Dear Cadets, Parents of Cadets, Alumni and Friends of CMA,
Welcome to “Follow the Voyage 2009”!! As many of you know, I graduated from CMA. In the four years that I attended CMA, nothing brought more excitement and anticipation than going on cruise. Back then cruises started in January and we were gone for three months. There were times we would go out though the Golden Gate and smack straight into a storm and 15 foot seas. As soon as we turned to port and headed south the ship would start rolling heavily and anything that was not tied down went flying. Even things that were seemingly secured properly let go, like the newly installed lockers back aft. It was always cool coming back in early March with a deep tan, having been in the southern latitudes all winter.
Now we take cruises during the summer. This year we go all the way down the Americas where it may be chilly in Chile as we arrive in Valparaiso during their winter. We should also encounter far more vessel traffic than last year’s South Pacific cruise. We will be in the major west coast shipping lanes and we will be stopping in Panama.
There is a long river run up to Guayaquil, Ecuador, where we will have to arrive at high tide due to the draft of the TSGB. The last foreign port is in Mexico. No matter what port in Mexico we have stopped at in the past – it is always a great last stop. This year we are calling at Puerto Vallarta, it has been many years since we were last there.
We will be doing our cruise changeover between voyages one and two in Los Angeles/Long Beach this year. It will be nice for all our SOCAL cadets to be able to ‘drive’ home and have their families see the ship. We are still working out which berth we will be using. We will announce it as soon as possible.
Captain Paul Leyda will be in command of the first cruise and I will be in command of the second cruise. I am looking forward to working with our friends from the Texas Maritime Academy this year.
Going on cruise with our world class ship is truly the essence of our unique CMA experience.
Captain Harry Bolton
Director, Marine Programs & Leadership Development
Commanding Officer, Training Ship Golden Bear
