HUMOUR OF LIFE AND ALL ITS IRONY

Been here for two weeks now and yet , i still haven't fully adjusted to my surroundings - worse I'm more restless than ever knowing that my deployment back at sea would be much sooner than i actually expect. I was thinking in mind that my vacation would be at least 4 months minimum here and i could easily rebuild and pick up some agenda's that i left behind before going back again. Seriously I find it strange that CSM is giving less priorities to people who are very anxious in going back to work at sea than sailors who are unwilling and plan to stay longer on land. I cant really enjoy my vacation if CSM keeps pressuring me to back to work when in fact i should be staying home for a vacation.

In the meantime i went early in the morning to Career Ship management to get the pay check for my leave pay since I'm going to use the money on a lot of things, well mostly for the remaining supplies that I'd be needing and to cover the cost of the remaining seminar lectures that I'd be needing for the latter.

For some reason i find it doubtful why i even have to take this seminars at all in the first place. However who am i to question such a policy and for all i know - all Filipino sailors will be expecting this kind of make over on 2017 , and their training certificates that dated 2013 and below will be nothing more than just toilet paper to wipe off asses.

I woke up very early to prepare but i left the house late given that i was stalled by my mom's mental health condition for a few hours. I just simple wouldn't leave the house without assuring that mom will be ok and wont go "Beserk" while I'm gone. When i reached Career I quickly went to the accounting booth and pulled out my the check list "Teri" gave me along with my seaman's book I'd. The counter said there's no need to pull it out , she only need's the serial number of my passport document.

While i was searching if i do have at least a passport photocopy left on my bag, I was approached by an O.S. Who happens to previously worked on "Dale" ship. He saw my application form and was surprise to see  it that i came from Cape Tallin, He introduced himself that he said was supposedly be assigned on that ship but on the last minute was put up on "Dale" , replied and said that I'm also assigned on "dale" but was later changed to cape tallin on the last minutes. I had a few small talk with him, not the friendly conversation but simple professional kind.

Few minutes later , the accountant handed me a cheque and it was written that my leave pay amounts to 70 thousand pesos . The cash out of the cheques is in a bank in ermita manila called PhilTrust bank. Figuring out that cheques cannot be encashed without proper identification documents , i decided to go to the reporting to borrow my seaman's book from the company before proceeding to the bank.

At first i plan to go back to my house and call it a day , but i figured its still about 10am and i got a whole lot of time to finish en cashing those cheque. However I saw that the only money left on my wallet at that time is just 20 PHP, if i plan to en cash this cheque and failed m it would be a very very long walk from home (walking from Ermita manila to marikina ain't no joke). In the end i decided it as worth the risk, and this isnt the first time that i had walked on long distance before. To save money i walked southward until i reached LRT taft station then boarded a jeep and dropped off at NBI building in ermita.

Had a difficult time locating Philtrust Bank and the only thing i was sure of is that this bank is located somewhere in maria orosa street, and had to check google maps o where exactly it was located (good thing i had my android tablet with me and my pocket wifi device) . When i browsed the Google map i found it was near Kalaw street and quite a walk from my location,

The Google maps was very useful and that  it gave me at least a hint on where the hell it was located.

Never had a serious trouble encashing the 70 thousand pesos on my leave pay though the bank teller did scolded me for only bringing only a single valid ID document. I hurriedly went to go back home given that carrying 70 thousand pesos in my backpack and walking the streets of quiapo recto is a very bad idea (the place is crawling with pick picketers' , thugs and robbers).

The next few days , i spent some of the money buying equipment needed such as toiletries and "specialized" equipment. It took me some time to locate all the items i needed but it was worth it.  Oh yeah i bought along a "Phablet" as well , since its already scheduled that my corby phone will be retiring.

For the moment most of the money i got will be spent on my retraining and have already enrolled the BTU / BTR seminar at PNTI,. ( A seminar in which has only a life span of only to years) aside from that if i still have enough money , I'm going to pursue taking in an exam on this vacation. Cant miss that opportunity.

Enrollment and registration lobby of PNTI 

INFINITE MISCHIEF

Intentionally didn't log on to the internet for a few days, I figured that i needed some time off from being hooked up all the time on face book  and pay more attention on more important matters.

For the moment, i was busy preparing and sorting out the equipment I'd be needing on my next ship work and I'm almost complete on the list of items that I'd be needing. for the general knowledge of the public , here are the items that i will bring along on my work , These are only additional equipments that i will add on my existing "standard equipment" that i have currently.

Mefenamic Acid 50pcs

 Antibiotics (amoxicillin 500) 50 pcs

Shavers Gillete 4pcs

Panteen shampoo 2 bottles of 70ml

Rubbing alcohol 2bottles

Dextrose powder 1 bottle

Band Aid strips 12 Pcs

Cotton Gauge 2 rolls

Vitamin E 400mg Myra brand 3 bottles

Vitamin C 500mg Rhea brand 4 bottles

Vitamin B Complex 8 Bottles

Centrum multivitamins 2 bottles

Medical Tape 1 roll

DECK EQUIPMENT

Army Parka Raincoat 2pcs

Pad Locks 3pcs

Facemask "MMDA" Type

Garrison Belt 2pcs Black

Foldable Multi tool Pliers 2 pcs

Ear Defenders 1 pcs (ace hardware)

"Soldiers Sling" (from camp crame)

Screw Drivers 2pcs (both + and - )

Gel Pen Black 4pcs

Surgical Gloves 4 pieces

Perla 2pcs soap bars

Brush

Digital Watch 3pcs

Safe Guard soap 4pcs

Quick Glue (or instant glue Brand name "Lock tite")

"Swat belt"(from Marikina letter store)

Card Board box cutters 4pcs

Card Board box Cutter blades

Disposable nylon straps 4 sets (Ace Hardware)

Seamanship Books and publications (from national bookstore)

Room Thermometer

Underwear set (bench brand clothing store)

Its really amazing that i have come along way from the simple bare basic PPE equipment i use during  my deck cadet years to the now "enhanced" modified equipment i currently use. I guess this is the product of all the knowledge i gained on my years being a seaman, On how to survive and last for enough to finish a contract.

