So Near and Yet So Far

It has now been 67 days since we sailed and we have once again anchored of a port where we were supposed to go alongside.  I think many are getting frustrated now because we can see land but we can’t go ashore.  As the port had no berth for us we have tweaked our programme slightly as they offered us a berth on the 1^st May for 48 hours so we will finally get alongside to load some fresh stores.  It does seem strange that we sailed in February and we aren’t going to touch land until May, ah well at least it is sunny.

 

Over the next few days we have quite a large change over of crew which is going to be strange as there will be lots of new faces onboard; I just hope that the people coming in are as friendly as the people that are going. I always find it a little unsettling when you get use to working with a group and then everyone changes. 

 

As always with this part of the world everything has been a bit of a cluster, we are not allowed to run our own boat to shore so we have been reliant on the harbour tugs to conduct the crew change over.  Needless to say the bureaucracy in the port immigration those going home all missed their flights and have so been put into hotels until new flights can be booked.

 

If and when we do get alongside it is just my luck that I am duty so won’t get ashore the first day and I don’t think I will bother the second day as the country we are going to doesn’t allow Skype so there is no real point of going up the road.  Anyway we get into our AMP port the following week and that country does allow Skype so I will be able to get ashore and see the little ones and Debbie which I am looking forward to.

 

The Donkey

As it is Palm Sunday I thought I would share this poem as it is one I have always liked.

 

THE DONKEY – by  G.K. Chesterton

When fishes flew and forests walked 
And figs grew upon thorn, 
Some moment when the moon was blood 
Then surely I was born; 

With monstrous head and sickening cry 
And ears like errant wings, 
The devil's walking parody 
On all four-footed things. 

The tattered outlaw of the earth, 
Of ancient crooked will; 
Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb, 
I keep my secret still. 

Fools! For I also had my hour; 
One far fierce hour and sweet: 
There was a shout about my ears, 
And palms before my feet. 

 

 

55 Days at Sea

We have now been at sea for 55 Days and the days are certainly blurring into each other but our next port is in sight in two weeks time. People are certainly getting tired onboard now and although there was a bit of griping a couple of weeks ago everyone is still getting on well. It helps that we have a good crowd onboard and everyone seems to get on.

Needless to say we have well and truly run out of all the fresh produce that we picked up when we were at anchor last month. Saying that the food is still good and its Sunday tomorrow so croissants for breakies, something to look forward to.

We have been through some really large schools of dolphins this week which have been amazing, we went through one school yesterday and there must have been well over 100 dolphins. (Have tried to attach photo, hopefully this time it has worked, if not when we get in to somewhere with WiFi I will upload some)

The sights we can see at sea are amazing and do give hope that it is not all bad in the world. I get tired of reading about all the violence that is tearing this region apart as every day I give a morning brief on what is happening in this part of the world. I am sure that when all these protests finally come to their conclusion the world will be a very different place.

I do find it interesting though, how the different newspapers are reporting what is happening and you can definitely see the different types of spin placed on the same stories by the western papers, Al Jazeria and the Tehran Times. The question is will all the posturing by different politicians become a self fulfilling prophecy or will they realise that they approaching the brink and stop before they jump off the cliff like a load of lemmings.

One thing is certain though and that is that the world is changing rapidly and I just hope that when the dust does settle and new regimes emerge that they are better than what went before. This is my hope as the world needs to learn to work together to resolve the environmental and economic storms that are approaching in the next 30 years or so. We must remember that there will always be hope as that is what was left in Pandora’s Box.

Other than work things have been somewhat stressful this week as I have been worried about Debbie, I rang home on Monday and she had had to go to the Doctors, they had been really concerned and were close to sending her into hospital but because I was away she persuaded them not to send her in because of the little ones. She did however have to go back in to the Doctors a few times during the week, but she is now much better which is a real relief and at least my Mum had been visiting so at least there was someone there the first day she fell ill.

