TS Kennedy Offload of Supplies

Brittany
Mar 17, 2016
2 min read

Day 7: Monday 18 January 2016

Today was the big day! We all got up and at em’ and headed down for breakfast. We enjoyed omelets and fruit while Celine Dion played on the radio. We were all very excited about the off-load today but a little nervous as well as we all had specific roles. Laura and Dan were on the small boats, I was on the Kennedy to coordinate the pallets being off-loaded, and Mike, John, Kristen, and Rich were at Madame Bernard to bring the goods up to the container from the dock.

Captain Lennon, Dan, Laura, and I headed out in a small boat towards the Kennedy once we got word that she was anchored. It was so exciting to see her out there and to see everyone on the rails. We pulled up and after my backpack went up on a line, I went up on the Jacobs ladder. A little shaky, it was pretty cool to climb up! I met the Captain on the bridge for a radio and headed down to 2-Hold, which is the storage area on the ship where our goods were stored. Once the first small boat was tied alongside the Kennedy, the pallets were strapped and the crane was started. My job was to be sure that the correct pallets were loaded in the right order. The order of the pallets was based on the order of the small boats as they had different capacities. After all of the pallets were onto the small boats, Captain Lennon and I spent a few hours on the Kennedy. Haitian officials as well U.S. Embassy officials were led on a tour of the ship and then enjoyed an on-board reception. It was great to catch up with some friends on-board!

We all met up at Madame Bernard and finished bringing the goods to the container. After enjoying ice-cold waters and sodas to celebrate our successful mission, we took a boat ride back to Vacation Village and got ready for dinner. We were all beat by then and enjoyed the rest of the night on hammocks under the stars.