In other news related

During my previous time when i was online , I managed to download a lot of documentary films from the National Geographic Channel and History Channel stored on the YOUTUBE website. I used a YOUTUBE downloader program to download these shows since technically the website doesn't really offer a "Real download" option. The main motive why i had to download this shows is the fact that , it will be useful in case i encounter trouble from the people working there and go plan an "Isolation" Tactic like what i exactly did in Cape Tallin. ( Believe me It would be best going solo in case i encounter hostiles). I can never be sure at all if the people on my next ship will be friendly or will pose a serious threat on my stay there but if ever it boils down to the "Isolation Tactic" I'd make sure that my cabin will not be a prison and will have sufficient stock of entertainment media for me to keep me entertained on the duration of my contract,

Either way i should not take any chances and relay all on "good faith", I should keep in  mind that i should watch my back , especially when it comes to my own kind.

In other news related

Currently i had also now finished modifying the safety helmet I'm going to bring for my next shipboard work , all i had to do was simply use a soldering iron (the one used by electricians) , a few flexible garter straps and a few pieces of nylon strap. To better understand what process i

On late night of march 17 , I was surprised to received a phone call from career shipping. It was Mr. Nidoy on the phone and was asking if i have already started out on my training seminars (referring to the BTU/ BTR , SDSD and C.O.C. Renewal). I said i haven't started it yet and was still waiting to get my leave pay first. Apparently based on my conversation with Mr. Nidoy on the phone, Career wants me to hustle up since there is an O.S. vacancy on some ship called Cape Bari and they want me to be there, A.S.A.P. , he added that i should report to the office when i get my back pay. Apparently from what i heard on MR. Nidoy that there is a lot of vacancies for the O.S. Position on different ships.

Had mixed emotions on that kind of conversation given that I'm dead serious in taking a licensure exam on this vacation and that i couldn't set it aside given that if i did , I'd  have to wait for another 36 months total of sea service (roughly 5 ships all in all ) before i could take an exam as PRC licensure examination rule here in the Philippines. Aside from that license issue , I still have to be fully prepared on my next shipboard work , mostly on the supplies part. Anyway i guess I'd find out on the latter what will be my situation when i report back to the office , The irony of life here is that career doesn't put people who are very eager to go work onboard A.S.A.P. compared to people who are "unwilling and wants to have a good vacation first" on their ships.

I wonder what will be the situation on my next ship in career ? Will it have a regular work off days like Saturday or Sunday ? Or will it have a non-stop fight to the finish work environment (no holidays whatsoever) ? Those thoughts fill me with grim knowing that some ships here in career ship management are very cruel and disregardful on people. To make it worse I have to really look out if the people there   I have to be full prepared and ready if the situations falls on that kind of category

TRUCE FOR THE WEARY

Being a Sailor , I mostly Think this is right especially to my fellow pinoy sailors

Been almost a week since i got back home and  a lot has changed on the house while I'm away as if like i was in a different place . The feeling of like "its my home and yet it feels different " scenario , i couldn't explain it exactly but the aura of the house feels somewhat different from what i left off months ago. I am now an alien on my own home and somewhat feel detach on almost everything in my environment,

My place is slightly different from what i got used to know months ago, it's far more messy than it was and most of my stuff (clothes etc) are now in stored plastic cabinets, as if like my whole identity is sealed on those ruins, Aside from that most of the things that i care about are already gone such for example my pet cats. Before my first travel as a sailor i had a lot of pet cats - counting as many as 25 , I had been always found of caring those little animals, i had a cat that has a pure black fur , a cat that has only one eye , a cat that in human terms you would say a pet with disability and has a "Wheel chair"  , Sadly i had been a sailor and most of my cats have been dead now - died for various reasons and Only less than 8 cats have remained now, I'm not exactly sure if the people here on my house are taking good care of them.

I guess that's the main drawback of being a sailor and being far from home for so long, everything and anything that i had cared about will be gone and turned to dust when i  get back , one by one and the worst part is that i wont be able to see it ever again.   

Maybe i guess this is the psychological effect of being away and far from home on a long basis - being detach to the surroundings,

Anyway i should keep away on those ugly thoughts and it will not do me any good thinking about it.

For the moment when i returned and reported back to Career Shipping Office, I was immediately put on the task of "Teri" to take a refresher seminar called BTR / BTU (Basic Training Upgrade / Basic Training Refresher) to replace the soon to be obsolete SOLAS / BST PSSR certificate. I'm not entirely sure if this so called seminars is just a remedy or a permanent replacement for BST / PSSR Certificates that i have or i will take another set of seminars by 2017. Anyway what i do know about the seminars is that all of them (or mostly of it ) will become obsolete by the year 2017 and i have to retake all my previous seminars again.

So far my previous visit yielded 3 task and one updating of a document (Imperative and Priority), and here they are .

1st objective ---- take BTU Seminar on PNTI school  in Intramurous

2nd objective ---take BTR Seminar on PNTI School in Intramurous (pretty much the same)

3rd objective --- take SDSD Seminar on PNTI school in Intramurous

4th objective --- renew C.O.C. Certificate in TESDA

Sub-Objectives are

Renew S.R.C. Card from POEA

Get Amosup I.D. From Amosup office

Get Phil-Health I.D.

Get NBI Certificate

While Optional Objectives are

Take PRC licensure examinations .

In the meantime, I cannot advance and take down this task without getting my Back pay first at Career Shipping Office. To simply say It I'm stuck and going no where till i get the money.

In other news while I'm waiting for my leave pay...

