Category Archives: maritime

Drills Today

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Wondering if we’ll have fire and boat drills today?
Is it worth trying to go to sleep? Or would it be better to try to stay awake so that you can get some good rest after it’s all over?

Weekly (at minimum) drills are a necessity on most vessels, but boy do they get old fast.

It’s already so hard to get enough sleep out here and then we have to do these drills every week (as well as safety meetings). It’s really amazing but almost every time, we’ll have at least 1 person who doesn’t know where their muster station is, how to get there, or what they’re supposed to do when they do get there.

It’s not like that on ships that have a crew full of professional mariners. They are trained and will almost always do the right thing, even go and check out their gear when they come aboard.

On vessels that have ‘crew’ other than mariners (construction, cruise, fishing, drilling, etc), most of these people are NOT mariners and don’t come from a seafaring background. Even though the STCW (Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping) mandates that every mariner has to take a basic safety course before going offshore, I’ve noticed that all these other people do NOT have to take that course (or others).

THEY are the people who actually NEED that course (at a bare minimum), but of course the IMO and others who make the rules really have NO idea what they are doing when they come up with this stuff.

I’m falling asleep whether I want to or not. Here’s hoping the drills go fast today.

United Nations Meets At Sea

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   It’s like the UN out here on these rigs.

When working for American companies, there are usually only Americans on board. Every once in a while you might see a Brit or a Filipino. Probably because of the Jones Act and other rules and regulations.

The Jones Act is one of the most important of the laws regulating the American Merchant Marine. One of the provisions of this law for US vessels is that the Master and crew must be Americans. Of course, there are exemptions. Lots of them, really probably too many.

But that’s another story for another post.

The ship I’m on now is not American. The company I’m working for is based out of Athens. It was out of Norway but it has been taken over by the Greeks. I’m not sure yet how that is going to work out. It seems already to be bringing unwelcome changes.

But it is a nice change to have people from all over the world to work with instead of mostly just from the southern US. When I’m working in the Gulf of Mexico, most of the people I work with are from Louisiana, Texas, Alabama and Mississippi. Maybe we get a few from Florida and Georgia. A very few from the other states.

The reason for that is that the companies we work for do not want to pay for our transportation to and from the boats/rigs so most people they hire have to live close enough to drive to/from work in a reasonable* amount of time.(*What the companies think is reasonable is not necessarily what any reasonable person would think is reasonable.)

Since I’m now working for a company which is not based in the USA and we’re not working in the Gulf of Mexico, there is no restriction on who they can hire or where they can come from. I really like that. I love meeting people from all over the world. 🙂

On my last rig, the DPOs were from Ireland, Croatia and the Netherlands. Here, they are from Poland and Canada. The last rig had lots of Brits. There were people from Ireland, Scotland, England. There were people from South Africa and from all over Europe (Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, Belgium, Lithuania, Italy, France, Spain).

Here, we have lots of people from Poland. We have people from Portugal, Brazil, Croatia, France, etc. We have lots of Canadians. We even have a couple of other Americans. I’ve met a guy from Azerbaijan and another from India. Some from the Philippines.

Of course, we have people on both rigs from Angola and all over Africa (Ghana, S. Africa, Liberia, Guinea, Libya). We are required to have a certain amount of our crew hired locally. We are supposed to train them up to take over eventually. I’m not sure of the time frame for that but it will probably take a while.

So I hope that will allow me to keep my job and they won’t take over from me for a while. Let me keep doing my job here a few more years til I’m ready to retire. 😉

So much of what goes on out here now is extremely complicated and complex. It takes a long time to learn the things we need to know to do our jobs. I know I am always having to go to classes. This place will probably be sending me to classes every time I get off the ship for the next year or so.

I’m not really looking forward to that. I used to really look forward to going to work. I used to really enjoy my work and loved looking forward to joining a new ship and seeing all the new places we would go. But they’ve taken all the fun out of the job. It’s not at all like it used to be out here. To me, at this point, the best part of the job is the time off!

Yep, let me keep working overseas until I’m ready to retire, that idea is getting better looking every day.

 

Silhouette: Singapore Sunset

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Here’s another one to illustrate the Weekly Photo Challenge from the Daily Post. This week the subject is “silhouette”.

I took the photo a while ago when I was working on the DB-50 (derrick barge 50) in Singapore. We spent a lot of time at this anchorage while we were working on our list of items to get checked out on sea trials.

We did leave (and come back) a few times. Singapore is one of the busiest ports in the world. It’s a great place for any sailor. Both on the water AND on land. 😉

This is one of my favorite photos. I even chose it to be the headliner on my blog.

Silhouette: Boys on a Bali Beach

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Here’s another one to illustrate the Weekly Photo Challenge from the Daily Post. This week the subject is “silhouette”.

I took the photo a while ago when I was on vacation in Bali Indonesia. I LOVE it over there and go there every chance I get (which is not nearly often enough).

It’s such a nice, friendly, peaceful place. There is so much to do on such a small island.

I’ve been to see many of the craft villages (batik, stonework, painting, woodcarving, silver-working), enjoyed watching some of the traditional dances, explored a few temples, went horseback riding, river rafting, rice-paddy walking, bike riding, snorkeling and SCUBA diving. I still have plenty of things I’d love to do there.

One of my favorite things to do in Bali is just to head to the beach at sunset along with a lot of the locals (and other tourists like me).

This photo always reminds me of good times. 🙂

Silhouette: While Sailing

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Heres another one to illustrate the Weekly Photo Challenge from the Daily Post. This week the subject is “silhouette”.

I took the photo a while ago when I was out sailing Galveston Bay with the Sail-La-Vie meetup group. We were coming in to Kemah after a great day out in the bay and everyone was relaxed and just chillin’ out.

I really liked how this photo turned out. 🙂

Silhouette at Sea: Sunset Sail

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I thought this photo would be a good choice to illustrate the Weekly Photo Challenge from the Daily Post. This week the subject is “silhouette”.

I took the photo a while ago. I belong to a meetup group in the Houston area called Sail- La- Vie. They go out sailing pretty much every weekend.

It’s a great way for me to still get to go out sailing for the day without having to spend the money to buy another boat of my own. 🙂

I do love sailing. There’s just nothing like it. It’s so nice to be out on the water with the wind in the sails and the sound of the water rushing by. 🙂

I don’t like the worrying I do when I have a boat sitting at the dock and I’m stuck working offshore hundreds or thousands of miles away. The entire hurricane season I worry about every storm that enters the Gulf of Mexico. 🙁

With Sail-La-Vie, I can go out sailing every weekend if I want. It costs me less than $100 for the day, including the drinks and snacks we all bring to share. I have a great day out on the bay with a bunch of fun and interesting people and the best part is, I don’t have to worry about the boat.

Silhouette at Sea: Ship and Seagull

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I thought this photo would be another good one for the Weekly Photo Challenge from the Daily Post. This week the subject is “silhouette”.

I took the photo a couple of months ago when I was in Korea. I had gone there to attend a workshop on travel writing and photography.

I flew into Incheon and decided to stay there for a day or 2. Just to rest up before figuring out what I wanted to do. I had a couple of weeks to spend on my own before meeting the rest of the group in Seoul.

