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Thursday, June 18, 2015

FUNNY THING AMONG FILIPINO MARINERS

I browsed one particular filipino sailor themed facebook group on the net , and i find it quiet amusing that most of these sailors think only nothing but sex , degrading as it may sound but this is actual evidence that proves that Filipino's often times think very "low class" on this job ,  reading the replies of a female Filipino mariner asking for advise and it is met with tons of reply from other male Filipino sailor asking or even inviting her to have sex with them .

Problem with us filipinos mariners is that a person ask us a decent question and we replied them with indecent proposals - talk about being ill mannered and low class ! (or specifically a horny sex hungry bastard)  anyway i had screen captured it to show proof  ( conversation text here is untranslated). question here is this IF FILIPINO SAILORS THINK (AND ACT) LIKE THIS ON THE INTERNET THEN HOW MUCH MORE DO THEY REALLY ACT IN THE ACTUAL WORK PLACE IN A SHIP ? this alone makes me (and anyone reading this) figure out on how tasteless and uncivilized typical Filipino sailors are . They may be college graduates but education doesn't have to do anything with character and this is a social norm in the maritime community here in the Philippines and definitely shows a clear example of  "no gender equality" . us Filipino sailors always think that women sailors are nothing more than just walking sex toys - shame on us for being such a backward minded people





















BEING RIPPED OFF IN ECUADOR



Could have been more bad timing than ever, In fact never occurred to me that my Hp pc would ever crash again - all because I was stupid enough to update my computer here, Now as a result I'm back again from scratch and worst part is all my data on my travels went to waste along with the computer games I registered with it, I'm not sure if my recovery program can recover all the data . For now I'm changing tactics on the backup systems and will let my PC / Tablet acer to be the "main" computer I use. I was able to recover some of the video's but not the whole entire data I made along with the articles I had to publish on my blog. For now I'm starting again on scratch.

Given with these problems and the frequent reformatting of my HP gaming laptop, I'm now switching my base of operations (on the internet) and offline data to my other Acer computer / tablet , so basically the data will now be stored there instead of here on my HP . The only reason why im still able to access the data here on my HP is because I had setup a local area network on my cabin. So simply say it my HP laptop will be my work station while my acer tablet computer will act as a "server" , so if in case something happens to my HP laptop I could easily recover data. 

On the latest news on what's going on aboard this ship

There has been tensions lately over the internet rental on the other group, apparently it looks like that the contact person they had on using the internet changed and double crossed them, and charged them 600 USD for internet rental. Apparently according to their contact their charged via bandwidth and not on the time usage. Originally their deal was its supposedly to be 25 U.S. Dollars PER DAY but for some reason their contact changed heart after the fifth day and said that he will be charging via bandwidth and its already 600 U.S. dollars. Naturally 7 people who originally joined in on the internet connection were furious over what happened, they felt that 75 U.S. dollars per connection was overpriced and that this was a rip off . They even said this is definitely a "Mafiaso"

As a result , the leader of the group Chief Engineer Hernandez Navarro (Venezuelan national) pulled out immediately the modem internet connection as a damage control to stop further charging. Now their main problem is on how the hell are they going to pay the money ?

Well the other "internet rental" group I belong with, still has internet connection and fortunately our Ecuadorian contact for us charges very fair and doesn’t have any funny ideas of ripping us off - for now it's safe to say that our contact just charges us 3 U.S. dollars and fifty cents per person per day on the internet rental. Either way the subject of "internet" here has been a hot topic and almost all of the crew had grievances on something about internet.

Speaking of the subject I got myself also in trouble because of it. Although its petty I got in a petty misunderstanding with BOSUN diosana on the second day of internet connection on our group because I changed the Wi-Fi modem password and apparently enough my co-workers here are selfishly self-serving enough not to inform BOSUN Diosana of the password changed. Obviously they came up with all sorts of excuses and pretended not to hear anything from me that I told them to "inform everyone on the password change" , in the end the whole blame fell on me and what's worst I got the whole wrath of BOSUN Diosana and ultimately withdrawing his membership on the group.

Anyway what's done is done , I cannot change or go back on what happened and I had to change the password of the Wi-Fi modem in order for it to be secure because I found out on that day that our group were not the only one's using the connection, and the other Ecuadorian mooring crew are tapping on the frequency as well . Later on the days past I tried to persuade BOSUN Diosana back to join but apparently he says he's not interested anymore and turned down the invitation.