I'm taking the time to upgrade and repair the equipments that I'd be using for my next shipboard work, Aside from buying essential *other* equipment as well. Another thing that i had been doing recently is upgrading the software of my HP laptop to windows 8.1 and been doing a huge download from Youtube videos . I figured that since I'm going to be away again for another 9 months , i had better be prepared again on the Media / Entertainment part - Just in case of prolonged isolation and if the "native's"" on my next ship are hostile and pose a threat.

For the moment I guess I'd enjoy the whole week off before starting again making my move.

Oh yeah i almost forgot , I had been making a lot of discoveries lately and my latest discovery is ... Well i cant tell publicly in here but it has something to do on the folks in twitter. Hopefully i might uncover more in the Twitter website , Seriously it's a big breakthrough i had discovered in years

Stay tune for any updates .......

INTERSTELLAR FLIGHT

Took me quiet a while to get my sense back again after the long trip back home , as expected my disembarkation is on Cartagena, Spain and it was good news that my disembarkation pushed thru on that port. Seriously I'm not yet tired working onboard the ship but the main reason why i wanted to go home is to finally get rid of my enemies there once and for all (as we all know its "Bull Frog" Amican and 2nd Officer Renan Aveda Olis A.K.A "Bastard - O " ).The Disembarkation schedule - In a funny twist of fate will be carried out on two groups , The reason why it will be two groups was because of the fact that four people ( "Bull Frog" Amican, Oiler Rogel , 3rd Engineer Cranz and A.B. Homer) have issues with the European visa (Schengen to be specific, Visa mentioned on my entry "The Hunt for Schengen") . Apparently from what i heard is that these four don't have any schengen visa's yet and processing takes two days resulting that they will disembark on the latter.

A Sample of a PRC Sea Certificate

Unfortunately for me , I'm part of the first group that will disembark and 2nd officer "bastard - O" and Messman Ferdinand are also part of it. Well i don't have anything against Ferdinand and don't hate the guy , But i do despise "Bastard - O" and never liked him around. Anyway for the sake of me going home , as much as it pains me i had to tag along with these illiterates on the course of the trip. Before i went disembarked i arranged  secretly my sea service certificate and went to captain slabada and asked him if he could sign in for my "Sea service certificate" ( a PRC form in the philippines need for a license exam), Captain Slabada signed it and didn't give me any hard time at all and i'm thankful for it. I will be needing this sea service certificate in the long run,

In the morning of March 5th , i was knocked on the cabin door by Messman ferdinand and said it now time for us to leave. I was already prepared a few hours before ferdi knocked and was just simply waiting for anyone to signal me. I woke up A.B. Jay to help me out on my luggages (2 bags , one with 18 kilograms and the other 16 kilograms) , A.B. Jay is very helpful in helping us out and even borrowed the ships cart for us to use in getting the luggage's off the gate.

The cab arrived at about 6:30am and we proceeded to the nearby domestic airport for the domestic flight to Madrid . According to my flight details , my trip to go home will be a domestic flight first from Cartagena to Madrid then international flight from Madrid  to Dubai then another flight from Dubai to manila. Pretty simple instruction indeed, and can't miss it.

During the whole trip , it was definitely very obvious that there was friction as i didn't spoke any word and ignored "bastard - O" , and why the hell would i talk to him eh ? His so called   ship officers position and license is nothing more than just toilet paper here. Only Ferdinand even bother to talk to the guy once in a while.

So what can i saw about the trip ? Well honestly i would be better off travelling alone rather than having these two around, that one is an asshole and the other is a stupid piece of shit when it come to travelling. Seriously i cant explain why Messman ferdinand is so stupid when it comes to travelling on airports - i mean come on !! He's been a sailor longer than me and he should have known more about the in's and out's of an airport and yet he's very stupid when it comes to gates and terminals. Good thing I'm not hanging out with him since there's a huge possibility that I 'd miss a flight with him around.  Glad I'm well aware now that Messman Ferdinand cannot be trusted when it comes to these matters.

The Ipad Mini I gave to my sister (Leftside)

On my short stay in dubai I bought my little sister an Ipad that she's been requesting about (actually it was an iphone) , i couldn't get her an iphone in Dubai given that the cost of a single iphone unit was at around 700 U.S. Plus plus (roughly 31thousand PHP) so i decided that an Ipad would be a good alternative. The Filipina sales person in dubai was very warm and friendly and knows how to make small talk on customers, Being in Dubai airport is a bit at home and there are a lot of Filipino workers there working on duty free shops. I bought the usual stuff OFW presents there aside from the mac - TONS and TONS of chocolates

When we arrived at the NAIA terminal 1 airport, I made no hesitation in ditching out "bastard - O" and Ferdinand and hurriedly went out on the airplane, why the hell would I wait for them ? - never even liked them from the start and there's no exact rule that i should tag along with them any longer.  I finally got rid of them - this time for good !!!

The following day i decided to report back to the shipping office as part of the company policy that every sailor should report back to the shipping office within the 24 hour time frame upon arrival.

I never had any problems in reporting back , and Mr. Nidoy was more accommodating compared to Mr. HO, He just simply asked me a few questions about how long would i be vacationing here and they needed O.S. Positions on other ships, afterwards I'm free to go.

​

NEXT CHAPTER

For the moment I'm renovating some parts of my blog and inserting pictures and giving it "substance". Will post later on for my latest entries. I'm already here in the Philippines and I have the luxury and resources to renovate my official blog .

Please stay tuned for my next entry ........

CAPE TALLIN REPORT

"Filipino Sailors are an interesting kind of people, an interesting mix. Capable of the best of dreams and the worst and most horrible of nightmares "

"Unnamed Filipino Sailor" saying the words to an acquaintance after completing the contract onboard Cape Tallin.

