Quick Update from Dubai

Greetings from the lobby bar of the St George Hotel in Dubai! I'm sitting here with Clive and Pierre, enjoying a beer and trying to catch up on some postings and some emails.

We had a bit of a delay in getting into Jebel Ali and the local regulations require us to return to the ship by midnight. This is a bit disappointing, but at least we get a few hours to see the city and maybe do some skiing at the Mall of the Emirates this evening!

I've added some new posts but I apologize for the lack of photos. I'll try to post some later today or at least when I'm back in Singapore; the internet connection at this hotel is sporadic at best.

Hard to believe my trip is almost over. It's been a great adventure and it will take some getting used to the real world again. I should be back in Singapore on or about 25 April.

More later,

George

The Trip So Far

30 March marked my 101st day on this trip; hard to believe so much time has passed since I first boarded the Rickmers Jakarta back in December at Singapore's Jurong Port. Back then I remember looking at the 3-month calendar on the wall that took us up to February and I could barely imagine how far ahead that was not to mention April. Now that I'm down to my last few remaining weeks I'm amazed at how quickly the whole trip has gone. Tomorrow we'll arrive in Genoa and then head towards the Suez Canal, the Red Sea and on to Jebel Ali, which will be my last port before returning to Singapore.

Genoa will be my 17th port and I'll have put over 24,000 nautical miles behind me, not including river passages. All but eight nights have been spent on board the ship. The longest distance between ports was a little over 10,000 nm from Nagasaki to Galveston and took a total of 24 days, from 23 January until 15 February with the Panama Canal transit along the way. Philadelphia to Antwerp was a comparative stroll of less than 3,500 nm.

I think I will wait until after Jebel Ali to start preparing myself mentally for my return to normal life. It will take a bit of getting used to.

Lengthy Stay in Antwerp

We arrived in Antwerp during the early morning hours of 12 March and we will be staying here about seven days in order have some repairs done to the two heavy-lift cranes. Once the cargo was discharged the ship was taken "off hire" so that the sheaves could be replaced on the two cranes.

The sheaves are the large wheels or pulleys on which the cables travel. A contractor for the crane manufacturer is on site to handle the task and by Friday evening they had erected a scaffold under the #3 crane and removed the lifting cables. A total of ten sheaves were replaced; like so much of the other equipment on this ship, they are massive pieces of metal. Each one weighs about 465 kg and is 1.65 meters in diameter.



Once all the repairs are completed the ship will be back in service and the crew will load the outbound cargo and we will be on our way to Hamburg.

On Friday I made a short trip to Antwerp to see the sights and take a few photos. The weather was a vast improvement over Thursday's and Dieter and I left the ship about 9:30 to make the walk to the bus stop, about 30 minutes away. One aspect of freighter travel is that passengers often find themselves disembarking at busy cargo ports which are a good distance from the city centers and distinctly lacking in any resources for transporting passengers. Sometimes it's a long walk just to get to the gate; if one is lucky there might be a shuttle bus for the port workers like in Shanghai. Here in Antwerp the gate was only a short walk from our berth but then it was a good walk along a busy road until we reached the bus stop. On their return the previous day, Dieter and Clive got quite wet from the road spray of the passing trucks, but on this trip the weather was very pleasant.



Once we reached the city center we spent some time walking about and admiring the architecture. The central railway station, built in 1905, is a great example of the blending of the old with the new; a domed central entryway with marble columns and ornate windows leads to the thoroughly modern departure area. This blend of different styles is also quite evident on the surrounding streets where it almost seems as if each building represents a different era. Ornate, turn of the century facades stand side by side with glass and steel exteriors and somehow this eclectic mixture presents a pleasing symmetry. Large areas of the city center are pedestrian zones and the shops and brands are much the same as one finds in any major international city. There are plenty of winding side streets where a wide range of offbeat and specialty boutiques can be found.