I took this picture my first day there. I wound up down by the waterfront (of course) at a place called Wolmi Island. Its one of those “pleasure islands” the Asians seem so fond of.

I wandered around for a while taking pictures. I had some local junk food (tried the little boiled  ‘silkworm cocoons’- which I did NOT like at all! they tasted like salty dirt!).

I was surprised at how nice and quiet and peaceful it was there. I really enjoyed my afternoon there. 🙂

Silhouette at Sea: Pacific Breeze

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I thought this photo would be a good choice to illustrate the Weekly Photo Challenge from the Daily Post. This week the subject is “silhouette”.

I took the photo a while ago when I was working on board the Pacific Breeze. It’s a tuna boat, a purse seiner. We were fishing around the Solomon Islands at the time.

I was on board as captain (regardless of how many locals refused to believe that there ARE women captains).

I watched the guys set and haul in the nets and sometimes could get some great shots!

Landing in Luanda

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I had a hell of a trip this time. We left Houston about an hour late after sitting (all ready to go) on the runway for 30-40 minutes. I was thinking maybe I would still be able to make my connection in London. Until they announced that they were turning our plane around. 🙁

We got off the (full) plane and shuffled across the terminal to the new gate where they had another plane waiting for us. It was supposed to be ready for us to go right aboard. Something changed tho. Those of us with connections in London had to stand in line at the desk while the gate agents tried to find us new connections.

When I finally made it to the desk to talk to an agent, they told me that since my company had bought the tickets for my trip separately, they couldn’t do anything to help me. I would have to talk to the connecting airline once I got to London.

Has anyone else ever heard of this? You buy a ticket to go from one place to another. You make sure all connecting flights are on partner airlines, you get one ticket with one confirmation number so everything seems OK. Lesson learned, it’s NOT.

I didn’t buy these tickets personally. My company sets up my travel arrangements to and from work. I’ve never had any problems like this before. Usually, when a problem with the original flight causes you to miss your connection, that carrier is responsible to get you on the next available flight. Apparently, it doesn’t always work this way. 🙁

I tried to call my company to let them know what was going on. I had an emergency number and the number for the rig I was going to and a couple of others. I called all of them and no one answered. I was able to leave a message on at least one of them.

I wasn’t really sure if anyone had received my message or if they were doing anything to arrange for my passage on from London, so when I got to London I turned my phone on hoping for a call from my company and proceeded to try to get the airlines to get me to my final destination somehow.

I went to TAP first, since United told me in Houston that they could/would not do anything for me (because of the separate ticket issue). TAP told me that they could/would not do anything for me since it was United that screwed up and ruined my connections so they were responsible for me. They did have flights available that they could get me on, but it would cost me 860 GBP to replace my tickets! They suggested I go back to United and try again.

I did that. I was lucky to get a very good agent this time (thanks again Usama). He did his best to help me and really came through. He was able to route me through Johannesburg to arrive in Luanda by noon the next day. Even got my luggage straightened out to make sure my bag would be on the flight with South African Airlines.
 
Lucky me, I thought I was all set and would have a couple of hours to rest and relax in the airport lounge. I figured I would try to call my company again and if there was no answer I would send emails.
 
I checked my phone and there were a couple of voice mails, but for some reason when I tried to listen to them they disappeared. I have a very new phone and I’m not really used to it yet so maybe I did something wrong. 🙁
 
I tried to check for records of calls in and calls out but it looks like this phone doesn’t save that information like my last phone did. Since I didn’t have the phone number for the person I was going to try to reach on my phone, I tried to get online with my computer to check my email.
 
I FINALLY found an unused electrical outlet in the lounge where I could use my computer without running out of juice (it’s old and sucks down the battery pretty quickly). As soon as I opened up my email, I found a couple of messages from my company.
 
First thing that popped out at me was that they had already arranged another flight for me. I guess they DID get my messages from Houston after all. Next message from them was to call them asap. So, I called.
 
The result of the conversation was that I needed to cancel the flight through Johannesburg that I had FINALLY managed to get United to arrange for me and take an Air France flight through Paris! I don’t know how much money that ticket cost but I know it wasn’t cheap!
 
The reason for spending all that money for another ticket rather than allow me to take the free flight through Johannesburg that was already arranged (and paid for)? That I would arrive in Luanda at 1200 noon and the Air France flight would have me arriving at 0500 am!
 
OK, I get it. They would like me to arrive at work as early as possible. The issue for me is that I had already been awake since I got up to get ready to leave home. So, since 0600 Tuesday morning August 12th. It was already around noon on August 13th, so I had already been up for 36 hours (adding 6 hours for GMT).
 
The original flight they had booked me would have allowed me to get at least a few hours of sleep at the hotel. The Air France flight would have me awake for a total of 54 hours by the time I arrived in Luanda and then I would have to spend another few hours in the airport and helicopter trying to keep my eyes open while getting from the airport in Luanda to the rig on the helicopter.
 
I don’t know about you, but I am not one of those people who can sleep anywhere. I really envy those people sometimes. I can only sleep if I can lie down comfortably (or, if I am just SO damn tired it’s impossible to stay awake anymore).
 
So, I was NOT looking forward to canceling the South African flight. I did do it tho. I went back to the South African Air desk to try and have them find my luggage before they put it on their plane (and would have to delay their flight taking my luggage off when they found out I was not actually on the plane- ‘security issue’ so they say).
 
Of course, they could not actually FIND my luggage and told me I would have to go back to the United desk to save my luggage. At that point, I didn’t have the time to even try to get to the United desk, much less try to get my luggage issue resolved. I would have to hurry to get from terminal 1 over to terminal 4 where the Air France flight was departing from.
 
Other than the usual time wasted going through ‘security’ once again (I had been no place other than inside secure areas of airports since 1200 on the 12th), things went pretty smoothly. If they didn’t, I would have missed that flight too.
 
I did make it. Stuck in the middle seat (probably due to last minute purchase of tickets) all the way to Paris. At least it was only a short (1.5 hours) flight.
 
I arrived in Paris and tried to use my United lounge pass and no such luck! United is a ‘Star Alliance’ member and Air France is not, so I couldn’t even find a comfortable place to chill out for the layover in Paris.
 
The next flight from Paris to Luanda was also stuffed full but I was lucky to at least have an aisle seat for the 8 hour flight. Thank goodness for small favors.
 
I was SO tired by this point, I think I actually fell asleep for a few minutes at a time during this flight. I know because every time I did, my seatmate had to wake me up to go to the bathroom, or else the flight attendants would knock me in the elbow passing by with the drink cart.
 
We arrived in Angola before dawn. There was a mad scramble to get in line for immigration. There must have been over 300 people in line and only about 5 immigration agents to process us all. I was lucky again and pulled aside by one of the officials to start another line, so I got to show my papers fairly quickly.
 
Since I didn’t have a visa and had to get one on arrival, the immigration agent just looked at my yellow fever certificate and sent my passport and official paperwork
off with another agent while I was to wait off to the side.
 
It didn’t really take them very long to come back with it. Only about 30 minutes. After they gave me my passport back with the visa stuck in there, I was free to pick up my luggage and go.
 