DRAMATIS PERSONA CAPE TALLIN

Igors Slabada (latvian, Captain of Cape Tallin, Returns back on Jan 14 2014)

Gocha Tetrashvili (Georgian National, Chief Officer )

Renan Oveda Olis (Filipino, 2nd officer)

German Jr. Tan Corales (Filipino, 3rd Officer)

Sergey Il'yantsev (Russian, Chief Engineer, Returns back on January 14, 2014)

Ards Jekabsons (Latvian, 2nd Engineer, went back again on November 2013)
Cranz Magistrado (Filipino, 3rd Engineer)

Henerson Patino Gonzales (Filipino, 4th Engineer)

Koba Tsiskaradze (Georgian National, Electrician, went back again on November 2013)

Zacarias Amican (Filipino, BOSUN)

Nilo Pastrana (Filipino, Pump man)
Ronald Hiteroza Caldona (Filipino, Able Bodied Seaman)

Patrick Borres Dondonilla (Filipino, Able Bodied Seaman)

Homer Mallorca (Able Bodied Seaman)

Xerxes Balagso Hall (Ordinary Seaman)

Myself (Ordinary Seaman)

Gil Dalisay Aguro (Fitter)

Gian Silverio Ampong Escote (Oiler)

Donald Reyes Roger (Oiler)

Robert Cervantes Peneranda (Cook)

Ferdinand Penera (Messman)

Valeriy Krasikov (Ukraine national, Captain and successor to Captain Slabada)

Sergey Nagornyy (Russian, Chief mate and successor to Chief Mate Gocha Tetrashivili)

Igor Voytenko (Ukrainian, Chief engineer and Successor to Chief engineer II'yantsev)

Lev Vakhrushev (Russian, 2nd engineer and Successor to 2nd engineer Ards)

Nino R. Lamasen (Filipino, 4th engineer and Successor to 4th engineer Gonzales)

Andriy Obertynskyy (Ukraine, electrical engineer and Successor to Koba tsiskaradze)

Teodolfo S. Liscano (Filipino, Pump man and Successor to P/M Pastrana)

Bryan Y. Monteroyo (Filipino, A.B. Seaman and Succesor to A.B. Ronald Hiteroza)

Richard F. Sano (Filipino, Fitter and Successor to Fitter Gil Dalisay)

Mark S. Aquino (Filipino, Oiler and Successor to Oiler Escote)

Oleksii Voitenko (Ukrainian, 19 yrs old Deck Cadet his dad is Chief engineer Voytenko)

Byron Peter Fourie ( South African, white, 3rd Mate and Successor to 3rd mate Corales)

Jay Rivera Briones (Filipino, Able bodied Seaman, Successor to A.B. Patrick Dondonilla)

Jermonick Maris Del Monte (Filipino, Ordinary Seaman, Successor to O.S. Xerxes Hall)

Jonathan Lubi Olan (Filipino, Chief Cook, Successor to Chief Cook Peneranda)

Evgeny Bezruchko (Russian, Chief Mater, Successor to Chief Mate Nagornyy)

Alexey Shkrygaylo (Russian, 3rd Mate, Successor to 3rd Mate Byron Fourie)

As what have I been writing about since the very start of my journey here, I already have described as much as I can the full details of life being a sailor. That despite the glamorous pictures shown like barbecue parties and such, there is always a "Hidden" story of everything. I have given face on what life of a sailor does, the challenges, the hardship, what a person should need to know, how life is "Inside" in a ship. I have already proven and recorded on this journal how Filipino's treat one another onboard, could be either the best and the worst a person has to offer. I had already shown and recorded how Filipino's here will intentionally and deliberately discriminate one another. That this so called "Filipino Seaman" and "life onboard a ship" reflects a very different society and do not in any way share the same values and moral beliefs we have here at land.

Filipino Sailors are an interesting kind of people, an interesting mix. Capable of the best of dreams and the worst and most horrible of nightmares. They feel so alone, So cut off from the outside world but they're not.

The crux of my journal ends with me becoming a "full fledge sailor" out of the so many student sailors there in the Philippines, my exile and my return, But the revelation is not one of " I am here now at the top " but its implications, Asking myself. What does it mean to be a sailor ? I'm standing at the top among the rest. Was it worth it ? Is this all life is worth? What have i really done ?

FOOTNOTE

I would like to make a space here to say my apologies on AB jay briones and O.S. Del Monte , Earlier on my entries here i was suspicious about them and didn't trust them probably because i thought both of them to be bad guys (given with my distasteful experience with O.S. Hall and A.B. Caldona, their predecessors) , but as it turns out after a two months of investigation they are the good guys .

My sincerest apologies to both of them .... Please accept this as a formal apology if i ever doubted you both guys

FASTEST DELIVERY

February 24, 2014 Monday

" there's a saying that a commander shouldn't leave his soldier even if he lies wounded, half dead , his arms torn off and his sockets and intestines spilling on the mud and being eaten by the birds. However this isn't the military and these Filipino Sailor's do not live on the code of honour "

Ship will be heading back now in Istanbul turkey and head out away from the Baltic area, For the moment it will be on standby near Istanbul, Turkey and await further instruction from the traffic on when will be the time of channelling. For the moment this ship is just drifting nearby the channelling area ( not anchored as earlier thought) and it arrived at around 7pm late at night, probably because its waiting for a schedule on the pilot to arrive.

During the night, i was invited for a drink on A.B. Mallorca's cabin , I didn't turned down the invitation and heard a few rumours about some crew. There was fitter Sano, Oiler Rogel and Pump man liscano in A.B. Mallorca's cabin sharing a drink as well.