Anyway if that was his case then I'd let him be , after all being a sailor is that were not oblige to please anyone and its his choice. Besides it's not part of the job requirement to be nice. I know this may sound ruthless but , as a sailor we have no obligation to other people , we just have to look out for ourselves

In other matters …


Laundry yet again is a problem only this time the problem is on the washing machine itself which apparently broke down and was disassembled for repair. The thing here is that they disassemble the machine and found out later that there were no on-board spare parts for the machine , leaving us crew without any washing machine to use at all for the coveralls. Well technically we still have two other washing machines but our lovely soviet officials here wouldn't allow us to wash our coveralls on it. So bringing me to washing my coveralls via deck brush inside my bathroom.

On other news ….

Mostly I only use the internet to update stuff on the net , specifically on the current news about tech and lately the article I read recently says that windows 10 will be released in the U.S. at July 29 this year and from what I heard , UPGRADE WILL BE FOR FREE for windows 7 and windows 8.1 computer owners , which of course I own three computers and all of them incidentally have windows 7 and windows 8.1 operating system. On the news in gaming , Its seems that the computer game titled "FALLOUT 4"  will be released on November 2015 and I had been a fan of this post apocalypse video game franchise since its first game was released way back in 1997 on windows 98 O.S. . Hopefully the graphics are good and sharp as what the preview I saw in youtube





FLOURA AND FAUNA IN ECUADOR



(Mafioso , in seaman terms is related to something criminal like activity in nature like from the term Mafia which meant organized crime. The term is also used continent wide in south America and they absolutely known its meaning)

I had done a little research if the price was true and found out that indeed the my co-workers are being ripped off , even if the costliest price is put up on Ecuador subscription , I wouldn't go far around the 200 U.S.D per month and this cannot be mistaken for currency exchange as I found out that Ecuador doesn’t use its former currency called "Sucre's" anymore (THEY NOW USE U.S. DOLLAR AS THEIR LOCAL CURRENCY SINCE 2001, information is based on Google travel and Wikipedia).

I done a little research on the net and this article I had found out about the internet connection

********************************************************************

Internet in Ecuador

In 2000, the Internet in Ecuador had yet to really take off. Here in Tena we only had one Internet cafe, which had 2 computers. I worked there for a short while and thinking back makes me laugh.
The cafe had its own email address. Almost everyone who came in would write emails from this account - hardly anyone had their own address. And then you'd come in from time to time to check if you had received a reply - which would be sent to that one email account. Talk about no privacy!
It was at this cafe that I set up my first email account. The owner had to help me and I remember running password ideas by him.
Back then the Internet in Ecuador was s-l-o-w. I can't remember the by-the-hour charge, but you needed a good hour if you planned to do anything substantial online.

How things have changed
Since then Internet in Ecuador has really changed. Now just about every block has one or more Internet cafes. The Internet has become a huge part of life in Ecuador. School kids are sent almost daily to look up something online as part of their homework, which doubles as an excuse to check their Facebook pages.
The increased popularity of the Internet has meant an increase in Internet options…

For the Traveler in Ecuador
Coming through Ecuador as a tourist? You have options for keeping in touch.
Internet cafes: As I said before there is an overabundance of Internet cafes in just about every decent size town or city. The average price is 60 cents per hour (if anyone tries to charge you a dollar or more per hour you are most likely being ripped off).
Speed is decent. I wouldn't call it hi-speed, but we've definitely moved past the age of dial-up.
WI-FI: Hotels and restaurants in just about any tourist town now offer WI-FI. So if you are traveling with your laptop, IPad, etc you will be able to use it. When checking in to your hotel ask the receptionist for the password. Some hotels still charge for WI-FI service, but I think this is a quickly dying trend as most hotels offer it as a free perk.

Living in Ecuador
More and more of us who have moved to Ecuador are working online. So having a decent connection is very important. Back in the day, you had to have a land line to get Internet in Ecuador...which in places like Tena meant you didn't even have the option to have Internet at home. Thankfully, times have changed.

CNT (Formerly Andinatel and Pacifictel): The largest public telecommunications company in Ecuador often offers the best Internet. The cost to speed ratio is the best I've found. The downside, you need to have a land line phone and there must be an Internet line available in your neighborhood.