I was one of the last people from my flight to arrive at the baggage claim and the carousel had already stopped turning. Just as I suspected, my luggage did NOT make it to Luanda.
 
Once again, my luggage was lost in transit. At least it was not a surprise this time. I also knew it had arrived safely in London, both United and Air France confirmed that before I left London.
 
I went to the lost and found office and proceeded to fill out the paperwork for my bag. Thank goodness, I TRIED to pack lightly this time. Last time I found out they have very low weight limits on baggage for the helicopters out to the rig.
 
I really didn’t have much to worry about in there except for my prescription safety glasses and comfortable steel toed boots (if those things could EVER really be considered at all comfortable). I just had a few other things like work shirts, underwear, socks, flip-flops, tooth-paste, etc.
 
Thank goodness I was able to send a box of stuff over to this ship from my last one! At least I have a few pair of underwear and a couple of days worth of toothpaste. I HOPE they will deliver my bag on the next Air France flight to arrive in Luanda. They should, they know to be on the look out for it. I just hope it gets here on the next chopper after that (which might not be til Tuesday).
 
Yes, I did go straight out from the international airport to the domestic airport to catch the helicopter to the rig. I was put on the 1800-0600 (night) watch so was able to get about 3 hours of sleep before going on watch. Yeah, right, 3 hours after all that.
 
Here’s to the wonderful world of travel to Africa! 😉
 
 

Angola Again!

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If you don’t hear from me for a couple of days, don’t worry- I’ll be traveling and unable to get online.

I’m already at the airport. It seems I just left the place. 🙁

I’m headed back to Angola. I’m going back to work. A different ship this time, but the same company. The ship should be very similar to the last one I was on.

I was only at home for a little over a week. A couple of days flying home, a couple of days flying back. Whew! I’m already exhausted and I haven’t even got to work yet.

I didn’t really get to do a whole lot while I was home this time. I was pretty busy trying to get my taxes done. Or at least in good enough shape to turn them over to the accountants. What a job!

I’m hoping I got everything I need done. I should have a few days at home before the deadline, just in case. I just hope I get home on time. I’ll be ready for a real vacation for sure by the time I get off this trip!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Texture (Simple Sea Creatures)

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I’ve been busy all week working on my taxes. I had to take a break and decided to go up to Moody Gardens in Galveston for Shark night. I had a good time. They had a pretty cool film showing about Great White sharks and elephant seals.

I’m trying to catch up on my email now. I got one for the Weekly Photo Challenge from the Daily Post. So, here’s my entry.

I took all these pictures there except the last one. I took that one in Korea at the fish market. Seems people there really love to eat those things. I’m not sure exactly what they are. I think they’re some kind of sea squirt.

  

Getting Moody

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I’ve only been home a few days so far. I’ve been really busy trying to catch up with everything that’s been needing to get done while I was at work over the last few weeks. Especially my TAXES (UGH)!! 🙁

I decided I needed a break. I got free tickets to “SHARKS After Hours” at Moody Gardens. I’m going. 🙂

Moody Gardens is in Galveston and the show is from 7-10 pm. I know I’m not going to feel like driving all the way home at that hour, so I got a hotel for the night. I figure I can hang out for a while before I head home and then stop and see my friends at Surfside on the way home.

I hope to get some more decent pictures while I’m up there, (these are from last time I went).

Moody Gardens has a bunch of cool stuff to see. They have a ‘rain forest pyramid’, an ‘aquarium pyramid’, another one that has special exhibits (last time I went it was about pirates), a water park with nice white sandy beach, zip lines, a paddle boat, etc.

I don’t have any kids but apparently it’s a great place to take them. I always see lots of families. They all look like they’re having a good time. 🙂

green sea anemone

green sea anemone

underbelly of a sea star

underbelly of a sea star

sea dragon

sea dragon

pot bellied sea horse

pot bellied sea horse

puffer fish

puffer fish

sea turtle

sea turtle

chameleon

chameleon

penguins

penguins

orchids DSC04855

Songs of the Sea: A Pirate Looks At 40- Jimmy Buffett

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This is one of my all time favorite songs by one of my favorite artists. I grew up on the beach in Florida. I grew up with Jimmy Buffett songs. I always love a good songwriter (storyteller). I always felt like he was writing his songs about me and my friends. 😉

This particular song is really hitting home right now. I just had a birthday and definitely still feeling like I’m “arriving too late”. I’ve mentioned before about how things have changed (for the worse) in the maritime industry.

Yeah, this about sums it up for me…

Yes, I am a pirate two hundred years too late.
The cannons don’t thunder there’s nothin’ to plunder
I’m an over forty victim of fate
Arriving too late, arriving too late.

Heading Home

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Things will probably be a little slow around the blog for the next day or 2. I got off the rig yesterday (NICE birthday present) on the helicopter and have been traveling since last night.

The company was nice enough to arrange hotel rooms for us (at the same place I stayed when I came out to work). The problem was, we got there at around noon and they didn’t have any rooms available til earliest 1400. 🙁

I was already tired, since I’d been up since 2200 the night before. I have been working the midnight to noon watch the past week or so. I went to eat lunch while waiting for the room to get ready.

At least the food was decent.

I went back to the front desk a little after 2, hoping they were going to have rooms ready. To my surprise, they did. 🙂

They had a porter help me bring my bags to the room. First thing we noticed was the smell. Disgusting! Like old socks, dirty laundry, moldy old basement. Yuk! His shoes squished through the carpet when he walked into the room and flipped on the lights to show me the bathroom.

OK, so he called the desk and they set up another room for me. We went back down there to trade keys, went back up to the room and… the new key didn’t work. 🙁

The porter found a maid cleaning rooms down the hall and got her to open the room with her passkey. At least I could check out the room and get settled a little bit. The porter showed up in just a few minutes with a new (working) key. 🙂

By this time it was after 3, and the driver was coming to pick us up for our flight at 2000. I figured I had better get up by 1800 so I could have a shower and a cup of tea.

I had already tried to check my email and it was impossible to connect to the internet in the room (again). I was really too tired to get dressed again and go down to the lobby to check email (or work on the blog).

I did get to sleep a couple of hours. I think I probably got 1-2 hours total on the flight to London this morning too. Im hoping I can get at least a little bit more on the way to Houston. It’s another long flight and I’ll be in the window seat this time. Last one I was in the middle (which I hate- doesn’t everyone?).

I should be home by dinnertime tonight (Houston time). I doubt I’ll manage to do anything tonight but pass out as soon as I get in the door.

I HOPE my luggage makes it this time. I’ll only have about 2 weeks at home before I have to be back onboard the ship again. I’ll have only 12 days at home to get everything done and rested up to go back over to Angola and start this trip all over again (in reverse).

Photo Challenge: Red

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Here’s my entry for the Word a Week Challenge: Red from A Word In Your Ear. 

It’s a photo of a lighthouse in Gijang, South Korea. I went there to see the Gijang Anchovy Festival a couple of months ago when I was in Korea for a travel writing/photography workshop. 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Containers ll – Scotch Whisky

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Here’s another good example of containers for this weeks challenge. 

I got to take a tour of the Glenfiddich Distillery in Scotland recently. 😉

I had no idea, but I learned that Scotland earns more money from whisky than it does from the oil industry.  That’s a LOT of whisky! 🙂

Five Hundred Dollars?