From what i heard, A.B. Mallorca is still bitter about the fiasco that three of us were left behind in a US domestic airport  before our joining here in Cape Tallin, saying that 2nd officer "Bastard - O" Renan and "Bull Frog" Amican left their own co-workers to save their own skin and didn't even bother to check out who's missing or not - not exactly what a leader should do in the first place, there's a saying that a commander shouldn't leave his soldier even if he lies wounded , his arms torn off and his sockets and intestines spilling on the mud and being eaten by the birds. However this isn't the military and these Filipino Sailor's do not live on the code of honour 

Another rumour Mallorca added was about 2nd officer "Bastard - O" most recent incident on his previous ship before cape tallin. Apparently from what i heard from his was there was this incident were "Bastard - O" nearly got beaten up by the chief mate. Homer didn't state it very clearly on what was the reason why "bastard - O's "  former Chief mate wanted to beat the shit out of this Dick suckers ass but i could surmise that 2nd officer "Bastard - O" rude ill mannered, unprofessional attitude has something to do with it.  I could only come up with that conclusion based on what i had seen on him and observing based on the known facts,

Anyway I do hope someday he'd get stabbed to death by someone and I'm not going to be surprised one day if that happens. I'm very thrilled if that would materialize one day that someone would teach him a hard lesson. Sadly reality says that if the happens I'm not going to be around to see it.

In the afternoon the a pilot boarded this ship and channelling out of the Baltic resumed, it was only a short 1 hour transit and the weather wasn't that good as expected - a bit of rain showers every now and then. During the transit Me and O.S. Jermon Del Monte was busy taking pictures on the surrounding area, when i heard on the radio 2nd Officer's "Bastard - O" Voice contacting BOSUN "Bull Frog"Amican saying that he can't contact the other deck personnel who has the radio (Referring to me) and he's been contacting it for a long time.

Apparently i didn't heard "bastard - O" yelping over the radio earlier and by the time i answered back , This cock sucker let out a lot of offensive words on the radio - in PUBLIC   AND EVERYONE COULD HEAR. Anyway I just ignored on what he said on the radio and never even bothered by it , after all he's not going to be my problem anymore and the next crew will be the one who will dealt with him. The pilot soon disembark after the radio incident.

Going back the radio was taken away from me and was given to O.S. Del Monte, Unofficially I'm relieved about it as there are no more any unnecessary disturbances on work.

Late at night we anchored off somewhere yet again, I'm not sure what's the name of the place what. I'm very much sure that the reason why we anchored here was that were waiting for another pilot to come by on a transit.

During a day of waiting, My work on the maintenance was helping out "Bull Frog" Amican (along with O.S. Del Monte) in changing the wires on the forward mast and greasing a few wires on the gangway ladder.

While at the anchorage

Cash Advance , always thrilled to hear those words here on this ship. This simply means it "pay day" and i get to choose what amount they can give me. For now the money i selected was 800 U.S.D. And drained my credits there till the only thing left was about 45 dollars on the pay out . That's fine with me that the only left credits I got will be just 45 Dollars, that's the only thing I'd be claiming on my onboard pay when i visit career shipping , 24 hours after i reached the Philippines (aside from the leave pay). I'm more comfortable having my money on my own hands  and near me rather than some company handling it. For the record my money on my wallet now is 1200 U.S.D. Excluding a few Bulgarian leva currency and a few small U.S. Dollar bills that i haven't counted yet.

In other news

 if expecting a pilot , safety harness, heaving line and pilot ladder long with life jacket is prepared near at the gangway entry

According to what i heard this ship's arrival in spain will be on Monday and no word yet on the crew change since it was cancelled off in turkey, only best hope is that Career shipping and CSM would cook up with something to get us out of here.

For the work i was busy helping out fitter sano on removing some metal on the trash bins . Was an easy job and old school - just assist him and put all the trash away and that's .

At about 8am in the morning the following day, before the work starts we were told that the pilot would arrived and so we heaved up the anchor and prepared the pilot ladder . The pilot came and had this ship on channelling for three hours and before the pilot disembark a small pilot boat came nearby to delivery three boxes of smoke's . From what i saw its Marlboro, LM and a new one Dunhill. 

CLOSE BUT YET SO FAR

February 21st 2014, Friday

After a day of delay due to bad weather (which i had nothing to do but look for rust and sweep it on the deck as my maintenance work), This ship has finally commenced in berthing with Vladimir tikonov at around 10am. We didn't do any deck maintenance work when we were standby at around 8am given that mooring and berthing are more important , and aside from that we don't kind of feeling like working at all since 7 Filipino crew will be disembarking (including me) on the turkey straights right after this operation.

Everything was ready before the this ship berthed to Vladimir , SOPEP , Fire fighting Equipment. So it was just directly going back to the security watch duties after Mooring.

From what i heard on the rumour that loading operations will be very short in "FCS Vladimir Tikhonov" , roughly just 12 hours to 16 hours since it pumps cargo much faster than "NS Lion" . After my watch , I did the usual packing of my luggage and couldn't sleep comfortably out of the excitement of disembarking soon. I was thinking whether i would be disembarking while this ship is in the middle of channelling away on Istanbul or when this ship is at anchorage ? Anyway this is just a minor detail and wouldn't matter at all.

Anyway in other rumours ....

I heard from homer (during our time on cargo ops) that 2nd officer "Bastard - O" is having a eye inflammation or eye strain of some sort and that he is going to be left out along with third engineer on the disembarkation from this ship. Seriously I'm normally not like this but this is the first time that I'm glad to heard about someone's misfortune , Serve's him right that pussy ass mother fucker !!! And that's what he gets for being a dickhead here onboard. I glad he's going to be left behind

During my night watch duties (12 midnight till 6am), I was kept pretty much occupied in assisting those Ukrainian Surveyors in taking cargo samples from slop cargo tank, It was chore assisting them as they made a big mess in collecting cargo samples - As in the whole tank hatch was covered with bunker fuel , and even my I as well .

Another worst thing that happened was chief mate instructed me to take cargo samples in slop starboard tank when loading operations was already over. Good thing i was able to remedy the situation by opening the cargo hatch and getting some equipment from the deck store and took the heaving line from the aft area.

14 bottles (1 liter each ) were the total number of samples I took and a shitload of a mess in the slop tank hatch when i finally got to finish the job. Hopefully The mooring team on the aft wont recognize that their heaving line will be a bit shorter than the usual by the time this ship reaches Cartagena Spain and when that happens I'm no longer around and will be most likely in the Philippines.

