Maritime cadets explore Saipan

The Golden Bear training ship arrived Thursday and docked at the Port of Saipan, bringing almost 400 cadets undergoing on-the-job training and exploring the Pacific, including Saipan. (Bea Cabrera)

Deck and engine cadets from the California State University Maritime Academy made a port call on Saipan beginning last Thursday after a month on board the training ship Golden Bear.

Their “on-the-job” training experience and application of practical skills had the cadets plying the Pacific route from Samoa, to the Solomon Islands, Saipan, Hawaii, and a final stop in San Diego, California.

Almost 400 aspiring ship captains and marine engineers explored the island last weekend and, according to deck cadet Benjamin Joseph Yuse, he heard many good things about Saipan before coming here.

“I have heard of Saipan before coming here because I have some friends who went here three years ago and they said many good things about the island. It’s a beautiful island and everyone’s just so nice here. You have amazing places here where the view is spectacular and I’m having a great time,” he said.

“We came here as part of our training to know how the ship is run. During freshman year, we do this because it’s really learning whether or not you want to be on the ocean because it is a lot of people’s first time out on the ocean. For seniors like me, it’s kind of reinforcing everything what we learned for the last three years and putting it to use. We operate the training ship. Licensed officers are there to assist and the cadets are really running the show,” he added.

Deck cadet Goody Walowit said the experience is satisfying both academically and historically.

“What’s great about this experience is we get to transit the entire Pacific Rim. We went down south across the equator and then here. What’s even more great is we got to see all the islands that were involved in World War II. The experience is an eye-opener, especially the historical aspect like Guadalcanal and, of course, Saipan.”

“I am aware of the U.S. military presence here. …A lot of us going through this training end up training for the military. …The U.S. Navy hires many graduates from the academy every year and a lot of them are actually based here on island, like our ship captain was on Saipan for 15 years, so…a lot of us may end up back here,” he added.

Matt Giovannoni, a graduate of the academy in 2009 and currently based on Saipan, said the cruise is a great introduction to ship life.

“For most, it will be the first time living on a ship for months at a time. …When I was a cadet, I never came here as I was on a different cruise traveling to the Philippines, Fiji, America Samoa, Hong Kong, and Japan. I found out about Saipan after graduation when I was hired to work on the prepositioned ships,” he said.

The cadets on board the Golden Bear training ship left the dock of Saipan yesterday and are headed to Lahaina, Hawaii to complete the fourth leg of their training cruise.