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“The postings on this site are my own and don't represent Maersk Group's position, strategies or opinions. All views are my own”
  Saturday 1st of October 2016 and we had left Cochin way behind steaming towards Chittagong when I came to the CCR 5 minutes before 8 o'clock in the morning. We have discharged the first of our FO 180 cst parcels and we will discharge the last parcel of FO (Fuel Oil) 180 cst in Chittagong 6 days from now when we arrive. And we will spend the last hours in the afternoon watching safety videos. Saturday, not only the Saturday fun video, but also a day for safety videos. FINALLY SATURDAY again!!! Time for a Saturday afternoon fun video
So while we're rolling along on the Indian Ocean you can watch yet another Saturday afternoon fun video. A little something that we have been looking forward to all week long! +++++++++++++++
Sunday 2nd of October 2016 and we had a “MINI” safety day in the CCR. I printed some safety alerts regarding working aloft yesterday for the crew to study today. Maersk have some excellent “Learning Engagement Packs” A booklet to read and discuss with the crew. I printed 3 of them:
1) Falling in the water 2) Enclosed spaces 3) Mooring They are actually very good, but I have one complaint, the pictures are nice and instructive, but it would have been better with drawings as I have to print the “Learning Engagement Packs” We had seen the last WORKING ALOFT safety videos yesterday. So now we should have covered everything regarding work aloft and what safety equipment to use while doing so. +++++++++++++++
Monday 3rd of October 2016 and Monday again and that means that we will kick off the new week with good morning gymnastics. And as we have pretty nice weather and almost no rolling we  decided to take down the gratings in the work shop. And this is of course a reason for a risk assessment and a tool box meeting.
Heavy lift and this require some training and I had Pump Man and 2 of the ABs to practice lifting with a chair. The gratings are quite heavy and it is easy to destroy the backs. And of course we don't want to drop them on our toes. And on top of this they have to lift them down in the engine room using our provision crane. So there are quite a few moments with risks for accidents and unpleasantries But we started with the daily tool box meeting so I could send the remaining crew on deck to continue with the chipping and painting. Plenty to chip and paint so there is no time to lose. So  today I will have two teams to keep track off.  The painting and chipping team and the heavy lift team.
I hope they are finished with the gratings in 2 or 3 days but the chipping and painting team will never be ready with the painting. 
When they are coming to the end it is just to start all  over again with the chipping and painting. It is what we call a never ending job.
But the crew are enthusiastic and full of vim. I was planning to do the cargo handling plan for Chittagong today, but as I ran in to  more work than expected I will have to do it tomorrow instead.
Time turned quickly and as usually, no time for any coffee breaks and I had the quickest of lunch breaks. It was soon time for dinner and the crew had 3 gratings remaining for tomorrow. Then they will have to start changing the old gratings on deck and when they are ready with this we will take down a new load of gratings to cut in the engine room. Yes, we will never run out of work on board a ship.  Preparing to lift down the gratings to the engine room and the work shop
 Preparing to lift down the gratings to the engine room and the work shop
 Preparing to lift down the gratings to the engine room and the work shop  Preparing to lift down the gratings to the engine room and the work shop
I was late for dinner as it was almost dinner time when I was back in my cabin. And I MUST have  a cuppa and a shower before going down to the mess room.
We had an excellent chicken stew and, well, I'm only allowed to have ONE plate according to my diet bet. But the bowl was brimmed Our 2nd Engineer was playing around with my camera and thus turning the dinner event in to something a wee bit less pleasant. I was soon back in my cabin and amazon.com to complete my order of snorkelling clothing. I found some snorkelling t-shirts with the right  amount of Xs in the collar.
The dress I use for snorkelling now is like a darn parachute and it is impossible to dive. And I remember the drama trying to keep up with the whale sharks in Donsol. It was like swimming with a parachute and the whale sharks left me behind. And this experience thought me a  valuable lesson, I need a special t-shirt, I think they call it slim fit.
And yes I know, just to think about it makes me sick. An eye sore for sure. But ordering from amazon and I don't have to make a tit out of myself looking around any shops for clothing - Do you have anything for snorkelling?  - What....?   So yes, that is a drama I can live with out. I will ask amazon to send the parcel to Tärntank in  Sweden and I will get it in December. No one have to see what's in the parcel and no need to get embarrassed in any shops.  Hmm, I think I will have a look for some swimming trunks as well while on it.
The ones I have now goes with the t-shirt I have, but it is like swimming with 2 (TWO) parachutes and impossible to keep up with any whales. I was looking for Sharkskin swimming gear,  but they are obviously only for, well, not for me as there wasn't enough Xs.