The pilot was expected to arrive at around 8am , but apparently it was already 10am when O.S. Del Monte knocked to my door and said its Unmooring time. Unmooring operations went on without any problems.

A few hours later after unmooring ops, A short notice memo just came in from career shipping informing that the crew change will be unlikely in Turkish Straights . Possibly the next crew change will be on next port , Cartagena Spain

FINAL COUNTDOWN

FEBRUARY 16, 2014 Monday

Wasn't exactly sure on Sunday if their is work or a rest day, So just to confirm i hanged out in the crew mess for a while until i was absolutely sure that it was really a rest day. I wont really go to so much trouble in confirming if it was a rest day or not if the chief mate wasn't Mr.Bezruchko , If it was Chief mate nagorny - It's definitely a 100 percent rest day on Sundays.

View if the FPSO ship NS Lion

Behold The EPES turkish Beer 

So what happened during my *hang out* time in the crew mess, well Fitter Sano was having an early morning drinking session on beer (as early as 7am in the morning) while it was only me who took a breakfast. Obviously Fitter sano invited me to join him on his ongoing drink, I joined in in seeing that there's nothing wrong drinking on a rest day , besides that i don't want to get into the wrong impression. I had a couple of drinks probably 4 to 6 bottles of EPES Turkish beer and had a few small talk with fitter sano.

We discussed about me taking a licensure exam after this. Maybe Fitter sano is right taking a licensure exam and getting a license may benefit me on the long run, after all at least any company could not dispose me easily if I have one.

On the latter part of the day, Finally got to clean my cabin after so many months ignoring it - specifically on my toilet area. Well i figured that I guess maybe before i disembark onboard this ship i better leave my cabin in shape for my successor.

Aside from cleaning my cabin , I also tested out the outfit I'm going to wear on my disembarkation day. I look glamorous on the outfit wearing semi formal clothes and with a tie on, and i bet my co-workers are going to be very jealous on it when i wore them.

In other news on Sunday

I finally finished playing the story of mode on the video game "Far cry 2" , so what can i say about it ? Well I'm not exactly sure if I got the good ending at all in this game, the end story on my game is that I had killed all my buddies over some few pieces of rock (diamonds) , let the bad guy named "Jackal" got away and made a self sacrifice by blowing myself up in the cliff , blocking the accesses to cliff to the horde of other bad guys planning to go genocidal on helpless citizens  (so that civilians can get out of the border).

I'm not so sure at all that i got the good ending nor if the story on this video game is non linear. Anyway bottom line is that I've finished the game.

On Tuesday February 18, 2014. The weather wasn't really going well in the morning and there was heavy fog yet again, it was even doubtful that berthing might be cancelled and when i came to work it was indeed cancelled - well its more called a delayed rather than cancel and at around 12:30 Pm, O.S. Del Monte knocked to my cabin door and said that were going to heave up anchor and be berthing soon. As expected  I quickly dresses in coveralls and got down to business.

After the anchor was successfully heaved up. We went to the crew mess to have a coffee break and wait further orders. Some how this ship was moving very slow and took four hours for it to reach the destination point, and obviously we were there in the crew mess waiting.

Ship that was berthed at is named "NS Lion" another SCF company ship (it's a ship to ship berthing ops) . It has a deep color red hull like the red we typically see in primer paints here onboard, and probably that ship is Korean made based on its structure.

Before berthing "Bullfrog" Amican lectures me something about a load line, ( as if i don't know what it is, I already know that during my college years on where its located , what's it used for and what the symbol letters mean ) . I just let him talk and talk all that shit about it , Funny he lectures me on something as if like i was an ignorant illiterate and him implying that he's a "superior intellectual guy" - Seriously I do know better that "Bull Frog" Amican is no better off than any other regular joe around here and if he knows so much , how come he ended up being a BOSUN rather than a ship officer eh ??!  Asshole just plainly have an EGO problem.

During berthing, the Russian third mate said that i should now throw the heavy line , but on my rough estimation it was a few meters short on my throwing reach, i told him that about it and ignored it , saying it will be fine. I did throw the heaving line anyway to the other ship and my estimation was correct , it didn't make it on the other side and was probably 2 to 6 meters short of the target and as a result i had to coil back again the heaving and throw it one more time. O.S. Del Monte said he like to take a shot on the heaving line and i gave him the rope.

This time the distance between our ship and NS lion was so close that missing it will be impossible, as expected the end of the heaving line made it on the deck of NS lion and tied it to their messenger line (rope used to drag the mooring line). Then afterward we pulled our heaving line and tied it up on our Mooring lines - spring lines to be specific. The mooring arrangement on our STS ops is 4 : 2 just like before. After an hour it mooring ops was finished.

Soon after the mooring ops, I went to the mid ship manifold area to prepare the fire fighting equipment and SOPEP , as well as the ISPS box (as part of my work description as an O.S.). When i came there it was already prepared and basically i was left to do nothing for a while, I roamed for a few minutes finding any work when i saw chief mate Bezruchko having a conversation on some crew of NS lion , there was also BOSUN AMICAN and 2nd officer "Bastard - O" .

Apparently from what i heard NS Lion doesn't have any "baskets" at all to carry some of the personnel from their ship to ours and they suggest that we should use our  accommodation gangway as a means of a walkway. Unfortunately it wasn't possible given the circumstances and it would be very dangerous to do so and there's a possibility that people would fall from there. In the end the crew of NS lion used an improvised version of a basket to carry their people around, they used a wooden box with a safety net that would be lifted by their crane. Honestly the basket box really looks more of like a coffin rather than a basket when looked at.

After my watch, I went ahead to my cabin to fix a few other stuff and had difficulty sleeping and looks like i paid the price on not resting, as during my midnight watch i was feeling the severe effects of sleep deprivation. To make it short i was very dizzy and wasn't feeling well on that time, to make it more complicated the temperature dropped down again and there was another fog coming by. Good thing there wasn't much work to go around with.

