36 Days at Sea

We have now been at sea for 36 days, and we are still steaming around in circles.  We were supposed to have a 3 day port visit last week but as the embassy messed up our DipClear we ended up just going to anchor.  After the first day there was a limited boat routine during the working day but needless to say with everything else going on I didn’t manage to get ashore.

 

It has been a long time since I spent so long at sea without a port visit and it will be another three weeks until we are programmed to get back in. It is not so bad though as everyone has settled into a nice routine and it can be quite peaceful at times.  As we are now getting later in the year the temperatures are starting to warm up quiet nicely. It was about thirty degrees the other day so it gets quite toasty on the exercise bike in the hangar.  With the warmer weather there is less wind and so the sea is like a mill pond. Glassy smooth as far as the eye can see.  We are still seeing quite a few flying fish, and the other day we passed through a school of them and about thirty or forty all took of at once, it was stunning but unfortunately I was to late with my camera so didn’t get any shots.

 

We have had some engineers out to mend the phone system and although it still has many faults it is now working of a fashion. I actually managed to have a clear call home the other day which was nice. Although I am looking forward to getting in, in the middle of next month so that I can use skype.

 

There is still lots happening onboard so I am being kept very busy, it seems every day I have a plan at 0600 of what I will get done but come 0800 when everyone else is up it all changes. I do prefer to be kept busy though as it makes the time go by so much quicker and all the days just merge into one.

 

I have managed to get some reasonable phots over the past few weeks which I had hoped I could put in the blog when I email it, unfortunately this doesn’t seem to work so I will just have to upload them next time I get on the internet proper.

 

Well I think this will be an interesting week, which is a good thing as we will hopefully get more direction. Also mid week I have an interview for a shore post with the battle staff, which I really hope goes well as it is based in Plymouth so I should be able to commute.

 

Sunset At Sea

 

It has been a busy weekend at sea, in fact it has been a busy week but I did manage to have a bit of quiet time yesterday.  We are supposed to get into port tomorrow but have just found out there is no berth available so we will be anchoring instead and awaiting berth availability, the joys of commercial ports.

 

Although it has been busy I took the time this evening to go up to the focsle and watch the sunset, it was so peaceful and quiet.  I know that the world is falling down around us, especially in this part of the world. There are some days when I wonder if there is any hope for humanity, but then I look up, and although there is a lot of violence and misery on our planet it is still a stunning place. I just hope that one day we all learn to live peacefully.

 

 

Sunset Over the Arabian Sea

 

Chasing Pirates

It has been another busy week onboard, but at least that makes the days go quickly. We have now been at sea for a month and we head back in to port next week to pick up a few stores. It is hard being away from the Debbie and the little ones, as I do miss them but I suppose that is life in a blue suit. Saying that however, this is definitely the best trip I have had for a long time, it is so good to be spending so much time at sea, as although it is busy it is peaceful in a strange sort of way.  I had some good news this week as well as my request for an extension was approved so I will be out here until August.  Hopefully the longer trip will help me save money so that next leave we don’t have to scrimp and save so much.

 

I am still taking the night airs of an evening. It really is peaceful under the starlit sky with just the sound of the waves.  The moon is almost full at the moment so there are lots of lovely silvery reflections on the waves. Admittedly it was a tad windy up there tonight as we are heading into wind but at least out here it is a warm wind.

 

We have had a little excitement this week as we have been where all the pirates are at the moment.  It is like something out of the films as daily convoys go past us being escorted by warships.  They look quite impressive especially on the radar where there are huge blocks of uniform contacts. We have just been loitering looking for anything suspicious and have closed in on a few contacts to see if they were pirates.  Earlier today we chased after a Dhow that was towing three skiffs, although it looked suspicious we had to assume it was just a fisherman in the end.

 

I am still managing to keep up with the exercise bike, although things have been that busy that I tend to only get down the gym every other day at the moment. I must admit I don’t think I would be able to keep it up if it hadn’t been for the kindle as exercise bikes are really dull. 30 minutes on an exercise bike feels like exercise where as when I go for a real bike ride it doesn’t feel like exercise.  I am determined to keep it up though as last year I managed to cycle up the hill at home for the first time and I want to ensure I maintain a level of fitness so that when I get home I can still cycle up the hill.