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Ever spent the night in a $500/night hotel room?

I recently did. I flew from Aberdeen to Angola to join a ship. I was lucky the company I’m working for got me a room for the night in Luanda. Here’s a picture of it.

What do you think? Worth it? Maybe it’s the view that makes it all worthwhile… 

Maybe it’s the food? I have to admit, the food was pretty good. 🙂 

It was extra. 🙁 The food and drinks were very expensive, just like the hotel room itself was. I could hardly believe it when I took a look at the menu!

The food was good, but not THAT good! I mean, really, $28 for a club sandwich? How can they justify $10 for a cup of (white) coffee? No, NOT in some fancy, hyped- up Starbucks clone, just the hotel restaurant. Maybe it was the milk? No, a cup of tea cost the same $10.

I guess I could save money and drink beer, it was only $7.50. 😉

 

One Word Photo Challenge: Rainbow

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My entry to the photo challenge (rainbow). Here’s the link. 🙂

The first photo was taken while I was working as captain of a tuna purse seiner out of Tarawa, Kiribati. We usually got to port to unload our catch every couple of weeks and I took advantage of the chance to go ashore every time I could.

Tarawa is a small island and it reminds me of what I imagine life would have been like in the 50’s. I had some great times there with some beautiful people.

If you want a better idea of what it’s really like, try reading the book “Sex Lives of Cannibals” by J. Maarten Troost. It made me feel like I was back on the island. It’s hilarious! 😉

DSCN3460

The second one is from a trip I took down to Argentina with a friend in 2010. We went to Iguazu Falls (very impressive) and this picture was from the path around the top of the falls. I do have some much better pictures of the main falls, but they didn’t have any rainbows. 🙁

The last one is one I took while I was at work last summer on the semisubmersible Ensco 8506. The supply boat “Chartres” was standing by and in the perfect spot to get these pictures. Too bad my camera was so fogged up from the AC inside, I could have got some even better shots. I had to wait til my lens cleared up but was still able to get a couple of decent shots. 🙂

CIMG1415

Weekly Photo Challenge: Relic

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This is my entry for the Weekly Photo Challenge: Relic. Here’s the story behind the photos I chose for my entry.

I took a trip to Indonesia a couple of years ago to look into having a sailboat built for me. I have been trying to find a way to move out of the USA for years.

The main hold up has been that no other country will give me a work visa (unless I can do something no one else in their country can do). I thought about teaching English (TEFL) and I still think about doing that sometimes (maybe I will one of these days, but I hate to  put myself in a situation where that is my only option. I started writing and blogging as another option to hopefully help me make a living without being stuck in the USA.

I am looking for more freedom. I don’t want to jump from the frying pan of the USA (which is rapidly becoming a police state) into a situation where I don’t really know the rules and have restricted myself by not having the finances (because I had to take a low paying job) to get out of any trouble I don’t know enough to stay out of.

So, maybe I’m trying to have my cake and eat it too, but I really think we all deserve to live a wonderful life. The life WE choose. Free to do the things we enjoy, in the physical location we want to be.

I don’t agree with borders in principle. I don’t agree with the idea of any political authority. “Leaders” are just regular people and governments are just groups of people. None of them are any more special than you or me. I believe we are ALL equal under the law (natural law) and we should ALL have the same opportunity to live our own lives without interference.

I think we ALL have the inherent right to do anything we want as long as we don’t hurt anyone else (who has the same rights as we do). The founding fathers of the USA enshrined that principle in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution (Bill of Rights), but the government we have now has corrupted that ideal beyond belief.

We are already FAR beyond the point where the original colonists revolted. I keep wondering WTF has happened to the American people that they submit without question to things like the TSA groping their children in the airports.

We have gone from a country where we had a revolution over a 4% tax on TEA, to a country where the government routinely locks up people for LIFE for mere possession of a harmless plant!?!

OK, enough with the politics (for now). 😉

I went to Indonesia look into buying a boat. I thought I could build a business with it that would allow me to live in a foreign country. I thought if I had a means to support myself, I could make the move. Too bad the price of the boats had gone up so much since I first heard about them. There was really no way I could afford one.

Unless it was one like the ones in these pictures. 🙁

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/relic/

Around Aberdeen: Day 4

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Another fine day out practicing in the life boats. 🙂

After we got in to the dock, I spent the afternoon wandering around Aberdeen again.

First thing I did was stop in at C-Mar. I had worked for C-Mar (US) off and on since 2007 when Oceaneering brought my boat back to the Gulf of Mexico and the culture shock was just too much.

I had asked C-Mar too many times to count to find me some work outside the Gulf of Mexico but for some strange reason, they never could come up with anything. 🙁

While wandering around Aberdeen the past couple of days, I had walked right by C-Mars local office. I figured the least I could do was stop by and introduce myself, and so I did. 😉

Everyone was very nice to me and offered me tea and coffee, but I could see they were all pretty busy and working hard. I didn’t stay long. They weren’t in the market for any DPOs or deck officers (if I had been a subsea engineer, they would have jumped).

After a quick cup of tea with the subsea dept head, I found my way to the Tolbooth Museum, another one of Aberdeens FREE museums. It’s right on the main (Union) street downtown.

It was in a very old building (built between 1616- 1629) and had a lot of history. It’s also supposed to be one of the most haunted places in town (I didn’t see any ghosts). It used to be the old jail for Aberdeen. It was a little hairy climbing up the worn old, dark, narrow, spiral stairs to the exhibits in the former cells on the upper levels.

They had some models of Aberdeen, past and present. They had some items from the city archives (a very good collection). They had some old manacles, locks and chains they used to use on the prisoners. There were some interesting stories posted up about former prisoners and the way they lived back in the old days.

I thought the museum was interesting, but not really somewhere I wanted to spend a lot of time. Not because it was haunted or creepy feeling, but because I don’t really want to spend any more time in a jail than I have to. 😉

I found the bus stop and made my way up to Old Aberdeen. I was talking to a lady who sat next to me and she told me where to get off, but I could see the buildings of Kings College (Aberdeen University) as we drove along the street. The bus dropped me off practically right across the street from the main chapel.

It was another gorgeous day and as I was trying to line up my camera to try to take in the whole scene, I started talking to a guy I saw pulling weeds in the yard of a house across the way.

We actually talked for quite a while. He even let me into his garden to take some good shots of the Kings College buildings in his reflecting pool. 🙂

Here’s how it looked from the street.

After I spent some time looking around the college (and peeking in the open rooms- too bad the chapel was closed, the stained glass looked very nice), I walked up the street to the Cruickshank Botanic Gardens.

The gardens and zoological building were only a few blocks from where I got off the bus and were part of the university. The gardens were really nice and part of it near the entrance was full of a large group of people having a reception of some sort.

I walked through all the beautiful, differently landscaped gardens and found the Zoological Building. It has a small museum but I got there just a few minutes too late. They were already closed.

I kept walking. I was trying to make my way to Seaton Park and the River Don. I found another interesting looking churchyard. This one was St Machars. It was already closed for the day. I checked this one out online later and was sorry I missed seeing the interior.