But Sharkskin is what I will aim for next time I'm going to buy snorkelling swimming gear and now the diet bet will  hopefully give some visible effect so I can use Sharkskin in the future.
But for now I will have to use the “Flabby & Porky” collection, better than nothing. +++++++++++++++
Tuesday 4th of October 2016 and we kicked off the day with gymnastics. And I really need to get serious with my new life style. I received an e-mail from iSnorkel yesterday. They have sent my wetsuit to Sweden. I sent an e-mail asking for measurements as they only have a size chart up to 6XL. Why not have the 7XL on the size chart?
OK, “special-edition” and that should explain why it is not in the size chart. I sent them an e-mail (I'm all new to this stuff) asking if I needed weights when using this wet suit. They answered after a few minutes and I was soon feeling very stupid.
And yes, I can see Mr. Dave in front of me when he open the e-mail with my question. What is he thinking? He must think that I'm a twat! I had another e-mail this morning, and they must have  set some kind of record shipping my parcel.
Yeah, somehow I can imagine that they were very surprised that anyone  wanted to buy the “special-edition” The “special-edition” is for sure something they had never expected to sell.
And I was lucky that the wet suit comes in black and blue, actually, the Henderson Thermoprene mens 3mm shorty wetsuit  “special-edition” only comes in black and blue. We can imagine me in a black wetsuit.
And I have my Great White Shark adventure in South Africa fresh in mind. I was wearing a all black wetsuit and the Great White went crazy when they caught sight of me. They must have thought it was a dream come true with a cubic ton of lard. Food for a life time The Guide have done the Great White Shark tours for hundreds of years and he had never seen anything like it. He told me that I had been very lucky as all the sharks just attacked me. Well, anyway, the black and blue is on the way to Sweden.
Meeting the Great White Shark in South Africa 2015
The last thing to do in the hospital for this time is the first aid kits and I had to go down to the  ECR to check their first aid kit. Of course, I ran in to Engineers having a good time.
This day came to an end and I went to my cabin for a quick cuppa before dinner. I checked out a few rash guards from Aqua Design as the have proper sizes. They might come in handy on Tonga and other snorkelling adventures. And it sounds good reading about them on their web page.
Water Rash Guard Shirt Key Features: Sun protection with UPF 50+ rated fabric. Quick drying, moisture wicking AquaPoly fabric. Comfort-fit, in between a “compression-fit” and a “loose-fit.” Flat-lock stitches for extra comfort. Water-inspired style with our signature “sky-ward” camouflage 3-D water print.  Sipping coconuts poolside, gliding through the barrel of a big wave, or hanging on for dear life as your get towed behind a boat on a wakeboard, with the Big Wave Rash Guard you’ll be ready for anything.
With excellent UPF 50+ sun protection, you’ll stay safe from the sun so you can stay out longer. The ultra-quick drying, four-way stretch material gives you unrestricted movement for paddling, rowing, casting or any other activity requiring arm movement. And with side panels featuring Aqua Design’s realistic water inspired print, you’ll be the most stylish guy on the water.  Yes, the BIG WAVE RASH GUARD SHORT SLEEVE SHIRT, AQUA DESIGN looks promising and a few of those in my bag when going for snorkelling would be nice. Can as well take the opportunity  to get some on line orders when they can send it to Sweden for me to pick up in December. It will be just like a Christmas gift! A little something to look forward to.
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Wednesday 5th of October 2016 and I can't help wondering how people can be late for the good morning gymnastics, especially since we have enforced the “be on time or else...” rules. And it  makes it even more strange when it is well known by now that a severe punishment is awaiting the tardy crew member.
Of course, the punishment have to be administered and this delay the whole good morning gymnastic session. And the crew are frustrated as they are eager to get on with the good morning gymnastics. And the crew's frustration goes out over our Cook's tardy behind.  He will
hopefully never be late again Look at the two guys in the back, they are really looking forward to administer the punishment. That's the spirit!
 And finally, some self-punishment. That's the spirit!
From now on we just need to call him in his room and he can punish himself We finished our good morning gymnastics and the “Good morning PEP” meeting and the guys were out on deck to paint. But not for long as we're going to have an emergency steering drill at 10  thirty and we will meet in the ECR (Engine Control Room)
Yes, of course we need to be able to steer the ship if the steering on the bridge is not working. Then we will have to go down to the steering engine in the engine department. It is a big motor sitting on top of the big rudder. And we understand that we cannot steer without power to move the huge rudder. So we will have to steer from the steering engine and when they had tested the steering we left and I met with the deck crew in the CCR.  An enthusiastic Engineer
 A “PEP” meeting in the ECR
 2nd Engineer is “PEPPING” the crew
 Emergency steering
 Emergency steering
 Engineers busy
 Emergency steering
 Emergency steering
 Emergency steering
Our Pump Man was busy replacing the last pieces of gratings on deck. And now we have changed all the really bad gratings. The rest of the crew are busy with chipping and painting. Well, it started  to rain at lunch. So I had to re-plan all the work on deck. So the extra painters went down to paint in the engine room.
