My second day of boat training was much more intense than the first. The water was very choppy, the sky was overcast and it lightly rained at times. You would think that even my pale, Irish skin wouldn't get sunburned on a day like today. You would think that, but you would be wrong.

I believe I succeeded at not embarrassing myself too much when I got behind the wheel of the rigid inflatable boat. We learned how to make sharp 90 and 180-degree turns, pace alongside other boats and rescue a man overboard. I pointed out that calling the drill "man" overboard was politically incorrect and suggested renaming the exercise "person" overboard. But Angie (boat trainee) astutely pointed out that "women don't fall overboard."

We wrapped up the day with a lesson in navigation. If you need help while at sea, saying "I'm somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean" just isn't going to cut it. Things like maps, a compass and a global positioning system (GPS) come in pretty handy.

Tomorrow, we'll put our new skills to the test. We'll ride out to a point at sea and try to make our way back to the ship. So if this is the last blog you ever see from me, it probably means there was an error in our calculations.

-Maureen