Oceania - 9. Oce Chapter 9

After dinner, Jocelyn and I were kept busy preparing for the arrival of the naval guests, with programming an access card for each one of them, allowing the Naval Cadets and Naval personnel access to limited areas of the submarine, during the four-day voyage.

I had also made up an access card for Xander, but granted him access to a few extra locations, including most of deck one, and the bow section of deck eight, as well as most parts of decks three, four, five and six.

Once this was completed, we retired for the night, and since we were all very tired, Travis and I didn’t get a chance to talk about what had happened this afternoon, as I was soon fast asleep after settling into bed.

I was awake at 0600 hours the next morning, and after a twenty-minute session in the gym, showering and changing, I had a quick breakfast, before heading to the main entrance on deck three, to welcome the naval personnel that would be joining us.

Along with six security staff, to assist with the check-in procedures that needed to be done in the entrance foyer, with luggage checks and an electronic scan of every person. In the process of doing this, a few packets of cigarettes, a penknife, a very small amount of marijuana, and two small cameras were discovered and confiscated, until the end of the voyage, while all mobile phones, I-Pads and laptop computers were also collected and put away till the end of the voyage.

With the check-in process completed, the security guards lead the fourteen cadets downstairs, to deck seven, where the cadet quarters are located, while I lead the cadet officers and the naval personnel in the elevators down to the same deck, allowing them a few minutes to check out their cabins, before the cadets arrived.

Each cadet was assigned their own cabin and issued a map of the submarine, which marked all areas that they are permitted to go, plus their access cards, before being instructed to settle in and be in the great hall on deck four in thirty minutes time.

While this was happening, Daniel had given the order to set sail, with our destination being Napier, a distance of 396 nautical miles, with a travel time of 32 hours, so our estimated arrival time in Napier was for 1600 hours the next day, after a two hour stop at Mayor Island, which is just 35 kilometres north of Tauranga.

On the return journey, we had plans to stop at Portland Island for a two-hour stopover, so as to allow the students a chance to do some exploring and do a few land activities.

Once I had finished showing our guests to their quarters, I headed back up to deck one, where I found Xander enjoying some breakfast, along with my father and I sat down and had a cup of tea with them. It would only be a few hours before we arrive at Mayor Island, so we discussed some ideas on what the naval cadets could do while we are there for two hours.

After the chat, I headed down to the great hall to attend the briefing. “Once again good morning and welcome to the Aquaria, I hope you like what you have seen so far, and that your stay with us is an enjoyable and productive one.

At 1100 hours, we will be arriving at Mayor Island, a 3,200-acre island north of Tauranga, where we will be spending two hours, allowing you to conduct some land activities.

The journey to Napier will take approximately 32 hours, with our estimated arrival time of 1400 hours tomorrow.

During the journey, you will be divided into three groups of 4 or 5 cadets, and you will be assigned work duties, in a specific area of the vessel for a 4-hour shift, which will be rotated, so every group gets a chance to experience different work duties during his voyage.

The three work areas that you will be working in will be engineering on decks 7 & 8, science laboratories on decks 4 & 5, and housekeeping & catering on decks 6 & 8. You will be told more about your duties when they commence after lunchtime today.

We will be in Napier for a period of twenty hours, departing at 0900 on day three of this voyage, so we can be back in Whangarei by 1600 hours on day four. Any questions?” I said to our guests, and one hand shot up.

“Yes Cadet, what would you like to ask?” I added. “Sir, why was Mayor Island chosen as the place to stop on the way down,” the cadet asked me. “Good question and I am not exactly sure about that, I will…. The Captain has just walked in, maybe he can answer that question for us” I replied when I saw Daniel standing at the doorway, and he nodded his head and walked up to where I was standing.

“Good morning, I am Captain Daniel Atkins, welcome to the Aquaria, and yes I know the answer to that question, as I have just received an email from the Chairman of the Corporation that owns this magnificent vessel.

Mayor Island was selected because it was recently purchased by the Corporation. It will become the South Pacific base for this vessel and its smaller sister submarines, that will use this base for resupplying and for recreation time for the crew.

I have been informed that a recently built jetty is big enough to allow for the Aquaria to be moored at, and the island has a number of small buildings, at Opo Bay that has recently been renovated to allow for recreation activities. I will hand you back to Commander Blackthorn to continue the briefing” Daniel said as he stepped back to allow me to continue.

“Any more questions?” I asked, and there were no more hands raised, “Very good, cadets you have the rest of the morning to explore that areas of the submarine that you are permitted to go into, remember, if you are caught in any of the unauthorised areas, there is a very strict punishment, so I would not try and push the boundaries. Cadet officers, can I speak to you once the cadets have been dismissed. That is all for now” I announced.

After a twenty minute briefing with the cadet officers, and the naval staff who also remained, I headed to my office, to do some research on Mayor Island, since my father has once again sprung an unexpected surprise on me.

