Busy busy!

Well, it’s been a busy couple of days! Having been told tocall the agent in the morning to find out what time the ship was arriving, Iimagined I would get a good 8 hours sleep in the hotel. So I was fairlyunimpressed to get a phone call at 0435 saying my taxi was waiting. I madecoffee, threw my clothes on and my things back into my bags while gulping itdown, got locked out of the room as I attempted to manoeuvre two large casesout of the door and eventually made it downstairs. The taxi ride was much longerthan I had been led to think it would be the night before, and involvedstopping off twice, each time the taxi driver got out with some pieces ofpaper, went off to do something with them and came back, all without a word,apart from asking me for my passport at the second stop. I began to feel morelike a parcel than a person, I had no idea where I was going or what was goingon around me, but at that point I simply had to trust that these people wouldget me to my destination! The last stop was at a rather small jetty, even inthe dark I could see that there was no way that the vessel would fit alongsideit, and sat, waiting for the next move, feeling confused. As dawn brightenedthe sky a man arrived, and I could over hear him talking to the Wind Star onthe phone, I had no idea who he was, but at least I appeared to be in the rightvicinity! Shortly after I was told, “Ok, we go now” and my bags and I were leddown the jetty to a small boat. The realisation dawned then, I was joining theship on the move, and I was wearing flip flops!


Luckily my trainers were at the top of my bag and while wechuntered out to the ship I changed footwear. It took about 25 minutes to reachher, as the boat approached the pilot ladder there was a bit of a swell, so it wasa case of choosing one’s moment carefully. I asked if there were anylifejackets and the agent (as the man on the phone had turned out to be) smiledand simply said “No, not here I don't think!” My bags went first and I was relieved to seethem safely on board, and then it was my turn to find a moment when themovement between the two vessels was at a minimum. I scrambled up easily, butit was still a relief to be on board. I was met by the Purser, and there wereforms to fill in and then I was taken to the bridge, where I was greeted by theCaptain and C/O. We waved goodbye to the Senior 2^nd officer ashe left on another boat. He’d been waiting for a relief for a couple of weeks Iam told, which explained the huge smile he had greeted me with as we passed atthe pilot station. He has been relieved by the previous 3/O, who is nowpromoted to 2/O and I am taking over as 3/O. I must say it is comforting toknow I have the guy who was doing my job around for a while, as there’s a hellof a lot to take in! Most handovers for new officers are done over a week, andwhile I am in one sense taking over immediately, he is going to be there for meto pick his brain for much longer.J


After going through the basics, the C/O’s first concern washow much sleep I’d had, and on hearing that I’d not slept for 24 hours and thenonly had about 5 hours kip in the hotel, she told me to go and rest up, sortmyself out and be ready to start work at 8 that evening. I could have huggedher! My cabin is one deck below the bridge, on the same deck as the mess. Ihave three mirrors in the cabin, plus one in the bathroom, (why there are somany is baffling, I guess they want us to be aware of how we look so that wedon’t look like scruffy baggages in front of the guests). I have a tv and dvd player,a fridge, lots of storage space, a double bunk and a porthole. Oh and wifiaccess too! (I am going to get through a lot of internet cards I think!) Iunpacked and went and found uniform, saw the Doc (she stuck needles in me) andthen meandered up to the bridge again, never having been through the PanamaCanal before I wanted to see what was going on. We were in one lock, and aboutto go through the second, for which the C/O suggested I go down to the aftmooring deck to see how things worked. I will save lengthy descriptions of theprocess until I know a bit more about it all, but in fact, my job will simplyinvolve talking to the bridge on the radio. After that, we went under a bridgeand I then decided it would be a good idea to take the C/O’s hints (she startedasking if I had actually slept yet) and go to bed.


I dozed for a few hours, but solid sleep evaded me, but Idid feel refreshed when I got up for dinner. I had a wander around the shipjust to see what was what, and then it was time to go to the bridge. I had theC/O with me for the first hour (she takes the 4-8 watch) and then the Captainfor the next three. It turns out that he and I have several friends in commonfrom the Tall Ships, he sailed as Captain with people that have in turn been myCaptain, only he sailed with them when they were still bosuns mates and 2^ndOfficers and Mates. I have promised to bore him silly with pictures of Pelican!Both he and the C/O are absolutely lovely and while I have no doubt that theywould not take kindly to stupid behaviour (which I have No intention ofstarting!) they are very approachable and supportive and easy to talk to.


This morning I got up to the bridge for my anchor watch andwas told to go straight down to the tender and go with the security officer tohave a quick look around the island we would be tendering to. There are severalislands, all tiny and all crammed with more wooden, palm thatched huts than youwould think possible. The locals were all busily setting up displays of theirwares, and I imagine that by the time our guests arrived on the island, thestreets (if you can call them that) would be a riot of colour. Sadly I couldn’tlinger and we returned to the Star. Anchor watch was quiet enough, and Imanaged to get a fair bit of reading done, there are many, many documents Imust be familiarised with! After lunch and a wee lie down I went back up to domy two hours day work – more reading, indispersed with asking the 2/O manyquestions about how this and that was done and where to find the right forms onthe computer system. I was still there when the C/O came up for her watch andwas firmly told to go and get some rest!


This evening, I imagined things would go as they had donelast night. The C/O asked how I was getting on with the familiarisation checklists, and I showed her what I’d got ticked off so far, she then asked me if Iknew where various alarm panels were, what I’d do if this happened or thathappened, how I’d call the Captain if he wasn’t in his cabin, and then ticked offa load more things and signed it off. At 2100 she went off saying she was goingto call the Captain, who turned up about 15 minutes later, he hung about forabout half an hour, we discussed the traffic situation (one cruise ship on myport side, passing about a mile and a half astern) he asked if I knew all thevarious ways I could get hold of him, told me to keep 2 miles away from anydanger and to call him if in any doubt and then shook my hand and told me hewas going to bed! I really hadn’t expected to be left to it that quickly, butI’m positive that they wouldn’t leave me if they had any worries. I told himthat I am absolutely determined not to let him down and thanked him, severaltimes I think! There was no traffic, and nothing going on, but of course, thatcouldn’t last! In the next 2 and ½ hours I had a fire alarm; (not an actualfire, just a lot of people smoking in the crew mess, but Dear God, when it wentoff I nearly had a heart attack! Sent the quartermaster to check it and resetit…) disposal of food waste, the incinerator, greys and blacks (lots of loggingof times and positions of start and stop times); and then a vessel, on my portside, crossing 1.4 miles ahead. Which, frankly, seemed rude, like someone brushingpast you when you’re in a wide open space. I spotted him from about 15 miles away,and watched and waited to see if he was going to give way, but when he got to 4miles, and still hadn’t done any thing, I called the Captain. He came up, andwe watched as this ship passed ahead of us, and then he thanked me for callinghim and went back to his cabin.


Allin all, I think this is going pretty well so far!


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