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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”
  M/T Roy Maersk
Singapore anchorage 7th of May 2014 when I sign off - Picture by Aladdin
  Tuesday 29th of August 2014 and our Agent called at 9 thirty. Yesterday they told me that they would call me at 9 o'clock with information. Well, no call at 9 o'clock but at 9 thirty the Agent called and Roy Maersk was alongside. - Are you ready? - No, I will be ready at 11, I said What the  is this? Yesterday they didn't know if Roy Maersk was coming alongside and now they call 30 minutes late expecting me to be ready. I need breakfast, shower and to pack my bag. Well, I called the reception and I asked them to have my bill ready at 11 o'clock when I come to  check out.
Well, this is it from Holiday Inn, and I had been scared to check in after reading the reviews on internet. But I can recommend the hotel. Friendly staff and the internet was good. The food in the restaurant was good so if I ever come back to Dar es Salaam I will stay here again I stepped out from the elevator at 11 o'clock and my Driver as waiting for me. I paid my bill and we took off to the immigration before we could go to the port.  Immigration Seaport in Dar es Salaam
 Immigration Seaport in Dar es Salaam
 Immigration Seaport in Dar es Salaam
 Stamping my passport and we can get out of there
Immigration Seaport is just next to the Kilimanjaro fast ferry terminal and I expected the immigration stuff to take a very long time. I filled up an immigration card and the guy at the  immigration stamped the card.
He stamped my passport with the exit stamp and we were out of there. It was nice to be on the way to join Roy Maersk, I have had a marvellous holiday and to top it with a safari was just the perfect end. But Dar es Salaam, there is foock all to do and one day is mere than enough. The  last two days had been boring, staying in my room with fever the first day. 2 days in my  room feeling, well, not very bad, but not good. Only a few constitutionals  and back to the room again. So that was actually good, and as I said, there is not very much to do or see in town. Especially as I have been everywhere the first two days in Dar es Salaam  looking for the stupid safari helmet that I never found.
Well, I have had time to update my web page during the days in my room. But today I was full of vim again. So it was nice to be on the move again and I was pleasantly surprised how quick they handled the immigration business at the Immigration Seaport. It is a public holiday today and there wasn't very much cars on the streets and we were soon out of town. I could see tanks but we passed them and we were  soon driving through a container terminal.
We turned off the road and I was a wee bit surprised as I had expected an oil terminal with shore tanks. I only saw containers and long queues of trucks loaded with containers waiting. But we were soon reaching something reminding of an oil terminal and we parked the car.  Long queues with trucks loaded with containers
 Long queues with trucks loaded with containers
I could not see any signs of Roy Maersk and I was worried about my luggage. We're obviously not allowed to enter with the car and according to our driver it was because they had been stealing  gasoline with a car.
- What about the luggage? - No worries, I will carry it! Some asshole steal gasoline and my driver have to carry my luggage. I didn't saw Roy Maersk until I got out of the car. And then it was  only the funnel sticking up.
Well, I grabbed my laptop and the driver took my bags and we walked towards the gate. Checking the luggage with a metal detector, the  same they used on us. And as no surprise it was beeping all the time and the whole  exercise was pretty pointless. I stepped on deck and our Pump Man started to scream at me. I also recognised some of the other crew members. Well, it was lunch time and I went for lunch with the off signing Chief Officer. He will sign off tomorrow together with our 2nd Engineer and they will stay for 2 days. They asked about my safari and I recommended them to go. They hesitated because they were  only staying for 2 days and they thought the safari was in the North of Tanzania. Of course I told them about the Mikumi National Park.
I suggested that they should go for a Mikumi Safari for 2 days. Leaving tomorrow mid-day to arrive in the evening before dark. Stay one night at the Tanswiss Lodge. Then take a day in the Mikumi National Park and be back in Dar es  Salaam in the evening.
Then fly home Friday night and they have a few hours to spend in Dar es Salaam before leaving for home. They thought it was a great idea and I gave them the number and e-mail address to Authentic Tanzania Safaris. This is when we found out that it was a public holiday and they were closed. I sent them another e-mail asking for my Guide's phone number. Maybe he can go even if it is a holiday. We will see tomorrow when they call my Guide, we got the number but as we don't want to disturb  in the evening we decided to go tomorrow. They will cancel their visit to Zanzibar. A very wise move.
As I told them, a waste of time, just a lot of people asking for TIP and trying to sell you shit you don't want. And just when you thought it was impossible to top that with more shit there is the millions of people offering you a taxi on top off that. I also recommended Holiday Inn in Dar es Salaam, a very nice hotel. Our new 2nd Engineer came on board just in time for dinner and he asked about the Hoover Dam and safari. He had followed Aladdin's adventure on the internet. No secrets here! We expect two more crew to join us, one AB and a 4th Engineer from Denmark, most likely arriving in the middle of the night or early morning. I was having a look on the ship together with the off signing Chief Officer in the afternoon. I learnt that we're going to discharge remaining of the cargo in Mombasa when we're ready here in Dar es Salaam and it is about 22 hours to Mombasa in Kenya. But we expect to stay anchored until  5th of August before we can come alongside.
