Columbine 0609

Ok, so its been a long time.. but I've been having such a good time that i have had no time whatsoever to update this. lets start with my vessel tour ;-)

apart from a few glitches (minor ones ler), it was an absolutely FANTASTIC experience. was a cargo ship - columbine 0609. so i got up and met the captain and he briefed me a bit (like for 2 mins) and then told me he's see me in the dining room for dinner at 1730! so i go to my cabin (which is almost like a hotel room minus a tv!) and put all my stuff away since that was gonna be my home for a week ;-)

went down for dinner and the first thought that came to mind was "oh my god, its danish food ;-)" felt almost nostalgic although we all know that danish food is prob one of the bland-est cuisines in the entire universe.. but thats besides the point. so there's bread and butter and a few diff kinds of vegs tht can be made into salads with thousand island sauce and mayonnaise and olive oil and goodness knows what else. but i'm a self confessed carnivore so had some meat and stew or something and some cold slices of ham and chicken.

met some of the officers and the cadets and the captain told mona to show me around the ship. so went to get my boiler suit and safety shoes and helmet and gloves and then began my journey to the heart of her (god bless her soul - the vessel i mean ;-)

went to the bridge and the engine room and the duty mess and the candy shop and the saloon and the theatre.. god its like a whole house on board! but of course, if you're expected to sail like 3 mths at a stretch or more!! went to check the containers and the cargo holds and the aft and fore and everything lah. was a pretty interesting 3 hrs (1800-2100) albeit a VERY tiring one cos i was ascending and descending and ascending and descending and ascending and descending ladders and stairwells and all. but DAMN interesting. kinda gives you a big picture of what goes on onboard a cargo ship.

too tired after that so went back to my room and fell asleep and had to awake for breakfast at 7.30 the nezt morn. went to JB with a few of the cadets and came back just as she was abt to leave for singapore. went up to monkey island to watch her leave tpp. was supposed to go up to the bridge to watch the berthing in SGP (expected abt 2300), but only stayed til 2230 and watched the sgp skyline, then too tired so went to sleep.

next day went to the cargo holds to check the reefers with the electrician and another cadet as she was loading in sgp. also connected them to reefer plugs (all were carrying shrimp) and set the temp. met the chief officer to plan the rest of my week onboard and he asked me what i would like to see and all the stuff i could do.

so basically - galley (kitchen), bridge (navigation, plotting, charting, etc.), moorings, bunkering, engine room, ship's papers, etc. Lunch that day was pretty weird tho - pork patties with cranberry sauce and bread crumbs. but i've had catfood before so this is alright i guess! tomato soup and ice cream with strawberry wafers and hersheys choc sauce for dessert ;-)

then met a marine officer at 1400 to check all the moorings as she's leaving PSA. apparently this area is the most dangerous cos a lot of things can go wrong and the ropes are so thick that if they snap on tension, have been known to break a man's body in half! had a nap, dinner, then went up to the bridge for navigation. captain was there and he taught me to plot ships on the radar - very very very interesting. can tell you exactly how close you would be to an oncoming ship in the exact time. amazing. btw, 1NM = 1.852KMs. (thats prob gonna stick in my mind forever)! she was going abt 24.7 knots and apparently at this speed, if a man falls overboard, he prob wouldnt be seen!

next day (thurs) - galley - blended onion, cut potatoes, fried sausages and stripped pork skin (to make bacon rind i think)! also made salad dressing with vinegar, mayo and mustard. the chief steward's a hilarious guy so had a lot of fun.. went his office and the captain's office and the thai cabin as well.

learnt abt charting in the afternoon on the bridge, then went fr a cadet meeting in the evening. played foosball with one of the engineers then went to the tv room to watch prison break and final destination. wanted to go to bed but just thought i'd pop by the bridge and got a chance to hand steer her in open waters - fun but tiring. and i LURRVVEE the binoculars - they are SOO powerful.

friday: breakfast - bran, cereal and sugar pops with cold milk and bread and nutella and cream cheese for breakfast ;-) went to the deck office and learnt about loading and bunkering from the CO. went to the captains office and the chief engineer's office to elarn about their duties and the kind of certs they need on board the vessel. engine room for abt 2 hrs in the afternoon. bloody huge. and hot. engineer was damn cute ;-)

played cards with the cadets after dinner (asshole) - if you lose, they call you asshole! watched prison break with the cute engineer - finished the whole first season ;-) made myself a sandwich and hit the sack.

sat: got up at 6 n went to the bridge to see her berth at yantian. very foggy and mountainous. apart from that, nothing much cos almost everyone was at shore. saw chicken little with a cadet and did my laundry. my last night on board (sob)!

well, got to hkg the next morn, got up at 6 again to watch her berth. then had breakfast, said some thank yous and goodbyes and got off.

well, thts it for now cos i wanna go home and tidur - so the next blog will be about my holiday ;-) til then, cheers.