All of week 6 for the crew of NORTHLAND was spent underway. We patrolled the Caribbean, hoping to run across some drug smugglers and enforce some counter-narcotics laws. NORTHLAND did not get a drug bust this week, but we made the week exciting with plenty of training and morale.

On the morale front, the morale committee hosted a Spades Tournament (still ongoing) which is providing the crew with some friendly competition. Also, to keep everyone entertained and raise morale this week, there was a beard growing contest. There were several entries in each category, but when the Chief’s Mess judged the completion, the winners were Mr. Jones (Salty Dog), FN Ross (Sea Pup) and ENS Kapusta (Most Creative Manscape).

This week ends as we prepare to pull into our next port, Curacao. It is a new place for many of the crew and everyone is excited and ready to get off the boat for a little bit. Hopefully, it will provide the crew with an opportunity to call home, go to the beach and get some shopping in!

Congratulations to crew members who got qualified this week:

ET2 Hudson got Combat Information Center (CIC) watchstander qualified!

Photos

SN Gavisk and SN Zitman do some weapons PQS.

GM3 Rios gives weapons training to the crew

SN Lewis is getting ready to be a Gunners Mate!

SN Roach, SN Hatchell and BM3 Story working on the bridge.

DC1 learning about the gun.

Deck Department painting the foc’sle

A dolphin rides along with NORTHLAND for a bit.

ET2 Fowler, OS3 Lewis, OS2 Hamrah, and SN Perkins play in the spades tournament.

OS2 Hamrah poses for Fred’s Place!

LTJG Alex standing the watch on the bridge.

Contestants line up for the beard growing contest

Judging the creative category…

The Caribbean sunset

A beautiful night onboard cutter NORTHLAND…

EMC Harvey and EM3 Weikel are happy to be pulling into port soon!