 

Well I had better get back to the grind stone and check my nightly signals to see what’s happening in the world. Then a quick read before I look the Bars.

 

1 Month In

I can’t believe I have been here a month already and we have spent the last three weeks at sea. This has been really good as my last few trips have been stuck alongside in the UK. It is really good to be back in a proper operational environment and at sea.

 

The days as always are very busy, but that helps as it makes the time go quickly, however no matter how busy I am I still miss Debbie and the little ones terribly.  At least I have some nice piccys of them on the bulkhead and hopefully next time I m in port I will get to skype them again.

 

Although we have been busy I have still been able to appreciate the beauty of nature all around me.  The other day when we were doing a RAS I looked over the side and there was a huge turtle swimming along. The poor little fella must have jumped out of his shell when he looked around and saw two great big grey ships steaming along 15m either side off him.  I have also seen a few flying fish; I always find it amazing how far they seem to manage to travel.

 

Although I am usually snowed under with work I did take the opportunity the other night to go and stand on the bridge wing with a nice hot cup of coco at about 2200.  It was wonderful being outside with out the sound of airconditioning fans. There was just the crash of the waves and a lovely warm breeze blowing across the deck as I sat and stared up at the night sky.  It was so peaceful and relaxing, I could have stayed out there all night.

 

I have even managed to have a day out this week as well as I had to go to a meeting on another ship. Obviously being at sea makes transport a bit more interesting and more enjoyable.  We have a 25 foot rib onboard and we lowered that into the water and went across. The swell was about two or three meters so when we went into the troughs the waves towered above us, but they were such a wonderful shade of blue with little white horses on the crests.  Thankfully we arrived at the meeting dry.  The way back however was a little different and we go absolutely soak.  I won’t complain though as it was an exhilarating journey and the weather was glorious and 25Deg so I was quiet happy getting soaked

 

Anyway that’s my lot for today as I want to stick my feet up and read a book for a bit before doing my final check of all the signals.

 

Two Weeks at sea, where has the time gone.

I really can’t believe we have been at sea two weeks now. The time just seems to have melted away, although I think that is because of the 12-14 hour days seven days a week.  There is talk that the RFA are going to change the schemes of complement again and I can see them going to singleton Nav/Ops on all ships which is absolutely crazy. With the hours the Navigator puts in and the hours I put in as Ops there is more than enough work for three people, so to expect one person to do it is ridiculous.

 

Saying that it is really good to be an operational ship and being busy as it makes the time go quickly. Especially at the moment with everything that is happening in the MENA region. There is just so much information flowing in it is hard to keep abreast of it all.

 

This week has been especially hard as on top of my normal work I have had to prepare a brief. When I say prepare, the slides were already done. Basically because we didn’t get an introductory brief to the theatre before sailing from our local HQ we downloaded it. All 80 slides.  I managed to weed it down to 50 prior to presentation to the HoDs and thankfully I managed to get through it in 35 minutes.  Only problem was that I hadn’t managed to type up all my notes so half way through I had to revert to my hand written note. Problem here was that I couldn’t read my own writing so I had to wing the remainder of the slides.  There was some really juicy stuff in the brief but I can’t write any of it down here due to the classification and I don’t want to get arrested.

 

Well I hit the first month marker next week, the time really is flying by this trip which is good and it helps that we have a good Captain. It is surprising how much difference it can make as we have some true Hitlers and some true gentleman as Captains throughout the fleet.

 

The mood onboard at the moment is quite sombre as the company has to cut 150 officers jobs. They are going to try voluntary means at first but if that doesn’t work it will be compulsory redundancy.  I am just hoping that my rank and branch remain untouched as in the last year at least 9 have left so there can’t be many of us first officers left.  I have heard rumours as well that the Merchant fleet as a whole is starting to suffer with rising fuel costs and are so laying people off.  We are certainly in for a few hard years.

 

Well next week should be interesting with where we are going, the security advice for going ashore doesn’t bare reading.  At least I should have something to write about next time.