I also had an interview for a shore post during the week, this interview had been postponed twice for numerous reasons over the last month and so by the time I took the interview I was a little tired. I actually think it went OK and thankfully our comms stayed in for the whole time. I must admit I was a little shaky afterwards but at least it is over now and hopefully I should hear how I did in the next week or so.

Well only twelve days or so and we will be back in the land of the Land Lubbers, it is going to be a bit strange after so long at sea but hopefully we will get alongside so we can have a proper stand down as I think we all need it.

A Quiet Sunday Afternoon

I have had my first quiet afternoon since joining and it has been quiet pleasant. Although I have plenty of work to be getting on with I thought that for once I would stay shut away in my sound proofed box all day. I must say I am feeling quite mellow now which is nice.

 

Well being Sunday we held our weekly church service and our numbers doubled today as four attended.  It is nice just to have that one quiet time each week to reflect on the world around us.  I do feel more at peace now than I have done for a long time and I think that is because I force myself to ensure I have at least 10 minutes of reflection every day.  I still find it hard as there are always so many distractions but I do notice now that if I don’t have my ten minutes I end the day far more stressed.

 

I spent a few hours reorganising the photos of the little ones on my computer so that when I get home I can make up a couple of albums. It is amazing how much they have changed over the last couple of years and I still can’t believe how small they were.  I just can’t wait to get into port in the middle of the month so that I can go on skype.

 

Well as always the news is depressing, it just seems constant violence everywhere and I often wonder if there is any hope for humanity or are we destined to wipe ourselves out, either by war or ecological abuse.  It is a shame that we are so violent as the world we live on is such a magical place and it doesn’t take much to remind us of this. Today I went up to the focsle to watch the flying fish again. They were amazing as they left criss-cross patterns ahead of us. The sea was as smooth as silk and so they managed to fly some phenomenal distances, I watched one and it must have gone at least 500m.

 

Whilst on the focsle I also saw something that I have never seen before, loads of crabs swimming on the surface. I was quite surreal for as we passed them they would wave their claws and it looked as if they were waving at us.  No doubt they were actually trying to swim for their lives away from this great big ship steaming towards them, but it did look like they were waving at us, it was quite funny really.

 

Well we are now starting our seventh week at see and it is going to be another busy week which is good.  It is far better for a ship to be at sea working I think as everyone seems happier onboard. Also I think by being at see the trip goes a lot quicker. Well I will write again later in the week and hopefully when we get into port I will be able to put some photos in my blog if I can get WiFi access.

 

42 Days at Sea and Counting

It has now been 42 days since we sailed. It seems quite strange thinking that we sailed in February and it is now April. I really can’t remember the last time I was at sea for this long, it really makes a nice change from my last few trips when we spent most of the time alongside. Although as ever it is hard being away from Debbie and the little ones.

 

It has, as ever been incredibly busy onboard but it is good working with lots of different nations, so far since sailing we have refuelled Brits, Dutch, Danish and French ships and should be doing Italian and Spanish ships in the coming week.

 

It does get a bit depressing watching all the news out here though and watching the region erupt in turmoil. It seems every week a different country is on the verge of following in the foot steps of the Libyans. I do however have a theory of why this is happening. It is basically down to the weather, out here it is quite warm and so as people get hot they get tetchy and decide to go out and fight each other, where as if you look in places like Norway where it is cold people feel it is better to stay indoors in the warm, rather than go out in the snow to fight.  If we expand the theory a little further and look at the UK, it is neither too hot, or too cold but it does rain a lot which is why for years we built an empire trying to find somewhere that was a bit dryer.

 

As always there has been some wonderful wildlife around and as the sun set last night we were surrounded by a huge school of Dolphins. It was really great watching them frolicking in the bow wave. I had taken my camera down to get some shots but as the light levels were low I didn’t manage to get any reasonable ones.

 

Anyway that’s about it for today’s blog so until next time good bye.