to eat salt, jump in the ocean water pool, kiss Neptune’s ring, answer a maritime riddle, and get 0 degrees "tattooed" on our arms (visible in the pictures above, it did *not* wash off easily afterwards). Incredible.
And thus, the pollywogs became shellbacks, and we crossed into the Southern Hemisphere.
The rest of Neptune Day sufficed of an on deck party, where several people actually shaved their heads/got undercuts. Since we had no classes, I ended up watching some documentaries with Annakate, as well as hanging out with some other SAS girls. Living on a cruise ship is very dreamy, but we're still full-time students; with over 20% of our school days completed, a day to relax and veg out was necessary.
As a writer, I dislike saying "you had to be there!" when describing things, but I do have to say: for Neptune Day, you have to be there! Previous voyagers will know, there's something so wholesome and energetic about the environment, whether it occurs at the beginning or end of your adventure. The music blasting, students shrieking as they jump into the pool, King Neptune making commandments - it's the world's funnest school assembly. I'm extremely grateful for the pre-established Shellbacks for working so hard to create a treasure trove of memories for first-time voyagers - the dedication and compassion doesn't go unnoticed.
Final Thoughts
As I mentioned above, life at sea is difficult to describe in text, as so much of what happens exists only in this ecosystem, so to speak. I can sit here and summarize the Cross Currents lectures we attend or the feel of rough seas, but I would sorely miss the mark. While I’ve skimmed over the more routine moments in this segment of the voyage, I’ll make a point to more creatively document school days in the next at sea stint. Hopefully these small snapshots gave you a glimpse into the exciting side of life as an SASer!
As I write this, I’ve just completed my first day in Kenya, and it’s already been a doozy. Expect another jam-packed blog post by the end of the month, before we leave for Jordan! Until then, hope my unfortunate friends & family in the midwest stay warm - it’s in the 80s and sunny here in Mombasa ;)
Comments