Earthquakes Hitting Routes of Ocean Cruise Ships and Other Vessels

Didn't you wonder why the ocean got so violent, so unexpectedly, that a massive ocean cruise ship pitched and rolled wildly on the seas this week? Take a look at the list of quakes in the waters near Antarctica and elsewhere. When you factor in how shallow the depth of these quakes were, you can understand why the waves became towers of danger. Put your hand in your sink full of dishwater next time and suddenly thrust your palm forward through the water to see the "waves" you create. Same principle, only people are not in your containers in your sink to be thrown against walls and floors or flipped upside down when sitting in a chair.

Look at Friday's earthquakes in these regions. Are there cruise ships out there today, also? Don't passengers "get it" now that travel is dangerous due to these large earthquakes that are increasing around the world? Doesn't anyone have the power to stop the CERN Large Hadron Collider blasts that could be aggravating all of the vulnerable fault lines around the world? We never had this many quakes on a daily basis, getting larger and larger, until those LHC experiments began in 2009.

Occuring on FRIDAY, 12.10.10, we had the quake on the MID-INDIAN RIDGE fault line with a Magnitude of (5.0) and its Depth was only 6.2 miles (9.9 km.) It was located between Africa and Australia with the official USGS distances of 70 km (45 miles) NE of Amsterdam Island and 3495 km (2170 miles) WSW of PERTH, Western Australia, Australia. CLOSE TO ANTARCTICA, occuring in the BALLENY ISLANDS REGION, the earthquake Depth was 17.8 miles (28.7 km) today (Friday) as shown at http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/usc0000lul.php. It was located 425 km (265 miles) NNE of Young Island, Balleny Islands, 810 km (510 miles) WNW of SCOTT ISLAND, ANTARCTICA, 2475 km (1540 miles) S of WELLINGTON, New Zealand and 3300 km (2050 miles) SSE of CANBERRA, A.C.T., Australia. WHAT HAPPENED IN THE OCEAN TWO DAYS AGO on WEDNESDAY, 12.8.10? The USGS list of WORLD Earthquakes at 2:41 P.M., CST can be seen at http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/ and be sure to notice the proximity between the SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS and ANTARCTICA. In fact, I will list all of the major ones posted by USGS that day because there were so many large ones. Some of the many other areas of the world are included.

You see REYKJANES RIDGE: (4.8, 4.8) with a Depth of 6.3 miles, Located 840 km (520 miles) ESE of Qaqortoq (Julianehab), Greenland, 960 km (600 miles) SSE of Tasiilaq (Angmagssalik), Greenland 975 km (610 miles) SW of REYKJAVIK, Iceland and 1275 km (790 miles) ESE of NUUK (GODTHAB), Greenland. Then, we see the proximity to ANTARCTICA showing up again in the SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS with MAGNITUDES of 6.5, 5.1, 5.3 and 5.0. The Depth was just 10.8 miles (17.3 km) and the specific locations were posted by USGS as 85 km (55 miles) ENE of Visokoi Island, SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS, 290 km (180 miles) N of Bristol Island, South Sandwich Islands and 3480 km (2160 miles) SE of BUENOS AIRES, D.F., Argentina.

Moving farther North, you notice KYRGYZSTAN having a Magnitude 5.2 earthquake at a Depth of 6.3 miles (10.2 km.) It was located North of India 55 km (35 miles) SW of Sary-Tash, Kyrgyzstan, 80 km (50 miles) NW of Karakul, Tajikistan,125 km (80 miles) S of Osh, Kyrgyzstan and 415 km (255 miles) SSW of BISHKEK (Frunze), Kyrgyzstan. Traveling to Eastern Asia, the PHILIPPINES had a 6.1 large earthquake at Mindanao (again), INDONESIA experienced yet more daily quakes at Sulawesi (4.7) and in the Banda Sea (5.5.) Wrap it up that time of day with earthquakes continuing South of the FIJI ISLANDS, registering Magnitudes of 4.9 and 5.2 and also in TONGA (again), rupturing with a 5.1 Magnitude. South of the KERMADEC ISLANDS, a 5.5 earthquake disrupted the waters.

Studying the World Earthquakes' USGS List posted on TUESDAY, 12.7.10 at 3:46 A.M., CST on http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/, notice what happened FROM 00:12 UTC on Tuesday through 8:26 UTC on TUESDAY East of the SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS again. Magnitudes of 5.8 and 5.5 occured and these earthquakes were located far east of lower South America and closer to the north side of ANTARCTICA. Depth: only 6.4 miles (10.3 km) so that means a lot more shaking goes on with shallow quakes. The exact location was 780 km (485 miles) SW of Bouvet Island and 3300 km (2050 miles) SSW of Cape Town, South Africa.

