Saturday,
May 16, 2015
Out of
nowhere and without warning , I heard on the ship P.A. system "ALL FORWARD MOORING CREW PLEASE SECURE THE
TUGBOAT LINE" . Immediately I went in such a haste from my cabin
and dressing up on the locker room that I was the first to arrive on the scene
in the forward area to help BOSUN Diosana in securing the tugboat line, most of
other people arrived at least 5 minutes later. Never really comfortable to hear
announcements on the last minute as what happened , but of course I just had to
ride along on the show on the management says despite they have a nasty habit.
Mooring schedule was unsurprising and expected, no thanks to the information I
got on the crew mess 3 hours earlier.
For the
details regarding what happened on the mooring, it was relatively smooth with
only a few minor complications dealt with such as insect bites and half an hour
unexpected rain. The first complication was preventable if I just only wore my
face mask, but unfortunately our dip shit captain said some smart ass rule that
nobody on this ship can wear these kind of outfit saying an excuse that’s it's
an ISPS matter. The jealous prick is just making that up to hid his jealousy
that I had better equipment. Anyway it’s
the reality as a sailor that some people will just say anything about almost
anything in order just to prevent some people on doing (or using) good things ,
an old saying in tagalog " Ingittero, kung ano lang ang masabi na
dadahilan para di magamit ng tao yung magandang gamit" . One thing I hate
on a person , is the one who meddles on
what gear and equipment I use on work.
Aside from
banning the use of face mask, Captain apparently bans also the use of my tools
I wore on Port , WHAT THE FUCK !!!! Seriously my patience is starting to
becoming really thin on this endless rules and regulations. Problem around here
is that the captain always wants to be the center of attention, by the means on
stepping on other peoples foot ( and business) pestering them with bogus
regulations like he some sort of Mr.-KNOW-IT-ALL , fuck !! For I all know this
captain doesn’t know the real shit and deal on the situation !
Lucky for
me, I have was to counter this harassing and restricting set of rules, and it’s
the simplest of all solutions. Ever wonder why I have sewn extra pockets on my
coveralls ? Well it's there for a purpose, not because they look great on
appearance but on the fact that’s its primary purpose is to hide my tools -
simple solution and yet very effective. Reminds me of an old scientific saying
called " auckhums razor" - The
most complex of problems can only b solve on the most simplest of solutions.
Anyway
going back, as a result my head area gets bitten off by insects every now and
then - and it’s a blessing that it rained and cleared off those insects during
mooring, despite being wet at the very least I don’t have to worry about the
annoying bites (and a blessing too that there's no malaria or any mosquito
borne diseases here in north America , new York area).
For the
moment the terminal where this ship is berthed at in new York is pretty boring
and is in the middle of an industrial area. Honestly being in the U.S.A. isn't
alluring as what is told on television, Internet connection is very slow and
limited, can't watch local television (T.V's can't pick up the signal), cant
wonder of and go sightseeing or shopping, the port terminal is in dilapidated
condition and in some ways look very backward -
for short the place definitely sucks compared to European ports. We
can't go ashore and do shopping because of tight and exaggerated security
measures by homeland security and port authorities, thinking were either
attempting to become illegal aliens or terrorist. Really frustrating that this
ship has to do business on a militaristic xenophobic country like America and
sailors such as myself are basically stuck and trapped here on this floating
tin can, not exactly a warm hospitality as what American television always
portrays .
In other
matters revolving on this ship.
The
replacement crew for the four disembarking personnel here has arrived and
probably I'd be seeing new faces soon at work. The replacement crew that
arrived are mostly veterans and have been sailors for NSB for some time now and beyond doubt that they know exactly what to
do on their work in NSB. What I can say is that they're friendly and no sign
yet of any aggressive behavior, which is a relief. Anyway Filipino crew from
NSB principal are more mentally stable compared to Filipino Crew coming from
CSM principal , ( probably because of the short six months contract ) , so I
guess I won't have any problems getting along with them on my remaining 5
months stay in CONTI Agulhas.
By the way,
a few days ago I wrote about Captain Sorin "Cobra" brags about his newly acquired sim and even
taunts Filipino crew that we can't afford a 40 dollar unlimited internet sim
service. Now things have made a different turn and turns out that the shipping
agents offer was really a rip off ( no such thing as unlimited data usage
service) and the outcome was that Captain Sorin was only able to use the
internet sim on a very short time eventually just wasting his 40 U.S. dollar
internet service. Serves him right !! And now guess what who has the last laugh
:D
In other
news …
Ship
recently passed another vetting inspection with zero deficiencies in new york ,
apparently from what I heard there is some sort of "bonus pay" that the crew will receive for their efforts
- but for the money to be given away by the NSB managements is questionable on
the fact that NSB itself is stiff when it comes to crew amenities and perks ,
If ever NSB principal will ever give one it is not certain that it will not
just end up in the private pockets of the Captain , especially to Mr. Sorin
Salvadore Sageta. Either way the crew shouldn't expect much in it and its
plausible that the crew will not benefit on such claims and will lead
eventually to poor performance and bad motivation.
After
clearing off the work in new york , this ship will be heading south to
charleston , South Carolina within the
next day and a half. After that it will be another big guess on what area this
ship will be loading cargo.
