Swimmer Watch

My bunk mate was confused when she heard my alarm go off at 3:45 AM.
I apologized for waking her up, and explained myself in four words,

"I have Swimmer Watch."

As we approach our sail the likelihood of "swimmers," wanna-be stow-aways who enter the ship by swimming onto the side and climbing up, greatly increases. To prevent any unauthorized personal from boarding the vessel crew members voluntarily stay up throughout the night watching for "swimmers".

This morning was my turn.

Rich and I took the aft 4 to 6:30 AM shift. I wasn't excited about getting up (and have been pretty tired all day), but to my surprise, swimmer watch was very enjoyable. We watched the schools of fishing boats cut through the port in the morning darkness towards a long day of work. Every half-hour we shined a flashlight along the back of the ship to "scare" off any possible swimmers. We even watched the sunrise.

All while keeping the crew safe :)