There is also a new Cook on board and he seems to be very good, at least the lunch and dinner was excellent and I was reminded about my diet. I have to get going with my “diet bet” as soon as we leave Tanzania. I found my tea mug in Chief Officer's cabin and we enjoyed some tea before I went to bed. We expect to be ready tomorrow morning and I will take over and the off signers will  hopefully be able to leave for the safari. Well, that's it for today, time to go to bed. And I will hopefully wake up to a exciting day with “diet bet”, Thai books and the time to Learn Thai with Mod and the Alif Silpachai videos. By the time to get serious with my Thai. And the videos, this is a very long time ago now! I have given up smoking, now I hope I can be as serious with my diet and Thai learning.
+++++++++++++++
Wednesday 30th of July 2014 and I had not been sleeping very much when my alarm went of quarter past 7. I was tired but it as nice to get out of bed, it was the most uncomfortable bed I  have ever slept in. We completed discharging at 09:42. Paper work was ready just before 1 o'clock and Pilot came on board 20 minutes before 2 o'clock.
Off signing Chief Officer had left us with the same car that brought our new AB. He had not called the Guide and I told him that it might be too late then to arrange something. early bird and all that crap... 4 people signing on and 2 people signing off here in Dar es Salaam. We have been one man  short on deck, but now we are full crew on deck and we will hopefully be able to kick some arse. Departure at 14:00 and the wind had picked up and we had quite strong wind  blowing from the South when we left Dar es Salaam.
We had two tug boats to help us to turn around. There was not much space for us, well, there were plenty but it looked very close from the bridge when we turned around. There were an old wreck on the beach behind us and I got a picture before we were ready and left. We headed towards Dar es Salaam and we passed Dar es Salaam and we were soon going the same way as I went with the ferry to Zanzibar.  Turning around to leave Dar es Salaam
 Turning around to leave Dar es Salaam
 Old tug boat or something on the beach
 Steering towards the Indian Ocean
 Steering towards the Indian Ocean
 Passing container ships
  Passing more ships
 Passing Dar es Salaam
 Filling up the ferry
 Filling up the ferry
 Filling up the ferry
 Filling up the ferry
 Filling up the ferry
How many can swim?
   Holiday and the people are on the beach
 Leaving Tanzania and Dar es Salaam behind in the horizon
We passed a local ferry and they were loading people and cars. There was a never ending stream of people boarding the ferry and they didn't leave until the ferry was full. And I mean full and I  could not help but wonder how many of the passengers that could swim.
We could see the beach behind us crowded with people. A long white beach and what seems like  thousands of people was staying on a very small part of the beach, holiday and people are on the beach swimming,  on each other.
We had a meeting on the bridge when we had left the Pilot. We're entering high risk pirate areas, pretty much like a war zone. And we held a meeting and the boys went on deck to put up razor wire around the ship. 
Well, we have armed guards on board so I'm not worried, and even without the armed guards  it would be very hard for any pirates to come on board.
I would not mind go here between Fujairah, UAE and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. I wish I can sign off here so I can go for another safari and to take the tour to Victoria Falls. We were ready with the razor wire just in time for dinner and I was yet again reminded about the importance on getting on with the “diet bet” as soon as possible. As soon as I found
Tomorrow, yeah, tomorrow is a new day and it is a perfect day to start my new life on.       +++++++++++++++
Thursday 31st of July 2014 and my alarm went off 15 minutes past 7. I had my vitamins and the  lemon flavoured magnesium “FIZZ” drink before I went for my shower. I was in the mess  room 10 minutes before 8 for my tea.
The crew was waiting outside my office and we were soon on deck. I had 2 guys to continue with the razor wire and our Pump Man started to purge the cargo pumps. We got 300 meters of razor wire in Dar es Salaam and we need to put this on top of the existing layer of razor wire. Coming here and they had to move the top layer to another side as they had lost all the razor wire in bad weather on the way to Dar es Salaam. I made a requisition on a 600 meters of additional razor wire to be delivered in Fujairah when we arrive there in 3 weeks’ time. I also made some other additional requisitions after discussing with the armed guard's team leader.  I'm pretty happy with the day, well, not my di\et and the “diet bet” Plan was to get the foocking  “diet bet” on the road today. But, well, at least it is open in my computer and dated the 1st of August. Yes, 2014. So I will put it up tomorrow. I also had almost 2 hours of heavy duty constitutional. At last one and a half hour.
I had a box of bottled water outside the galley, I had brought one box to my office and this box was going to my cabin. I was just grabbing the box when our Pump Man took the box. - I bring it for you, he said taking off towards my office with the box of water - EH EH EH! I said pointing up the stairs. - This one goes to my cabin! He looked a wee bit disappointed, but he took off up the stairs to my cabin and I followed him taking pictures. They were painting in the aft top mast and they also started to paint the bridge  deck in cream colour. Dark red paint gets very hot in the sun so we have decided to paint it in cream colour to  keep the temperature down in the accommodation.
We are drifting/ steaming in safety area guarded by the Kenyan navy since 10 o'clock this morning. And I were  plenty whales during my lunch time constitutional
And as I have my safari camera with me this time I decided to go to the bridge trying to get some pictures. Of course, when I came on the bridge there was no sight of any whales. Darn! Well, looks like we will be waiting here for 8 days so there will most likely be more opportunities. This is it for the month of July in the year of our Lord 2014. But no worries, just click the link and you will soon find yourself in the AUGUST adventure OK, we do as we use to do, we split this adventure in to different months in order to save down loading time. So just go ahead and chose the month you're interested in: August 2014 August 2014 - Part 2 - Coming alongside in Mombasa september 2014 - Leaving Fujairah behind september 2014 - Part 2 - The day after the Swedish general election October 2014 - Discharging in Mombasa October 2014 - Flying to Copenhagen
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