I enjoyed wandering around the churchyard and looking at some of the gravestones (am I weird for finding this stuff interesting?) and the views out over the nearby Seaton Park.

I saw some of the formal gardens of the park from the churchyard, so it was easy for me to find my way down there. I walked around the park enjoying the well tended fields, forests and flowers for a while.Then I found the River Don and decided to follow it down to the sea (Aberdeen Bay).

It was a nice walk along the river and through the woods. I passed people walking their dogs and jogging. I followed the path til it came out over one of the oldest bridges in Scotland (Brig ‘o Balgownie) and into a cute neighborhood of traditional cottages covered with beautiful, sweet-smelling flowers. Roses, honeysuckle and other colorful blooms lined the roadway all the way out to the main road back into downtown.

I stopped into a local pub for change and a drink, then caught the bus back into downtown. I had seen a place advertising traditional Irish music (which I LOVE) and I wanted to try to get there in time for a good seat.

I did get there a little late and the place was pretty crowded. It didn’t really matter tho, since the band wasn’t going to be there anyway. I was rather disappointed. 🙁

I only had a couple of beers before I managed to find my way back to my hotel for the night. More lifeboat ‘training’ in the morning.

Around Aberdeen: Day 3

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Another day spent out playing in the lifeboats off Aberdeen. The weather was still gorgeous and we had a good time practicing man overboard maneuvers, towing and ‘pacing’ (running alongside other boats in order to transfer personnel).

I got out in time to make it to the Aberdeen Maritime Museum before it closed. I had about an hour and a half to check out the exhibits.

I was pretty impressed. It had a lot of really nice stuff. They had a really great concentration on the offshore oilfields around Scotland. They had a scale model of the Murchison oil platform of the North Sea. I was surprised to see they had an example of a DP desk (an older model like one I started on).

They had some great stuff on fishing and whaling and shipbuilding. They had a few nice ship models and lots of paintings and photographs.

I especially liked the old sailing ships. The Thermopylae was built by Walter Hood & Co. for the Aberdeen Line. She was one of the fastest and most famous ships of her time and a really beautiful example of a clipper (IMHO the most beautiful ships of all time).

The museum even had a Newt Suit (rigid diving suit) and an ROV from Oceaneering.

I used to work for Oceaneering and spent a lot of time with the divers and ROV pilots. That was one of my favorite jobs. I never would have quit if they had continued to work my boat overseas. I LOVED that job! We had some great adventures and the crew was like one big family. Those were some good times. 🙂

I really liked the museum, but I didn’t have enough time to spend there. They closed at 5:00 pm. At least I didn’t feel like I wasted any money (the museum is FREE). 🙂

After the museum closed, I figured I would need to go shopping. I had called the airlines about my luggage after class got out and they told me they still had no idea where it might be. I had already been without any clean clothes since Saturday and so I really needed to break down and buy at least a few things.

I know most women are supposed to be really into shopping, but it’s not really my thing (unless it’s in a bookstore). 😉

I do love beautiful clothes, but they don’t really make the kinds of things I like in large sizes. It depresses me to go clothes shopping. Nothing I really like fits me right. 🙁

One of the guys at the training center had told me about a place to get cheap clothes, so I headed up the street to look for it. On the way, I found the tourist center and stopped in for some information and to ask about a tour on the chance I might have the time.

I found the store and shopped until they ran me out at closing time. I really didn’t buy much, just a pair of pants, a pair of shorts and a couple of shirts. It still cost me about 50 GBP! I wouldn’t really call that cheap. Not for the kind of (really cheap) quality I got. At least now I had SOMETHING clean to wear and I could have my jeans washed while I was in class the next day.

Surprise! When I got back to the hotel, I had good news! My luggage had finally arrived! I was so happy to see it, I didn’t even mind that I had just spent 50 pounds for nothing.

Oh well, I guess I can always use more clothes (not). 😉

Around Aberdeen: Day 2

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We had a good day in class. The weather was gorgeous and we took the conventional boats out in the morning. We had to wait til the afternoon to drop the free fall boat. The water level in the River Dee would not allow us to do it safely until after lunch (because of the large tidal range).

So, we lowered the lifeboats and practiced manuevering and coming alongside the wharf. We all got some good experience coming in alongside, like we would if we were doing drills on the ship.

According to regulations, we are supposed to launch (and recover) our (conventional) boats at minimum once every 3 months (free fall lifeboats will probably only be launched in a real emergency since there is no practical way to get them back aboard once they’ve been dropped).

That is, IF we have the opportunity to do it safely (which turns out to be a nice loophole).

After lunch, we launched the free fall boat. WOW!

It was like being on a roller coaster. Except that it’s a hell of a lot more uncomfortable. The seats are placed one above the other, so you had to get in the bottom one, lie down and strap yourself in. Someone else would lie in the seat above you.

I am not really claustrophobic, but I felt VERY cramped, my knees were almost up against my chest and I’m pretty short. Some of the guys were much taller than I am and I think they were very uncomfortable. We were all glad to get out of the boat!

I can’t imagine what it would be like to have to load up and launch a large (60 man +) free fall boat in a real emergency. It does definitely take longer to get in there and strap yourself in.

We all got to launch the boat at least once as 1st coxswain and again as 2nd coxswain. I was trying to take pictures and get it on film, but I never did get a really good video. If I can ever figure out how to post my own video on here, I’ll do it. 😉

After class, I wandered down Market Street again. I decided to walk down the waterfront to see where I wound up. It was a pretty day and I enjoyed walking by the water. The boats are all tied up right there along the streets. Right up in the middle of town.

I saw one boat operated by a company I used to work for and wondered if anybody I knew was on there (the Seawell, operated by Helix). Too bad the ports are all so ‘security’ concious now. It’s not like it used to be when you could just stop by and say hello. It’s a real shame and a major loss as far as I’m concerned.

It’s sad, but we don’t see much of the working waterfront in the US anymore. They’ve moved most of the port operations way out of town and away from view. Most people are completely unaware of the maritime industry and what it’s all about. I think we’re losing important parts of our culture and history.

I walked through an area of quiet streets and warehouses. I wound up back on the waterfront at the entrance to the harbor. I found a couple more artfully decorated dolphins waiting for me by the old lighthouse. 🙂

I hung out there for a while enjoying the view and the sun. I was looking for some real dolphins, but no luck.

I took off walking towards a ferris wheel I could see in the distance. I don’t know why, but I never really thought about swimming at the beaches of Scotland. It turns out that Aberdeen does have a pretty decent sandy beach. There were only a couple of kids playing in the surf, but plenty of people walking along the ‘boardwalk’.

Right away I found myself in a strange little neighborhood of neat little townhouses. I had wandered into Footdee.

As I was wandering around, taking pictures of all the cute little houses and their fantastic, very creative decorations, I met a couple of friendly local people.

One lady was sitting outside enjoying the beautiful warm sunny weather while reading a book. She told me that the locals didn’t mind at all that the tourists come through to take pictures and ask them questions. I was a little surprised at that since when I was growing up in Florida, we all used to get a little annoyed when the tourists invaded our little town and pestered us constantly with the same silly questions.

