The Ocean Countess heading northwards off the coast of Fedje, Norway at just around sunset. The bar was probably swinging with sun down drinking revelers who were all blissfully unaware of the black cloud gushing out of the funnel after the ship. According to Wikipedia she had recently undergone a refit for the cruising season, they might have changed a few piston rings and liners while they were at it but it wasn’t apparent from the exhaust, they might have been blowing tubes of course, you have to give them the benefit of the doubt as they say. But I doubt that.
We were early for our scheduled berth so we had to take a pilot to take us to a waiting anchorage inside the fjord, anybody who has been up and down the Norwegian coast knows that you can’t find many places to anchor, unless you have a specially large quantity of chain. The depths are ferocious only a few cables off the coast and they get deeper as you move seaward. Alternatively you could steam up and down wasting bunkers, or drift if you are far enough off the coast, not great in the winter with a dirty great Atlantic swell on the beam. We were taken to an anchorage which had a shallowest depth of 60 metres, deep enough like, the 60 metres was the top of a sea mount descending to 200 metres and deeper further away, we pinpointed our position with the echo sounder and a few cross bearings and a check on the GPS to make sure it was working. I didn’t bother un-boxing the sextant for a horizontal angle as it was getting dark and I had left the key in my other uniform pocket. Finally when we were well anchored and finished with engines some of the boys went fishing.
I went out long enough to get a shot of these two fine Pollock, otherwise the midges were enough to drive you crazy, small tiny bastards near invisible but they made your skin crawl. I jumped back inside quick style and observed from the safe vantage of the bridge window! There wasn’t a whole pile caught, not for lack of fish, but for absence of willing fishermen, willing that is to be eaten alive by the small nightmarish gnats. Enough for fresh fish on the pan all the same. Cheers!
Posted in Fishing, From the ship, Norway, On the ship, Pilot, Pilotage, anchorage, anchoring, blog, photos, pinch of salt required, ship spotting
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Tagged anchoring, fishing, photography, photos, ship-spotting, Tim the sailor
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Took the ship into dry dock last Monday for a lick of paint and a service on the engine, the preparation is quite intense getting all the floors covered and checking all the jobs that need to be done. The intensity lifts a notch when bringing the ship into the actual dock itself there is no room for making mistakes, and no excuses either. Fortunately the weather gods were smiling on me with a westerly breeze, sunshine, good visibility. After a few “dead slow asterns” and a “dead slow ahead” hard a starboard,thrust here and there we got a few lines out and made fast in the dock. There wasn’t much chatting done in the last 15 minutes of the operation only a few commands squawked across the UHF, “put out your headline” “heave your aft spring” and the likes. The coffee had gone cold in the mug, but I was happy anyway.
Next up was to trim the ship to even keel and pump out the dock once the gates were closed, this took a few hours but eventually we were high and dry and up on the blocks. During the time the dock is being pumped out the activity increases to maximum level with all sorts of people and containers landing on the deck from cranes and skylifts, it’s a literal avalanche of people and machines.
As the last few inches of water are pumped out, cherry pickers are lowered into the dry dock and the water washing gets going. The hull has to be cleaned before painting. After that comes grit blasting of certain areas, then paint.
Walking around under the dripping ship is a bizarre experience. Avoiding trampling on the jelly fish and seaweed lying on the bottom of the dock and ignoring the vile stench of rotten sea creatures took up a large percentage of brain power. The rest was in awe of the magnitude of ship out of water and the parts that you don’t see everyday brought to light.
My reliever joined the same day, and I left the ship in the afternoon for a stretch of leave, the din of shipyard fading into the cerebral mechanism better to write down quick before it fades completely! More next week.
Posted in From the ship, On the ship, Shipping, dock, photos
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Tagged "dry dock", "on leave", b/w, ballast, blasting, docking, paint, photos, ship
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Lightning silent through the rain ahead makes the clouds glow for a split second and reflects along the water. Other ships appear in the same moment then disappear as fast. Only to be seen with eyes, cameras don’t do it justice.
Having said that I did try to catch a few bolts but they are quick lads that don’t hang around for me to get the setting right on the camera. The blackness between the strikes was infinite, and suddenly the sky would be alive then quiet again. Natures own spectacular light show.
The ship above looked like it got a blast but it was much further away and hit the sea. The thunder rumbled away making itself heard across the bay, reminding me that “you have to listen to thunder”.
Yours truly reflected in the duty mess window, with the tank deck behind me, but ahead of me really…..
A slight blur from the double reflection in the thick explosion proof glass, it’s about 2 inches thick.
The old jug handles sticking out nicely after the head was shorn by one of the AB’s, why pay €20 ashore when you can get it done for a 6 pack or 20 tabs onboard?
Back at sea again, new ship same old job! Mixed feelings about the whole thing, missing home but enjoying the job. I suppose it’s normal.
So Friday feels like a good day to get re-started, there will be photos aplenty and a few stories from the life at sea. Will try to post weekly or thereabouts to click in next Friday to see if I have managed to stay afloat!
Above a ship called Kapten Borchov as we were on the way towards the locks at Ijmuiden. The plume of smoke in the corner is the steelworks at Ijmuiden.
ARA is the short for Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Antwerp and is often the destination/ source for our cargoes. You usually are told load in this or that port and take it to ARA, and then you know what way to point the ship, later you get told which of the A, R or A you will end up in. It is a handy place to be heading for ARA that is, great for spares, stores and crew changes with Schipol airport nearby (barring any geological catastrophes casting ash high up into the atmosphere), the down side is that ARA is a hub for all sorts of nefarious characters like vetting inspectors and port state controllers and Class auditors who like to come and give you lots of paper and generally make life difficult.
Then there’s the cheeky boatmen and dodgy salesmen, and the language barrier apart from all that it’s a great place to be and it’s all in a days work.
Below a tug in Antwerp assisting in a berthing operation.
Posted in Amsterdam, Antwerp, Belgium, From the ship, Netherlands, Rotterdam
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Tagged Amsterdam, Antwerp, ARA, b/w, photos, Rotterdam
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