My Goddaughter, Mariana

At Dennis and Ryoko's home in Japan.

Brisbane, Australia city pictures

Skyline of Brisbane from the Wheel.



Nate in the Wheel of Brisbane
Molly in the wheel of Brisbane
WWII Memorial and eternal flame.
Every Sunday, the park is opened up to people who want to sell things. It's like a huge garage sale.
Brisbane from the Performing Arts Center at night.

The Treasury.

Last few days at sea

There are only three reasons why I will miss the ship: Mike, Nate, and Kelsey. Here, they are deservedly promoted to LTJG.

Deflated LCAC after coming ashore. It took over two years, but I finally took an LCAC ride...

Townsville, Australia and Magnetic Island

Magnetic Island, Australia. Magnetic Island acquired its name after a series of shipwrecks. A prominent captain, embarrassed by sinking his ship, theorizes the island must have a magnetic property that impaired navigation by compass and caused his shipwreck. It doesn't. It makes the area famous for interesting scuba diving, though.
Downtown in Townsville.
Dennis and Kelsey with Australian water.
Me, Nate, and Dennis enjoying our first beer and awaiting our camel burger, rump roast, and ribs, respectively.
Magnetic Island
Oh hey, it's me on Magnetic Island. Although it looks beautiful out, it was winter in Australia, so it was about 65 when the sun was out. That's why I am wearing long pants.
The only way to get to the island was by means of a ferry. This is the view from my hotel room. Townsville can barely be seen on mainland Australia in the distance.
Walking around Townsville. It was a small town, but with many bars and restaurants considering its size.

News articles from Townsville, Australia

http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/article/2011/07/08/246271_news.html

http://www.c7f.navy.mil/news/2011/07-july/014.htm

http://www.ctf76.navy.mil/news/2011/july/110705germantown.htm

Kumamoto trip with Pete

We took a one day road trip to Kumamoto one Saturday. Since Pete was only visiting Japan for a short while, we thought it was important to take him out and show him another city. Here are some of the pictures:

Nate and David by a 800 year old tree.

Nate and Kelsey by a thing.


Nate rocks out during some karaoke


Pete, Kelsey, Nate, and David at Magic Bar


Found a ninja by Kumamoto Castle.


I'm the one that isn't a ninja.


Kelsey at Karaoke. If you dance, you get bonus points.



Bartender at Magic Bar. We were the only people there, so the bartender gave us a private magic show. It was a lot of fun.

USS GERMANTOWN - My new home

Here are some pictures of my new ship and ESG-7 (Expeditionary Strike Group -7), which is a little like a carrier Strike Group, but consists of all Amphibious ships and a Marine Expeditionary Unit. ESG-7 is the GERMANTOWN, ESSEX, TORTUGA, and DENVER.

USS GERMANTOWN. I live here.


AAV (Amphibious Assault Vehicle) coming from our well-deck. When we deploy, we fill the well-deck with various amphibious craft. We can purposefully take on water (ballast) and flood the well-deck and drive the craft out from the stern of the ship.

AAVs with the TORTUGA in the background.

Marines lining up to embark the ESSEX for the deployment. Often mistaken for a carrier, it is a big deck amphib that embarks helicopters (super cobras, sea knights, seahawks, sea stallions, hueys) and harriers.

A AV-8B Harrier on the flight deck of the ESSEX. Did you ever see True Lies? It's that... sort of. It can vertically take off and land.

Santa Monica Pier







Los Angeles

I had to train for a week in San Diego for continuation of my practicing license. I had some friends visit me and we took an overnight trip to Los Angeles. I had never been there before and it was surprisingly nice. Here are a few of the random photos I took:



Do you recognize this house? Ever seen 90210?


View from the hotel of the Hollywood sign.


View of LA from the mountain. The pollution in the air was disgusting. Too bad- it would be a nice place otherwise.


Mel's drive-in



Walt Disney Concert Hall

Goodbye Whitney, Tokyo


Shinagawa train station

Why is this in English?

The famous Ginza of Tokyo. It's like the 5th Avenue of Japan. All of the upscale Tokyo shopping occurs here.


We ordered a lot of food!

And here is Whitney. I am sure she will be happy I posted this picture =)

Hull Swap





Beppu, Japan

Jigoku (hell) Udon. I love spicy foods, but this was so it hot my eyes were tearing. おいしかったです (it was delicious!). I put a coin next to the soup so you can see how large it is.
In Beppu, there are vents along the streets and in people's yard to vent the geothermal gases.


Jigoku Geyser. It is not as big as Old Faithful, but it erupts more often. It erupts every 30-40 minutes for 5-6 minutes like clockwork.

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