I was taking pictures of the cute little houses when a man stopped to ask me if I knew what I was taking pictures of. Did I know what all those cute little houses were all about? No, I didn’t. So we had a really nice conversation about the history of Footdee and the fortunes of the local fishermen and their fellows around the world.

He used to be a fisherman (so did I) and he told me how the government had moved the fishing community from their previous location to Footdee (Fish Town) in the 1800s. The area is made up of the North Square and the South Square. There is a church/community center in the middle and the fishermen live in town houses surrounding the squares.

The cute little houses I loved so much were actually originally for the storage of the fishermens nets. The homes around the outside of the squares were all originally one story, but as a family grew and needed more space (and could afford it), they would add on another level.

I think I kept him there talking for too long. He seemed surprised when he noticed what time it was and had to hurry off to a meeting. 🙂

I continued on taking pictures until a tour bus full of excited Italians showed up. I left the fishermen behind and took a walk further down the beach road. It was nice to see the people walking their dogs and picnicing along the beach.

I walked down to the ferris wheel and amusement park I had noticed earlier from the lighthouse. The amusement park was closed, but there was a fairly large collection of bars, cafes and restaurants.

After a cup of hot coffee, I made my way back towards the city center. I came back up through the Market Square and down Union Street til I found the Terrace Gardens and the main library. It was a pretty area and some interesting archetecture and gardens to look at.

I finally wound up back on Union Street and then caught the bus back to my hotel in Altens. In for the night and another early morning.

Around Aberdeen: Day 1

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I made it to the rig on Monday. I’m settling in here at my new job. So far everything is going as well as can be expected. I’m learning the ropes here. Nothings really much different on the ship itself or it’s operations.

The big differences are just in the way they do the paperwork. They DO have free fall lifeboats on this vessel. I didn’t notice that from looking it up online. So, I guess there really was a good reason for them to send me to the class last week. 🙂

I did have a good time after all. The course was better than expected. I got a chance to look around Aberdeen after the end of class each day.

The first day was spent just wandering around town. I walked down the main road til I saw something interesting. The first thing I saw was the seamans center (it was closed) and the Fishermans Mission.

Yes, of course it was interesting to me, I’m a seafarer! 😉

I stopped in to chat with the man who was running the Fishermans Mission. We compared notes on the situation in the UK and the US regarding fishermen and fish stocks. Seems things are pretty much the same. Not enough fish, getting harder to catch, much harder to make a living, more and more regulations, less and less people joining the industry.

I found out the seamans center didn’t open til 1800 and planned to stop by on my way back that night.

Further down the road, I found the Maritime Museum. Yes, it looked interesting, but it was closed on Monday. 🙁

I hoped to stop by again but would have to hope to get out of school early since they closed at 1700.

I wandered around the downtown area for a while. The city was involved in an art project called “Wild Dolphins“. Different artists were given ‘dolphins’ to decorate as they saw fit. You could pick up a map to follow the trail to find them all. There were quite a few scattered around town.

I found lots of interesting old buildings, pubs, restaurants, shops, the tourist information center, and Castlegate with its Mercat Cross (and Spiderdolphin). 🙂

As I was gathering information at the tourist center, the ‘Queens Baton’ and its entourage came running by. Scotland was hosting the Commonwealth Games for the first time in many years so they were running around this ‘Baton’. Kind of like the Olympic torch.

There was a buzz about it at our school, they were looking forward to the attention of the press. Our instructor even got to launch the free fall lifeboat to carry the torch down the River Dee while the BBC filmed the whole thing.

It seemed to be a major event all over the city, everyone I spoke to mentioned it. They seemed very happy and excited about it.

I walked by Marischal College and a statue of Robert the Bruce (King of the Scots). I turned the corner and discovered the St Nicholas Kirkyard. That was a pretty cool place, a quiet old church surrounded by big old trees and gravestones green with moss. I saw plenty from 1600, 1700, 1800 and even earlier. I always thought people back then died much younger, but many of them lived 60+ years (according to their epitaphs).

I found myself on Belmont Street, an area of cobblestone streets and old buildings, re-purposed to bars and restaurants. It was a pretty lively area to hang out, relax and enjoy the day. I wish had more time to spend out and about town. I would have liked to relax over dinner and drinks in a few of these places. 😉

I was getting tired and my feet were getting sore. Walking for hours in flip flops is not really the most comfortable way to do it, but I wasn’t ready to buy a new wardrobe yet and was told my luggage would arrive by the time I got back to my hotel, soooo… no shopping (yet).

I just made my way back to the hotel, to be ready for another day of exploration in the morning. 🙂

Week in Review: Aberdeen to Angola

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I made it to Luanda, Angola this morning. I was happy to find out that they were not sending me directly to work after all. They put me up in a nice hotel for the day so I could get some much needed rest.

It´s really a very nice hotel, but I can´t say much for the surroundings. Actually, I pretty much just passed out once I got to my room. I was really tired from the trip.I´m just not up to staying awake for 24 hours at a time any more. 😉

I was told by the driver this morning that he would be picking me up at 0530 in the morning, but that was not certain. I have been trying to check the email for a message to see if that will be the time for sure or if things will change.

The problem is, the internet does not seem to work very well here. I tried for a while this morning. It was in and out, but I could get a few things done in between the computer dropping offline.

Tonight (so far) it´s been impossible. I had to go down to the business center and work there. I´m trying to get a little work done before dinner and then will go to bed early since it looks like I´ll have to get up at 0330 to get ready for work.

So, it´s been an interesting week so far. I had a nice time in Scotland. The course was better than I expected. I´ve never been down in one of those freefall lifeboats before and yes, it was definitely different.

I hope to hell I never have to get into one of those things for real!

Yes, as Fraser (our instructor) told us, there are advantages to them. The main one is that you can launch and get away from the danger much faster. But OMG, those things are uncomfortable!

interior- freefall lifeboat

interior- freefall lifeboat

Not that the regular lifeboats are at all comfortable themselves. Imagine 60 people stuffed into an 8 x 20 ft (totally enclosed) space. You´re all strapped down in your seatbelts. The boat is rocking and rolling, pitching and heaving. It´s noisy. It´s wet, or at least damp and humid. There´s not a lot of ventilation. It´s either sweltering or freezing, depending on where in the world you´re sailing. If you´re REALLY lucky no one has started puking.

loading up the lifeboat

loading up the lifeboat

Imagine that scenario. The freefall lifeboats are WORSE!

We were riding around in a 9 man boat (Verhoef brand) for the week. There were only 6 of us in the class (plus the instructor), so 7 total in a 9 man boat. The one time we all got in the boat and launched, it was horribly cramped and crowded. I can´t imagine what it would be like on a 100 man boat (UGH). 🙁

After we did that one full launch, we launched a few more times with just 3 people in the boat. It made it much better. We all got a chance to be 1st coxswain and then 2nd coxswain.

We practiced driving the boat around the river Dee to get used to its manuevering capabilites (it handles much better than the usual -twinfall- lifeboats).

We spent a couple of days out in the bay. We practiced man overboard drills. We worked with the other (twinfall) lifeboats to practice towing and pacing exercises.

