The Eyes of the MV Explorer: Students Tour of the Bridge

A view mainly reserved for the captain and his crew. The bridge is the main command and control center for the ship. Students have the opportunity to take a tour, learn about the technology used, and ask questions. How is the waste managed? How fast can the ship go? Who’s the driver?

On duty twenty-four hours a day is the A/B Seamen. He is scanning the horizon for vessels that may be too small for the ships radar to detect.

(L-R) Lillian Hoff from Cal Poly State University, Jaime Winter from Colorado State University, crew member Deck Cadet Radoslav Atanasov from Bulgaria the tour leader, Melissa Zavislan from Colorado State Universe and Payam Movahed from Texas Tech University, tour the bridge of the MV Explorer. Deck Cadet Atanasov is showing the students the main control panel.

Shipping is a very traditional profession, which holds on tight to its history. No bridge would be complete without the magnetic compass systems; used only as a backup to the GPS. All officers are proficient in the use of these compasses as well as other traditional ocean fairing devices such as the sexton.

Maysaa Ambu-Saidi from the University of North Texas listens to crewmembers talk about the ships bridge as the “brain” for the MV Explorer. Students ask questions about, whales, radar, charts, and all the flags the ship must have to fly in counties they visit. The vessel carries over 300 national flags.

Look is that a whale?!? Jaime Winter and Melissa Zavislan both from Colorado State University take turns playing captain for the day, much to the humor of our actual captain, Captain Jeremy Kingston, Master of the Ship.

The Eyes of the MV Explorer: Students Tour of the Bridge

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