On the late part of my watch, A.B. Mallorca heard a shout coming the accommodation direction and when he came out to check it , he saw it was 2nd officer "Bastard - O" yelling and shouting "Where's your radio" . Immediately A.B. Mallorca checked out his radio and it was dead apparently maybe because it was low on the batteries awhile ago, he checked mine and i had the same problems as well on the radio. He immediately sent me out to replace both of our radio's batteries in the CCR and when i was in the room , I saw 2nd Officer "Bastard - O"  and immediately let out a furious words, shouting in tagalog saying "Tatanga tanga kasi , Palitan nyo battery nyo" , not exactly sure the exact translation in tagalog but it sounded more like , "Change your battery, you incompetent imbecile" . I was going to let out a few words but i figured , he's not going to be my problem anymore in the next couple of days since I'm disembarking and low life cunt's like him are not worth it, So i just turned my back on him the CCR and ignored him.

Back in the cargo manifold area , A.B. Homer Mallorca asked what happened on the CCR , i just gave him a reply that its nothing serious and 2nd officer is bitchy as always.

At around 6pm NS lion operation were finished and the whole mooring crew was finished in the unmooring operations, we were in a hurry putting back again the mooring ropes and wire back , expecting that another berthing operations to FCS valdimir tikhonov would commence right after our unmooring with NS LION. Unfortunately much to our dismay mooring was cancelled for now and this ship anchored about 1.5 miles away from Vladimir Tikhonov. From what in heard we wont berth for now due to the late schedule.

PERPLEX POINT

February 15, 2014 Saturday

Saturday as expected wasn't exactly "half-Day" work at all, Apparently Chief Mate Bezruchko isn't very lenient when it comes to weekends compared to his predecessor Chief Mate Nagorny and as anticipated most of the crew here are not very happy about it. Usual practice here in this ship (Cape Tallin), Saturdays are half day work while Sundays are rest day. However ever since Captain valeriy and Chief mate Bezruchko arrived they started having idea's cancelling off rest days (It started on my entry "Pointing Fingers") and putting more work load, worst part of it is that were already over worked and the overtime pay got decimated to around only 55 hours instead of the usual 120 Hours as normal practice here.

Captain Valeriy is already gone and has been replaced by Captain Slabada (during this ships dry dock repairs last January 2014) however the practice of cancelling out weekends still haven't stopped, The insult to this is that they're cancelling out weekends on a normal maintenance operation and its not even an emergency at all  (Like cargo loading / discharge operations).

Having a weekends off is good , but on how are the things going here. Assume that weekends will be always cancelled out for the time being until chief mate Bezruchko gets disposed of.'

Anyway For the work on Saturday , nothing much was done, I just swept the whole ship from forward till i ended up somewhere in the mid ship area. Wasn't really a tiring job. By the way while I was in the middle of my work, temperatures suddenly drop near freezing level and there was a huge fog coming from the sea (sea smoke). I had to put on my winter coveralls as a precaution and i don't want to repeat the same mistake i did during the dry docks.

There was one thing i could recall though about me giving my wenger Swiss army knife to O.S. De Monte before i disembark on this ship. Honestly I don't see anything wrong about giving it to him, and we were having a conversation when all of a sudden BOSUN Amican "Frog Face" butted in and said "We're is his gift, after  i disembark" , I replied and said he doesn't need it and that both of us are disembarking on the same time. He replied again and said "how about on our next ship ?" , I just kept silent. I said to myself "as if I'm going to see the like's of you on my next ship, This is a huge company and there is little possibility at all that i would encounter you on my next ship. Thank god we wont be seeing each other again and I'd be getting rid of you once and for all, otherwise its going to be another 10 month hell hole for me" , aside from that i don't give memento's to bad guys.

an example of a muster station bill

In the late afternoon, We had a security drill. The scenario is "a bomb inside the ship" , as what was written on my muster list ( a piece of paper or memo telling what are a person duties during an emergency) i had to search the starboard side of the ship from the accommodation all the way to the forecastle, My "Team mates" according to the card is the new Russian third mate and O.S. Del Monte.

We search for some time however we came up with nothing at all , it was chief engineer and his team who got the "dummy box" .

Anyway i think the security card drill I got has some problems and whoever wrote it haven't checked out the possibility that there are some parts there that overlap each others duties, like for example the fore castle part which from what i recall is the duty search of the BOSUN and A.B. 3 only.

As for the news regarding my disembarkation, there's currently a new word about it. Apparently from what i heard is that our crew relievers are already set up and ready to go and that they're already waiting for us to wrap things up here on the loading operations in Kerch, Ukraine. The only problem i heard is that both Ukraine and Russia is not a *convenient port* for Filipino sailors to disembark with,( meaning we cant join or leave the vessel while were here) and we have to wait until this ship arrives on the Turkish straights for the crew exchange, in the meantime both CSM and career are declaring  up a part of our contract that says specifically + / - one month (either 8 months or 10 months) , simply saying that were still going to be here on this ship until march.

Bottom line is that it only boils down on one meaning - I'm stuck here until we finished up the loading operations and transit out of the Baltic

USUAL ROUTINE

FEBRUARY 10, 2014 Monday

On the top right part of my Blog you can click the link for the Nautical Ebooks and learning materials , I also included some useful Nautical programs and Computer Based Training Programs (CBT) that is used in real life by shipping companies here in the Philippines. Hope this ïntelligence information " I gathered will be useful for the General Seaman Populace , especially to deck cadets  

Copy and paste this also on your web browser : https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=912A992BD6236A8A&mkt=en-US

A lot of people might be wondering what's the real motive behind me , *donating* to the general public my knowledge of my eBooks and computer based training maritime programs. Simple, its the main reason i already stated it on my introduction of blog.  To record and survey this knowledge for future generations plain and simple...