While we were out there, we got to see the dolphins playing all around us. THAT was fantastic! I wish I had better pictures to show you. They were all around us and jumping completley out of the water. I´ve never seen them doing flips on thier own like that. I thought they only did that in the aquariums, but they were having a fine time. It was great to see them every day. 🙂

In the river, we were priviledged to watch a couple of big harbor seals that would come and play right next to our dock. I couldn´t get any pictures of them, they were just too fast. Pretty entertaining to see.

The guys who worked at the facility were happy to see the small salmon hanging around the dock. They said they hadn´t seen so many in a long time. That was nice to hear. The river (Dee) looked pretty clean to me, but they said it was really pretty dirty (compared to historically).

It didn´t get dark til after 10:00 PM, so I was able to get out after class every day and wander around the city. I was really impressed by the history and the beautiful location of the city of Aberdeen.

I wandered around the harbor to the lighthouse at the jetties and spent some time exploring down there and then up along the beach. I went to see the Maritime Museum which was very nice. They had exhibits on the old sailing ships and fishing boats this area was famous for. Then they had some nice stuff on the oil and gas industry which is driving the economy now. I even saw an old DP desk!

DP desk

DP desk

I stopped in and talked to people at the Fishermans Mission and the Seafarers Center. I also stopped in at C-Mars office here, just to see if there was anybody there I knew (nope- but they were nice to me anyway). I met a former fisherman who told me the story of Footdie. I learned all about the different kinds of shortbread from a lady in a shop. People were really friendly and helpful.

I wandered around a couple of old churchyards and parks (churches were closed by the time I got there so I couldn´t go inside, but the stained glass looked pretty impressive even from the outside). I went up to Kings College and talked to a nice man who lived accross the street for quite a while. He showed me a great place to take pictures from his garden pond where the steeple from the church reflected in the water.

Kings College reflecting in the pool

Kings College reflecting in the pool

I wandered up into the biological gardens and then down along the River Don. I was lucky to have some gorgeous weather while I was there. The temperature was perfect, in the 70s all day. It got pretty chilly once the sun went down, so I had to head back since I didn´t have a jacket until my luggage finally showed up. It was time to go to bed by then anyway.

All in all, it was a very nice trip. Now I´ve been re-certified as a lifeboat coxswain and that should be good for another 2 years (depending on who I´m working for). I wouldn´t mind going back to Aberdeen for another course. 😉

Adventures in Angola?

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I finished up my lifeboat course(s) and today I’m off to Angola.

I’ll be leaving Aberdeen today and will fly into Luanda, Angola at 0700 tomorrow morning. I can’t wait to go directly to the ship after being up for 24+ hours! I can only HOPE I have better luck with my luggage this trip than I did last time.

My bag did finally arrive late on Wednesday. I had already gone shopping since when I called the airline, they still had no idea where my bag was or when(if) it might arrive. I only bought a couple of shirts and a pair of jeans since I was hoping my bag would still show up. Whew! I’m just glad I finally got it back.

I was able to get out and do a little bit of exploring while I was here. It didn’t get dark til after 10 PM, so I didn’t feel like heading in and going right to bed after class. I’ll write up more about all the interesting things I found in Aberdeen once I get settled in on the ship.

I don’t know what the situation will be on arrival. I don’t expect that I’ll be able to get on the computer for a while. If you don’t hear from me for a few days, hopefully that’s the issue (and not a plane crash or a kidnapping). 😉

PS- Happy (late) 4th of July!

Luggage In Limbo

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I’m still here, but my luggage still isn’t!

I THOUGHT I finally had some good news today on the luggage front. I called the company who was tracking it down and they told me they had it and it would be delivered to my hotel tonight. 🙂

When I got to the hotel, the desk clerks told me they had good news for me with big smiles on their faces (they’ve been so nice and helpful to me since I’ve been here). They told me my luggage had arrived and they had already put it in my room.

I went to my room with a spring in my step.

Oh-oh.

When I opened the door, there was a big black bag sitting there. Too bad it wasn’t mine. It didn’t look anything like mine. It wasn’t even from the same flight or even the same airline!

So, I had to get on the phone to TRY (again) to get this straightened out. Of course, there is no one there to help me at this time of night. They are not there before I have to go to class, they are not there after I get out.

I spent 2 hours on the hotel phone tonight and still got NOWHERE. I finally found an email address to write to (online- nobody I spoke to on the phone would give me that valuable information). I sent them an email explaining the situation and TRYING to hold in my anger and frustration. Hopefully they will respond in the morning so I will be able to answer it before I leave for school (I seriously doubt that will happen).

I only have a US cell phone and so I have been TRYING to avoid having to sit on hold for hours at a time on an overseas call while TRYING to find someone to find out what happened to MY baggage.

Not to mention the poor soul who’s luggage showed up in my room tonight.

🙁

Tune in tomorrow for the continuing saga of the lost luggage…

Oh yeah, we did get to launch the free fall lifeboats today! Whooo! What a rush! I got some pictures and videos but too tired tonight to post it. I’ll get to it before too long. 🙂

Bizarre Barreleye Fish

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Sorry I haven’t been keeping up with the ‘editorial calendar’ I made up for the Blogging 201 challenge. I hope you haven’t been too disappointed. 😉

Here’s something I found online recently with the “Creature Feature”/”Wild Wednesday” in mind.

This has got to be one of the weirdest fish I’ve ever seen. It’s head is transparent! ONLY it’s head is transparent!

There are lots of other sea creatures that are transparent all over, or mostly clear. It makes them less obvious to predators.

Supposedly, the transparent domed head helps this fish steal food from certain types of stinging ‘siphonophores‘ (colonial organisms- one common type is a Portuguese man-o-war).

It’s eyes are INSIDE that dome. What looks like it’s eyes are really it’s nostrils (or close enough). Weird. 🙂

These barreleye fish (or spook fish) live in deep water. This video is one of the first to ‘catch’ one alive. They’ve been caught before, but these types of deep sea creatures are not in the best shape when they come up to the surface. The changes in pressure are usually enough to seriously damage them (if not kill them outright).

I just think its amazing how much we still don’t know about what’s in the water all around us. There are so many beautiful and fascinating creatures out there and we haven’t even scratched the surface.

I think it’s a shame that through our actions we are doing such damage to pretty much everything else on the planet. I would hate to see that continue til it’s too late and we won’t even know all the things we lost.

I do think the other things that share the planet with us have a ‘right’ to be here too. Yes, I do think everything on this planet is here for a reason. Everything is connected. We are all part of the whole.

I think humans are completely unbalancing the entire world. Most of the problems we have to deal with now are the predictable end result of the fact that there are over 7 BILLION people on the planet (and we are STILL increasing that number daily)!

The crowding is not good for us or for anything else that has to share the planet with us. We are NOT the be-all and end-all of everything. Too bad most of us think we are. 🙁

Cadets Having Fun

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I was goofing around on the computer tonight (youtube) and came across this video from the International Maritime Academy.

It’s nice to see the cadets can still have some fun while they’re in school. 🙂

Songs of the Sea: Song of the Sea- Dan Fogelberg

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This is one of my all time favorite songs by one of my favorite artists. Great video on this one too! I hope you like it. 🙂

Song of the Sea

Broken clouds along the blue horizon
The sun is setting and the wind is dying down
Outward bound, there is music all around
Can you hear it, it’s the, the song of the sea?