And that is good, we still have some of the old paint remaining from before we changed to International Paint. Only  for the engine room, I managed to finish all the Hempel and Enigma paint. Last week we finished the last of the Enigma and Hempel paint. We have finished maybe 300 litres of old paint that have been in the paint store for years.
Last time I was on board the deck was blue, green, range, white and a lot of other colours. 4 layers under the final International top coat, just because we have changed brand on the paint don't mean we can keep the old brand taking up space in the paint locker. The day came to an end and the last thing we did was to test the gas freeing fans on deck. We expect to do tank cleaning so Lloyds can come on board to inspect our cargo tanks. When? Maybe next time in Singapore. +++++++++++++++
Thursday 6th of October 2016 and we were approaching Chittagong anchorage slowly when I came down to the CCR at 8 o'clock. Only half of the crew as we had people hand steering etc. as we were soon going to drop our anchor. Good morning gymnastics and tool box meeting and we got started with testing of the gas freeing fans. We ran 5 at the same time and it looked good, well, we won't know for sure until it is time to do the gas freeing.
We expect the pilot at 13:00 so we also did all the pre-arrival checks before lunch. We were steaming up the Karnaphuli River towards Chittagong and we had our first line ashore at 14:15 and we had all lines fast one hour later.  Steaming up the Karnaphuli River towards Chittagong
 Passing some “QUALITY” tonnage on Karnaphuli River
 Ship leaving Chittagong on Karnaphuli River
 Sending ashore our mooring lines
 Sending ashore our mooring lines
You can't make this shit up so believe me. When we arrived we sent ashore our mooring lines. There was a boat behind us moored and when the boat men took ashore our lines to put on the pollard  used by the other ship the place turned in to OK Corral. A fist fight between the other crew and the boat men and they threw our mooring lines in to the water.
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Friday 7th of October 2016 and we completed discharging at 18 thirty and all our visitors was ashore around 9 o'clock. We lifted our gangway and the crew can start to turn the spades on the TC line preparing for tank cleaning during the night.
Pilot booked for 13:00 tomorrow so there will be time to prepare. Karnaphuli River is very muddy and we cannot start the tank cleaning until Sunday as we have muddy water for several hours after having left Chittagong and the Karnaphuli River behind. +++++++++++++++
Saturday 8th of October 2016 and we left Chittagong just after 1 o'clock in the afternoon. Everything is prepared for tank cleaning on deck and we will start tomorrow morning. A little something to look forward to.
So there is no time for our Saturday afternoon safety videos today, but there is plenty time for the Saturday afternoon fun video, something we have been looking forward to all week long. FINALLY SATURDAY again!!! Time for a Saturday afternoon fun video
Saturday afternoon fun video and just as we thought it was impossible for things to get better I decided to start a new stupid series. The “He-man of the month” picture series from m/t Roy Maersk. Yes, we have all seen them, calendars with pictures of fire fighters etc. And we go out strong with a picture of Mr. He-man himself, of course a picture I will send to my  friend and she will go all crazy! Well, maybe not, at least not for the right reason.
All the He-man action made me hungry. Lucky it is Saturday and all the diet bets are off! But in the nick of time, I remembered that I have ordered swimwear online so I held back at the dinner table. I thought is should be straight forward to buy swimming wear. But it is obviously a complicated science and I found a guide: 5 Do’s and Don’ts For Buying Men’s Swim Briefs. And if you're in progress of buying swim wear you can find it HERE.  +++++++++++++++
Sunday 9th of October 2016 and the whole day was spent with tank cleaning. A lot of excitements, hard work and fun from early morning to late evening.
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Monday 10th of October 2016 and the day started in the CCR and we're looking forward to yet another day with tank cleaning. Today I had company of our 2nd Officer training in doing tank  cleaning. And of course, like yesterday, Chief Engineer kept me company in the CCR.
Good, time passing quicker when I have the company in the CCR, Yesterday 15 and a half hour but I expect to be ready earlier today. We have 4 cargo tanks to wash plus the residual tank. We started the gas freeing at 11 o'clock and we might be able to look at the first tanks today. They were ready yesterday but full of IG smoke so I could not  look down the tank.