Now let's turn our attention to the most recent ocean cruise liner crisis on the high seas. Her name was Cleilia II, she was carrying 165 passengers and they departed from Argentina, warned ahead that there would be rough seas. Interesting that a ship would plow ahead in the waters, anyway. The date they were returning to home port from Antarctica was "December 7th" which was a Tuesday, the same day as the magnitude 5.8 and 5.5 earthquakes occurred, listed farther above. Keep in mind that any earthquake has a "P-Travel Time" factor in which it dominoes around the world in a few minutes from city to city. These quakes do not have to be in the exact same location as the ship for the waves to be affected so drastically from farther away. The passage cites that the ship was moving through the Drake Passage at the time, "known for its rough seas." Well, combine the usual volatile action of those waves with an earthquake pushing them even higher and you have angels sent by God to keep that ship upright as people cried out to Him. I reported in an earlier article in Allvoices this past year about one of the newer cruise ships that was built to be able to roll over sideways, then pop back up in life-threatening towers of waves battering the vessel but it was explained that passengers would have a rough time being knocked around. Better bruised on a dry ship deck than lying drowned in the ocean has to be the perspective if you want to survive.

What do we know about the Cleilia? Was it made that way or was this a crisis in which passengers cried out to God for help and He sent angels to steady the ship while giving the captain and his navigational crew tremendous strength to keep it afloat? TV commentary mentioned that he never left the wheel. The exact description from the text says, "The cruise company, Travel Dynamics International, said that the captain of the ship for this journey was heroic, staying on the bridge for four days straight." Amazing, just amazing. Passengers should be thanking God and that man in a very tangible way. That is an exhausting marathon of man against the forces of nature. Be sure to read the rest of the ABC story at http://abcnews.go.com/US/antarctic-cruise-ship-cleila-ii-slammed-waves-drake/story?id=12363611 because an expert Antarctica traveler describes what it really felt like and puts it into perspective for those who like that type of "adventure."

It seems to me that the days are long gone when passengers should even consider traveling in the unpredictable earthquake-prone oceans of the world. Those individuals who are elderly, frail, dealing with medical conditions and various handicaps or who are children or who are pregnant with child have no strength to be thrown around on a deck and jerked up and down and sideways hour after hour. Even if you are athletic, the emotional stress of such an experience takes its toll on your health. These ocean-bound routes are only for the fittest of all people now and if these cruises continue, then the ship certainly should begin stocking massive amounts of first aid supplies as well as "batten down the hatches" so less furniture and objects are hurled at passengers' heads during catastrophic events on the ocean. Adapt, you have to adapt. Life is NOT normal anymore. Remember the phrase, "Survival of the Fittest"? Apply it to your plans.

We are living in dangerous times in history from a financial/political perspective as well as from a natural disasters' perspective and yes, we do need to restrain ourselves and say "NO" to situations that put us in harm's way with no recourse for escaping. The prevailing lies put into people's heads and defended by them are ridiculous: "When my time is up, it is up; it does not matter what I do" or "Nothing bad will happen" or "NO ONE is going to STOP me from doing whatever I WANT to do!" Well, God has a few things to say about such rebellious attitudes and the consequences that you, yourself, set into motion. Be assured that He loves you but you are not created as a robot; if you want to rush out into the world like the foolish man who built his house upon the sand, He steps back and lets you do so, albeit with grief, knowing your fate. If you insist upon ignoring wisdom and warnings, then draw up your will, leave your affairs in order at home and set up guardians for your children and do not drag any other relative or friend along with you. You are hastening your death prematurely by such behavior and if you are that bored in life, needing a "thrill" of escaping death like recent passengers, then you really need to turn to God and ask Him to help you get over the addiction of risk-taking behavior. Instead, be more creative and put all of that energy into considering how to encourage one another to survive in these volatile days, realigning your philosophy to new ways of recreation that are not so life threatening.

This may not be good news for the travel industry but they are smart people; they can develop creative alternatives, also. After all, they don't want to have continual bad press for these disastrous situations arising at sea and their goal is for people to enjoy recreational breaks on their beautiful ships. I, for one, would love to board such a huge ship if it stayed in port. It could be a tremendous tourism attraction, all manner of events (business or recreational) could be held on it along with use as a sea hotel and you would have a better chance of being rescued if an earthquake hits that port area.