“Sir, Wake Island has sent us some maps, which I have enlarged to A3 size for easier viewing,” Jocelyn said to me as soon as I entered the office reception, “Thank you, Jocelyn,, my father has sprung another surprise on me, I will be doing some research on this Mayor Island for the next half an hour or so” I responded.

When we arrived at Mayor Island, I was one of the first off the vessel, followed closely behind by Xander and Travis, as we wanted to explore as much of the island as possible during the short stop there. The jetty at Opo Bay is quite wide and covers the full length of the submarine, allowing for it to be secured properly, and with it being about 4 metres wide, it is wide enough to allow for vehicles to be driven up and down the jetty if need be.

At the end of the jetty, there is a nice wide beach, that covers the whole width of the bay, and right away, I saw some buildings set back in amongst the trees of the island. The first one we came too was a cottage, that was corrugated iron walls and roof, and looked quite solid, and it has a small patio at the front.

As we approached the front door of the cottage opened and an unknown person, who looked to be aged in his 40’s, stepped out, followed by a women and a young man, wall who appeared to be Maori.

“Commander Blackthorn, my name is Kauri Nopera, and this is my wife Pania, and my son Atama, we have been appointed by your father as Caretakers of this island” the man said to me as he approached and we shook hands. “Welcome to Mayor Island Commander, I hope you like your new home” Pani said as she placed a necklace of flowers around my neck then leaned forward and we touched noses briefly.

“Thank you all, for this warm welcome, and I must say this is quite a surprise, may I introduce my partner, Travis Patterson, and Mr Alexander Devonport, a business associate of our’s,” I responded, and after the introductions were over we were lead inside the cottage, which was a lot bigger inside than I had expected. During the next twenty mintes, we were briefed about what is on the island, including the big shed, which has dry and refridgerated store rooms, for storing supplies for the vessels.

There is also a large recreation shed, that contains a non-alcoholic cocktail bar, a small stage, a juke box and four full-size billards tables, two dart boards, and there is a giant screen television, with leather seats, to sit 34 people. About 120 metres further in, along a narrow track, there is another shed, where there is two quad bikes with trailers, and a 4 seater golf buggy, which Atama started up and drove out of the shed and stopped near us.

Over the next hour, we were driven around the island, along the narrow track, to where there are two fresh water lakes on the east coast of the island, and lots of remote small sandy beaches. At the north end of the island, we joined up with another track, which heads south west, where we checked out some more beaches.

During the tour, I saw that the island was nearly void of any signs of human damage, apart from the narrow track and the jetty and few buildings located at Opo Bay, which I was very pleased about. “Thank you for the tour, I enjoyed it very much, and seeing how beautiful it is, I will be making sure that the island remains the way it is, with no more buildings or any other damage caused to the island” I commented, when we arrived back at the vehicle shed.

“We are very pleased to hear that Commander, as it is a very sacred place for our family” Atama said, after we had climbed out of the buggy, and be parked it into the shed, and it was then that Travis noticed Atama was taking sneek peaks in Xander’s direction, and Xander would soon start blushing, and giving me a light nudge and a slight nod of his head, I too saw the interaction, which made me feel happy, to see a possible relationship blossuming.

Once back at the jetty, I thanked the Nopera family, and said that I would see them again, as we gave them the traditional maori farewell, before we headed down the jetty, back to the Aquaria.

Checking that everyone was back onboard, the Aquaria was soon off again, continuing south to Napier, arriving as planned the next day. Overnight, we received a message from Whangarei Naval Base, which was authorisation for the Aquaria to extend the voyage, by a further two days, to allow the cadets some more time onboard the vessel, which had been approved by the Corporation Chairman.

At Napier, six of the naval officers will be disembarking, to fly back to their base at Whangarei, that evening, and the arrival of the UN Envoy, will make it quite busy for the first two hours of arrival in Napier. Also during this time, the Naval cadets and their cadet officers would go out to explore the city, which would be the first of a few trips during their short stay.

As expected, the first few hours were busy, and for Daniel and myself, we were kept busy assisting the new UN envoy to settle in onboard the Aquaria, giving her a detailed tour of all areas that she is permitted to go to, and to meet all of the key crew that she will mostly have regular contact with.

At dinner up in the officers dining room that evening, Xander requested permission to remain onboard the Aquaria, as he was really enjoying his time onboard, and he would like to see where he can participate in the work of ocean research and exploration.

I informed him, that it would require permission from my father, and that I would contact him, straight after dinner. When I did speak to Dad, from the privacy of my office, he said that it was up to me to decide, but he was all for establishing a close business relationship with Alexander Devonport, because of his family connections.

When I relayed the news to Xander, he was very pleased, and he asked to have some work space, like a small office, which I was happy to provide for him, with the obvious space being the largest spare office adjoining the executive conference room on deck six.