Soundings taken at the edge of darkness
The widest silences the heart can ever hear
You can steer to the stars along your lee
Set your bearings to the, the song of the sea

Oh, and the song is as ancient as the days
And the winds upon the waves
Let it carry you away, so far away
(Aaa)

Trim my sails to greet the breakin’ morning
Past the headlands to the rolling open sea
An’ it comes to me, I have never felt so free
As when I’m listening to the, the song of the sea

Oh and the song is as ancient as the days
And the winds upon the waves
Let it carry me away, so far away

Some were meant to watch the world from windows
And never look beyond the road beneath their feet
But for me, I was always meant to be
One forever chasing the song of the sea
The song of the sea
The song of the sea

Thanks for reminding me Ken!! 🙂

Capt Jills Kvetching

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OK, fair warning here, I’m going to be bitching (a bit) in this post…

This week I’m in Houston re-taking the Basic Safety Training (BST) course. This is a class that the USCG (Coast Guard) started requiring all mariners to take back when they were trying to get the US in compliance with STCW (Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping) around the turn of the century (STCW 95 went into full effect in the US Feb 2, 2002).

BST is a very basic course that is supposed to teach you what you should know before you can go offshore. Things you would know if you’d ever spent more than a couple of days (working) out there. Things like ‘what is a station bill? what is a muster station? what are the alarm signals? what do you do if someone falls overboard?, where can you find a lifejacket? how do you use a fire extinguisher? etc.

STCW is an international standard and the USCG is in charge of making sure all US mariners comply.

For once, the USCG actually made a rule that sort of made sense. They decided that if you were still sailing during the 5 years before you had to renew your credentials, (still working offshore where you were required to do safety training and drills every week), then you wouldn’t be required to spend another week of your supposed time off and a few hundred dollars (minimum) to ‘learn’ how to do such things as put on a life jacket or about the different types of fires.

It’s really pretty sad to have to require someone who’s been going to sea for 20 years (or even ONE year) to spend a week of their time off in this kind of class.

At this point, the USCG still does not require us to take the BST class more than once. They have caved in to the IMO and WILL be forcing us all to re-take the BST refresher course starting in 2017 (but they’re not yet). So far as I know, there are no approved ‘refresher’ courses since this is a fairly new ruling. Hopefully, the refresher course will only cover what we don’t do every week on board the ships. Things we CAN’T do (supposedly) out there like jump in the pool and/or put out real fires.

Maybe they’ll be sensible and just let us do a one day course on only those couple of things (I can hope, can’t I). 😉

In the meantime, certain companies don’t really care what the rules say. They insist that no one could possibly be ‘safe’ unless and until  they finish going to training for THEM.

I see it more and more often in the Gulf of Mexico. The drilling companies (clients) are especially bad about it. Instead of accepting Safegulf or Rigpass, (both of which cover the same very basic materials and are pretty much the same as the BST but more for the rigs vs the boats), each company wants you to go to THEIR training before you go offshore (even tho it’s all pretty much the same material).

Some of the trainers won’t even give you any proof that you attended the class! They don’t want you to be able to go to another company and avoid having to take it again (so they will get paid again for teaching you the same stuff they just taught you 2 months ago)!!

I have no idea why. Well, yes I do, but nobody likes to admit it. All the STCW courses cover the same material. They HAVE to. The USCG requires certain things to be taught. They require that we spend so much time on each subject. There is very little leeway in how these courses are taught.

The purpose of the STCW was to ensure that everybody in the entire world has the EXACT SAME TRAINING. Every country that is approved (on the white list) has basically the same courses teaching the same things. That is so that we can all be certain that every seafarer from every country will have at least the same basic minimum knowledge base.

Now, it seems the intent of the STCW is being subverted. I am hearing that some countries will not accept training from other countries. The sailors have to go and spend all that time and money taking the classes again for the country they want to work in! In fact, the US is one of those countries! (I am simplifying it a little here).

The USCG will not accept a course if I go to another country to take it. For example, if I went to take Basic Safety Training in Greece, they would not accept it. If someone from the UK were to come here and try to get a mariners document, they would have to re-take the BST course here. The USCG is supposedly in the process of changing the rules (again) but in the meantime, its a real pain in the ass for a lot of sailors around the world!

I’m actually lucky this time. I am starting a new job and the company is sending me to the ‘training’ this time. I have pretty much always had to spend the time and money out of my own pocket for all the other times I’ve had to do this.

I spent over $50,000 (!!!!!) re-taking classes I already took in order to get my chief mates license between 2002-2008!

Basically, I am just sick and tired of having to take the same classes over and over again. There’s very rarely even anything new covered in them. The very few things that have changed are things we could have got out of a safety alert or an email. But nooooooo, we have to go spend a week and a few hundred bucks (minimum) to sit through all the rest of the stuff that has NOT changed.

I think if I have to do it again at this point, that will be the last straw. I would just have to say the hell with it and give up sailing altogether. 🙁

And they wonder why it’s so hard to recruit mariners?

It’s very sad that this is what it’s coming to. People say to me, “how can you be against “safety””? OK, let’s get this straight! I am NOT against safety!! I AM against these people (companies and governments) making up rules and checklists and “training” to COVER THEIR ASSES instead of doing the RIGHT thing!

IMHO, the real purpose of all these things is so they can send us to a class for a few days and then send us offshore and if we ever get hurt they can say “it’s not OUR fault, we sent them to TRAINING, they should have known better”. In other words, it’s all about CYA.

Of course, no one will actually ADMIT that.

Instead of actually giving a new person the time to learn the job PROPERLY on the job, with the people they will be working with who know the specifics, they send a new person off for a few days in a classroom.

OK, that’s better than nothing, I admit it, but it’s  NOT better than the way they used to learn things BEFORE these rules were put into effect!

We used to take a new person offshore and train them on the job. We would make sure to watch over them and ‘mentor’ them until we were all sure that they knew how to handle themselves. There were enough people out there for that system to work very well. Now that the companies have cut the crew size down to the bare minimum (or less, in many cases), no one really has the time or energy to watch over a new person like that.

So, now we have to trust that they know everything they need to know when they show up on board. After all, they’ve been “trained” and there is no way anybody can just ‘watch and learn’ anymore. Everybody out there now is going to be expected to pull their weight.

Personally, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see that there were MORE accidents and injuries since the start of all this STCW and company “training”. (Don’t even get me started on the paperwork component of all this: JSAs, tool box talks, etc, etc, etc). So far, I have not seen any kind of apples to apples comparison. I’m not sure anybody wants to see that done. It might show the companies that all their talk about safety is just that- TALK!

They might just have to come up with something a little more effective at making things safer out there, like maybe putting a few more people back on board the vessels? Or maybe cutting down on all the extra workload each person has had to shoulder since they cut out over half the crew years ago? Or maybe actually letting a person get some rest before they go to work on crew change day instead of putting them straight to work after they’ve just been up for 24+ hours traveling! OMG, they would have to spend a few bucks on a hotel room!!!

Nawwww, that would never happen, they might just have to spend a few more dollars on those crew members then they do on all their ‘safety’ programs. Not ever gonna happen. 🙁