It worked out pretty fine and we finished the tank cleaning just in time for dinner. One  of the quickest dinners in history and we were soon back in the CCR to complete the whole tank cleaning operation.
Our Pump Man went to look down the # 1 and #2 cargo tanks when it turned dark. Impossible to see down the tank in day light. The tanks looked very good. We started to force ventilate tanks 3 and 4 and I was back in my cabin at 7 o'clock in the evening looking forward to a new exciting day tomorrow. The day was finished with a movie and a few soda water. The movie was shit and it was mostly fast forward. X-men, how many of these movies are they going to make, they get worse by the movie. Or maybe it is me getting old? 
He is going to climb a mast and we have a safety harness exercise/ drill before he start the job
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Tuesday 11th of October 2016 and today I got an e-mail from Nadia Aly asking how my booking with Fuji Airways. She had attached a picture from the last humpback whale swim. The very same  swim I will take in the beginning of October next year. But will I get a flight. The Nadi to Vava'U flight have not been operated for a very long time.
Fiji Airways started the service back in February 2016 and we can read all about it HERE! Bula Vava'U! Of course I hope I can manage to get a ticket from Nadi to Vava'U and back.  Full size picture, click HERE
She also have a WEB PAGE with beautiful pictures
 Well, I will still have to wait for 15 days before I can book the flight. And as soon as I have a confirmed seat I will book the humpback adventure on Vava'U 
My friend sent some pictures on Line
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Wednesday 12th of October 2016 and we started right on with an entry permit for cargo tank 5 Port. Looked good and I spent the rest of the day with the ODME. Our Pump Man and one of the ABs put back the non-working tank cleaning machine in the residual tank. They started to work on the machine yesterday and now it was working again.
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Thursday 13th of October 2016 and today we start the day by trying to discharge with the ODME again. Of course, first of all the good morning gymnastics. After the coffee break it was time for tank entry and our Chief Engineer wanted to come down one of the cargo tanks.
Tool box meeting and risk assessment and of course a little training. Coming down the ladder to the tank and you have to hold on to the handrail until you have both feet on the tank bottom. The tank bottom is greasy of fuel oil residues and sludge so in order to avoid slipping you are better of holding on to something until you are standing on the tank bottom. So I had the guys to practice coming down the ladder before the tank entry.
Training to get down the ladder
 The passed the ladder/ oily slippery tank bottom exercise/ drill with flying colours
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Friday 14th of October 2016 and we held all of our drills during the day. We also checked 5 cargo tanks for lose bolts. And yes, time passed very quickly. I spent the day limping around on deck. I  cannot move my right knee and the knee is swollen.
Started yesterday with pain but I could walk, today the pain wasn't so bad but it was  hard to walk. I hope it is getting better tomorrow when we will check our 4 last cargo tanks. And of course, we're not going to run out of things to do when this is done.
Arriving Singapore anchorage on Sunday morning and we have to be ready for annual surveys and a lot of other things. They will come and measure the thickness of the steel in all our tanks and this is the reason for the tank cleaning and gas freeing. +++++++++++++++
Saturday 15th of October 2016 and it is Saturday again. I know that there won't be any time for any safety or security videos today. But who is going to miss them? But the Saturday afternoon fun video, which is a totally different thing. This is something we have been looking forward to the whole week, so here it is. Enjoy!
FINALLY SATURDAY again!!! Time for a Saturday afternoon fun video
And while you're enjoying the Saturday afternoon (this time morning) fun video we will get going with the good morning gymnastics. We have new routines, our Cook will bring a cup with a  tea spoon cinnamon and hot water.
Yes, new good morning routines, a tea spoon of cinnamon every day as this should be very good for you. There is a long list of health benefits from eating cinnamon, and also, just to smell the cinnamon is good for your brain. So cinnamon fits just fine in a new line of health food I will eat and I will hopefully be able to wear my new wet suit on Tonga.
But the most important now is to get my right leg back in good working order. And maybe, and I say maybe, the cinnamon will help. I hope Pump Man's liniment will alleviate the pain until the effect of the cinnamon kicks in. And as my right leg isn't in full working condition I had to have our Pump Man to lead the good morning gymnastics. He took my place and I was sitting down giving pointers while being in charge  of the music.
As soon as we were ready we got going with the tool box meeting and the risk assessments and we expect to complete the four last cargo tanks today. And they were ready just in time for lunch and I could start with the slop discharge plan and the tank cleaning plan for the slop tank. We will discharge the slop to a barge on Singapore anchorage and then we will have to clean the slop tank so they can make the inspection of the tank. Arrival to Singapore tomorrow morning and we will stay there for a week or so to do all th einspections and surveys. Read all about it by clicking HERE!
    
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