The trip from Hamburg took us once again through the English Channel. On Thursday afternoon we saw our sister ship, the Rickmers Seoul, heading towards Antwerp. I took a few quick photos as she passed. In the late afternoon we were treated to the view of four large container ships traveling alongside and across our path. Fortunately there was plenty of sea room for all of us, but it was still quite impressive to see so many large ships steaming more or less side by side. Two of the containers outdistanced us; they appeared completely immune to the waves that buffeted us from time to time.
Observing some of the smaller craft one quickly appreciates the benefit of being on a fairly large ship. While we certainly notice the effect of the waves the voyage remains fairly smooth and uneventful. I can only imagine how difficult it must be on the smaller vessels which suffer more from the effects of winds and waves but also have the further unpleasantness of suffering longer as they tend to be slower.
In the early morning hours of Friday we entered into the Bay of Biscay where we encountered contrary winds and swells. The ship was rolling heavily in the night and the Captain ordered a change of course taking us more eastward into the Bay. Instead of a straight line to the tip of Spain we made a more indented course and over the course of Friday morning we navigated back towards our waypoint at Tenerife. Each change in course brought about a fair bit of roll in the ship. I was up on the Bridge for a while and the roll indicator showed that we occasionally exceeded ten degrees of list to each side.
Compared to the veritable traffic jam of ships we saw yesterday today the only craft we saw was a small sailboat a few miles off our starboard. Once again I'm struck by the emptiness of the ocean; there are no other ships visible on our radar and our AIS system shows the nearest ships being more than sixty nautical miles distant.
On Saturday our course changed and we were treated to some very smooth sailing as we had the wind coming from our stern; we also saw more ships, presumably approaching the Strait of Gibraltar. After breakfast I was relaxing in the bar, listening to the BBC and watching our progress through the large forward windows when I saw a killer whale off our starboard bow. It was swimming towards us but then made a quick U-turn and accompanied us for a few moments before disappearing below the water.
Since it was Saturday and we were at sea we had our regular lifeboat drill in the afternoon. The crew also had their additional practice in firefighting and oil spill control. The Captain scheduled a grill party for the evening to give the crew a bit of a break after all the hard work and long hours in Antwerp and Hamburg these past few weeks. I helped a bit by preparing some roasted peppers and onions.
Early Sunday morning we passed through the Strait of Gibraltar and entered the Mediterranean. I woke up too early due to a miscalculation on the start of the summer time and went back to sleep before we transited the Pillars of Hercules. Diane went up on the Bridge for the passage and was able to make out some of the features of Gibraltar in the predawn light. The rest of the day was extremely pleasant with mild temperatures and fairly smooth seas. Sundays are usually a bit more relaxed when the ship is at sea and lunch is something to look forward to as Joel grills steaks to order and there's ice cream for dessert.
Monday dawned promisingly but the weather deteriorated a bit and it was appreciably cooler and more overcast by midmorning. We passed Mallorca right around breakfast time but with the sun not fully risen it was mostly a dark silhouette with some scattered lights. In addition to the cargo and fishing vessels which have been fairly common we've also seen a few sailboats in the distance. Our trip became a bit rougher as we crossed the Sea of Lions where we were faced with some strong winds and waves breaking over the bow. A couple of the crew members were drenched when the waves and spray poured over the port side. The sheer force of the waves never ceases to amaze me; the shudder when we hit a larger wave head on is felt throughout the ship and the volume of water thrown up on both sides would probably fill a good size pool or two.
On Tuesday we arrived in Genoa. We docked around 11:00 and Diane, Clive and I took a taxi to the center of the city for a day of tourism. The weather is wonderful and it will be a nice break before the next long stretch to Jebel Ali.
It looks like my return to Singapore will be delayed a bit. The most recent schedule has us arriving on 22 April, but I believe that will slip some more.
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