For now i have started my work in "Zipping" and compressing all the files that will be uploaded on my Microsoft Sky drive Online storage account, so that when i get back home in the Philippines - I wont go to so much trouble and just upload and upload all the knowledge and material needed for the future work that will be done .

For the latest work from the deck is that were just finished off unloading again the cargo that was loaded on one of the floating FPSO ships (named vladimir tikhonov) to another FPSO ship. The funny thing about this discharging operations was that we have the same loading and discharging port, which makes me wonder if this ship just " Heated " the cargo and stored it. Anyway its unimportant and I'm just a rank and file employee here.

The mooring arrangement given is 4 : 2 ( four headlines and two spring lines ) . Everything ran smoothly when the spring lines were given and the only difficult part we have was giving the head lines , basically because of the ice hasn't melted yet on the forward part - no big deal really, just plain old grunt work. Finished off my six hour work shift in a snap. By the way the name of the ship we discharge cargo is "Zarifa Aliyeva"

On the next work shift (12mn till 6 pm) , my last two hours part became busy when one of the rope tails (some part of a mooring wire) broke off from the large swell, well I wasn't exactly busy at all, but the problem was my attention was a bit distracted from the annoyance coming from MR. "Bastard - O" apparently because he demanded that i should have reported one of the other loose spring lines directly to him.

( Well excuse me , MR. Cock sucking Phylum Nematoda "Bastard-O". I'm not talking to you in the first place - I'm talking to homer Mallorca , and it's an A.B.'s job on maintaining the mooring lines - Unless you want to demote yourself to an A.B. - Asshole Filipino officers ! Ugh !!!)

On the afternoon work shift, On around 12noon , there was a P.A. That came saying that all mooring teams should proceed to the aft area. Apparently when i came there I heard that 3 stern lines snapped due to the increasing swell and that replacing the rope tails is imperative. The job was no big deal as i only assisted them in replacing the rope tails and pulled a rope tail or two to the nearest bollard or so, didn't have a difficult time with it since almost all of the engine and deck crew are at the aft . Doing all the replacement of the rope tails

Unloading ops was finished at around 3pm and I was busy assisting pumpman in blowing the cargo line with air (specifically i was on the air valve). After the said work , I'm off to the usual routine of securing all the fire fighting and SOPEP equipment back to its locker, Aside from that me and A.B. Bryan did also prepare the gangway ladder, the arrangement is combination ladder.  After that we waited for the pilot to arrived at 5pm.

Golden rule in any loading / unloading operations in an oil / chem tanker is always prepare and secure the SOPEP and Fire Fighting equipement

As for the food that was served for dinner , it was kind of a bit weird and some of my co-workers couldn't help but wonder on what the hell is going on in Chief cook olan's mind. It was weird in the sense that who have ever thought that hamburgers could be served for dinner? My Co-worker A.B. Homer Mallorca said he's disgust over it being served for dinner and said "Hamburgers are for a quick snack and should not be dinner at all" , he added also that he didn't ate his hamburgers. Me on the other hand just kept quiet , knowing that he is right after all.

It was around 6 when the pilot came via tugboat and as the usual unmooring operations started . When all the Deck crew (O.S. And A.B.'s) are finally finished making the final few adjustments on the pilot ladder, I was going to my mooring station when Mr Bastard - O suddenly approached me and asked why am i going to the forward mooring station , I replied that its my mooring station. To his stupid ignorance he said "Your A.B. Jay right?? " . I replied I'm not and quickly left him (like being a snob)  , he asked another question on were is jay . I didn't said a word and just pointed my finger to the aft direction ,

This cock sucking fool probably didn't recognized he was talking to the wrong person because i was heavily wearing a bonnet that covers my whole face .

At around 8:30 we dropped anchor somewhere nearby , From what i recall we payed out about 10 shackles on the anchor and it was via gravity type drop. O.S. Jermon Del Monte was the one who operated the winches for the gravity type drop since he has a good "pulse" in handling the anchor brakes than I am.

On the next several days ....

Rumour mill again and this time according to it, the next loading scenario for this ship in Kerch Ukraine will be a two part phase. First will be 30,000 Tons and the rest is the remaining space left. From what i heard first it was originally planned to be a four part phase of loading cargo via four ship barges , but like any rumour its insubstantial and subjected to change on last minute notice - like what happened just now.

For now the latest current news about it is its another STS loading ops and the FPSO ship will be FSU Vladimir Tikhonov , the very same FPSO ship that loaded us the cargo a few weeks ago. (expect that mooring arrangement will be 4:2 again).

As of the moment news on what specific date of our batch disembarkation is still unclear and not determined at all, Supposedly my batch's disembarkation should have been scheduled right after the loading of FSU Vladimir Tikhonov. Unfortunately the scheduled was cancelled and currently has gone cold - no news whatsoever .

In the meantime while this is being sorted out , I went ahead in printing a PRC (Professional Regulations Commission ) Sea Service Certificate and asked for Captain Slabada's License number (so i can print it on clearly via computer), which he courtesy gave. Now i don't have to worry about the paper work and even printed some extra copies WITH A SHIP SEAL IN IT , Good thing that the ship seal is not that difficult to find and i easily saw it on the C.O.C. . In other words if in case I'm unable to get a Sea service certificate here , the only problem i would have is faking Captain Slabada's signature

(the requirements of making a "Sea Service Certificate" given by the PRC. Is to have the ship captains license number , date of expiration of the license and the ships seal stamped on it. Of course aside from that no erasure and all entries should be type written on it.)

Latest assignment on maintenance work was greasing a few wires from both gangway ladder (port and starboard) , and cleaning the oil residues that was left behind the cargo tank hatches when oil samples were taken (specifically tanks hatches 6,4, and 2 starboard).  chemicals I used is a combination of both "SEACLEAN" chemical and Oxalic ACID, - worked with wonders in removing those tough crude oil stains.

This is the chemical I'm talking about