At one point we noticed a gathering crowd near a police car and some barriers that appeared to indicate some sort of crime scene. Walking in that direction we were startled to see on the ground what can only be described as massive, meter long bird droppings. Apparently we had stumbled upon some sort of art exhibit as the central figure in this exercise in street theater was what appeared to be the sheet-draped corpse of a gigantic bird. The creature's feet were pointing up in the air as if it was lying on its back and all around there were indications of a somewhat gruesome and messy crash. In addition to the aforementioned excrement there was also a good deal of material that was supposed to represent some blood and guts.



The crowd was milling about at the perimeter of the "police line", most taking pictures or trying to figure out exactly what was being represented. There were also a couple of police officers who I assume were part of the play but also on hand to keep order and a few people with some high-end video equipment who were recording the whole scene, no doubt for their senior art seminar.

I have to admit that I walked away somewhat confused. I'm not sure of the purpose of the whole exercise; was it some protest against animal cruelty or a reminder that we should be thankful our cities are not infested with two-meter tall birds with droppings the size of coffee tables? Obviously my ignorance is more a reflection of my bumpkin-like innocence and lack of sophistication than a criticism of the motives or intent of the artists.

Perhaps in response to the city's many famous beers and venues in which to drink them, Antwerp provides strategically placed pissoirs for the relief of the gentleman who finds his bladder at capacity. While this is no doubt convenient, I was struck by just how exposed they were.

Across the Atlantic

We left Philadelphia on the afternoon of 3 March after a day's delay due to the storm. The trip down the Delaware River in the evening was uneventful and we had a nice sunset to see us on our way.

Overall the passage was relatively smooth. Like our earlier Pacific crossing we were able to keep between the harsher weather systems and enjoy comparatively pleasant weather. On our second full day at sea I was on the Bridge and the Captain pointed out the mists passing over the water. It looked like the steam one would see rising on a lake in the early morning. This was due, he informed me, to the convergence of the Gulf Stream with the Labrador Current. It dissipated after a short time as we made our way further eastward.

The ship has been rolling a good deal more than previously due to the ocean swells to our stern and this has been a cause for some minor discomfort among passengers and crew alike. It is a long, slow motion from side to side with a maximum deflection of about ten degrees from the vertical. A few people have difficulty sleeping and that, I think, is somewhat due to where their bunks are located; in my case I'm closer to the middle of the ship so I don't notice the roll as much, but those on the outermost cabins have to deal with a more pronounced movement. At lunch it sometimes requires a bit of caution when eating the soup as it tends to spill over the side of the bowl if one has too much. The actual motion sickness is another inconvenience but so far no one seems to be too adversely affected. I think the biggest problem is when one is inside a cabin or a hallway without any view to the horizon and the motion that one senses doesn't correlate to what one sees. Actually, it feels a lot like when one tries to walk after a little too much to drink and finds that one's feet do not cooperate as readily as one expects. Suffice to say it's a prudent measure to make good use of the handrails in the stairway and the grab-rails along the corridors.

In addition to being uncomfortable for the residents on a ship, severe rolling presents risks to the cargo and the ship itself, so the Captain ordered that we make a modified transit towards the English Channel. His colorful description was that we would take a course like "a pissing ox." Unbeknownst to me, oxen apparently don't halt in their travels when they need to urinate and the back and forth movement of the associated extremities creates a zigzag pattern in their wake as they walk along. We would follow a similar zigzag pattern to counteract the swell, turning a few degrees to the side of our course and then back again after a few miles, sticking basically to the course but making the necessary deviations to avoid the worst of the swell. The net effect is one of less severe rolling, at least shorter periods of it interspersed with brief intervals of comparatively smooth sailing. Naturally this will add some distance to our route, but not too much as the deflections are minor, only a few degrees from the most direct course. For the officers on watch they need to spend more time actively navigating and making the necessary corrections in order to find the best heading.

We advanced our clocks almost every other day on the passage as we had to make up five hours between Philly and Antwerp so I found myself feeling the effects of this "boat lag" as we approached the English Channel. I think this was mainly due to the set meal times, especially breakfast, where I had to make a bit of effort to go downstairs when I would have preferred another hour or so of sleep and didn't feel quite right until after a few cups of coffee.

One highlight for me during the passage was a tour of one of the heavy lift cranes. During a period of more moderate rolling the Chief Engineer very kindly gave me a tour of the inner workings, and letting me climb up to the operator's cabin. The interior of the crane tower itself is very impressive from the massive turret gear and 76mm diameter heavy-lift cable to the computer controls and hydraulic systems. The climb up and down the ladders was not too bad although some of the openings were rather cramped; there's not a lot of wasted space.

Ship traffic in the English Channel was very busy as we passed through. The watch officers and their lookouts were constantly keeping an eye on surrounding vessels, both visually and on their radar monitors. It's during these times that the officers really earn their pay. The 2nd Officer showed me how he used a simple line of bearing to a ship approaching from our beam to quickly determine whether it would pass in across our bow or our stern, or if we were on a collision course. It's a much more interesting way to learn geometry than anything I remember from my school days.

It was during our passage up the Channel that we crossed the Prime Meridian at 0 degrees longitude and returned to the eastern hemisphere. I was up at the forecastle with my GPS unit and was able to get a lucky shot of the screen just as we passed 00 deg, 00 min, 00.0 sec.



Finally, we were treated to a brilliant full moon for our evening passage. I tried to take some photos but couldn't really do the image justice.

Houston, Texas

It's a quiet Sunday afternoon in Houston and I'm taking advantage of the wireless in the Seafarers' Center to catch up on some news. I've been amazed at how little I've missed knowing about what's going on in the world.

Tomorrow afternoon I'm looking forward to a visit from my brother, Dave, who is driving down from Dallas. He has a few small items for me and I have a bottle of some dubious Chinese whiskey for him.

Yesterday was busy as Dieter went to meet his wife at the airport. She had flown in from Germany and the two of them are enjoying a great American road trip to Philadelphia. She'll be flying back to Germany and Dieter will rejoin the ship.

Dale signed off yesterday after having completed his circumnavigation with and extra visit to New Orleans thrown in. It was great having him on board; he was interesting company and I'm sure others will be missing his daily satellite updates.

This afternoon or tomorrow we're scheduled to welcome a new passenger here in Houston. We've also heard that we'll have new passengers joining the ship in Philadelphia and Hamburg, so it will be a full complement through the Mediterranean.

Nagasaki

Good morning from Nagasaki. Today is Wednesday the 21st of January and depending on how things go this might be the last post for a while. Once we leave Nagasaki, probably sometime tomorrow or the day after, it will be about three weeks before I'll be able to post again. We start our long stretch across the Pacific and our next port will be in Texas around the middle of February.

This has been a nice break from the ship and a good opportunity to see a bit more of Japan. I'm glad that Dale, Dieter and I opted to take this little side trip.

We left Nagoya after a lengthy interview with Japanese immigration officials; apparently they deal with very few entries from ship-based passengers and none at all from passengers aboard cargo vessels. The one woman agent did express some jealousy after seeing the trip brochure on my laptop.

All told it took about an hour before they issued the entry visas and then we had to make a stop at customs before heading into Nagoya. The local agent was very helpful in assisting with securing our hotel and train reservations. Nice guy, but I think he was quite relieved when we reassured him we could handle the rest on our own and he was free to leave.

For the trip to Nagasaki we boarded one of the high-speed shinkansen bullet-trains in Nagoya and rode about three and a half hours until Hakata where we transferred to a limited express train for the remaining two hours to Nagasaki.

This was my first experience on the shinkansen. Very fast and comfortable, but no indication of the speed as we had in the Chinese express train.

The last part of the trip was actually much more scenic as our express train made its way along the coast to Nagasaki. The pace wasn't as hectic as with the bullet-train and we passed through a number of interesting and scenic fishing towns.

We wandered around the central part of Nagasaki yesterday evening and it's a fairly compact city and easy to get around using their system of somewhat outdated trams. The price for the trams is right, though; just Y100 for any trip regardless of length.

Today our plan is to look at some of the other sights and I at least need to do some shopping to stock up on some more books for the long trip.

Panama Canal Stuff

For those of you who might be interested, the official website for the Panama Canal is www.pancanal.com

From the front page you can see the links to the webcams for the locks.

Right now we're scheduled to go through on the 10th and 11th of February, so maybe you can watch our ship as we sail through.

More later...