CNT is working on WI-FI, but it is not available in all areas. For example, here in Tena you can access wireless, but only if you live downtown.
Claro and Movistar: These popular cell phone providers also have good options for Internet in Ecuador. They offer pay-as-you-go plans, which are great if you are using them as a back up provider. There are also monthly plans which often include data and speed limits.
Movistar also offers an unlimited plan. I personally use it. It's ok. Nothing special. I can get done what I need to. Loading videos can be problematic and sudden loss in speed can be annoying. But at $32 per month, you can't beat the price.
Both Claro and Movistar use modem sticks, which plug into a USB port in your computer. This can be handy, since you can take the modem with you when traveling.
Both providers also offer Internet plans for your cell phone.







Friday, June 12, 2015

RETURN TO SENDER





Entry log at June 06, 2015 Saturday

Out of nowhere I was called by the cabin phone and was asked to get some sort of 20 U.S. dollars from the bridge. I had no idea what this is all about and was only clarified that it was a sort of "Vetting Bonus" . Well I guess 20 dollars is better than nothing, but the thing here is this - according to Electrician Felix Rodriguez , we shouldn't be just getting only 20 U.S. dollars and apparently it should be roughly about 66 U.S. Dollars per person. Now the question here is where the hell did the extra 46 U.S. Dollars per person went ?

Thirdmate Corales and Electrician Rodriguez suspects that it just went to the personal pocket of Captain Sorin Sageta and that he went greedy over the money. The thing here is that we went all the trouble and hard work on the vetting and yet the one's reaping the rewards was this so called "captain", making a "cut" on other peoples wages, what a total corrupt exploiting bastard !

After collecting my 20 dollars and hearing Third mate and Electrician's chat about this matter , I went to the crew mess to have a drink and saw more of my crew mates discussing the same subject about the "vetting bonus" . They even plan making an attempt to report this matter via email on NSB authorities. Knowing Filipino's are , I don’t think that this plan of disposing Sorin will ever materialize at all and I doubt that anyone of the crew has the guts or the balls to fight for what is right. Pathetic as this may sound but this is what Filipino's are, They  grumble a lot and discuss a lot of things and talk a lot of stuff on other peoples backs but when it comes to the actual crunch time and moment of truth , they have little courage to speak out and fight for their beliefs and report abusive ship captains  - for short , I hate to admit it but Filipino's are a bunch of cowards.

My crewmates hesitate to report this crooked captain, they even said (and fear) that if we went into taking an action in reporting this to NSB, the principal will respond on withdrawing this perk called "vetting Bonus" altogether. Honestly how could they think about a small sum of money at a time like this ? Think of the lives and other people they we are going to save if sorin has been disposed of ! The perk to be cancelled is just trivial compared to safety and long term peace it will bring if Sorin is kicked out of NSB , We could earn the 60 U.S.D in other ways rather than be always plagued frequently by this menace, could they live on the full duration of their stay here being exploited and pushed around by him ?! . They should think first of the good it will bring if Sorin is kicked out rather than the selfish desire of money, NSB would be a much safer place without sorin and it will be one less Dysfunctional ship captain out there in the maritime community to worry about if he's sacked.

As I had been telling on my previous blogs entries, Most people think that Ship Captains are a reasonable , gentle and wise individuals like the person portrayed in the movies like "Captain Phillips"  (starring tom hanks). In real life however it is exactly opposite, they are vicious, greedy and a total psychopath in any way possible. Ship Captains typically have antisocial personality disorder that act in a way that disregards the feelings and rights of other people. Ship Captains often break the law, and they may use or exploit other people and their job position for their own gain. They may lie repeatedly, act impulsively, and get into physical fights. They may mistreat, neglect or abuse crew members, and most likely exploit their crew. They may even kill other crew members. You won't see on their faces the things like guilt and remorse - Their just simply evil people that have a high salary. So if Pop Culture says that ships captains are Good individuals then their absolutely wrong about that impression

In other news …

The following day, the crew was still basically into discussion about this "Vetting Bonus" of whether or not they should report this to the NSB management. After work which lasted until 3pm (its Saturday it was supposedly to be that working hours are only until noon time).All of the deck crew are suddenly asked to go the bridge at 5pm for a so called "meeting" , well it turns out that it wasn't a meeting but a "scolding" session.

When me, A.B. Ryan , A.B. Luis Allan Arriesgado, and O.S. Keith entered the doorway , Keith had the courtesy to greet "Mr Cobra" good afternoon and was immediately rebuffed and shouted by Cobra saying "Maybe good for you ! But not for me !!!" . Dismayed on what we saw , we never said a word and just when straight ahead . 5 minutes later all the deck crew were already in the bridge and that was when the freak show started and half an hour full of scolding from our reptile captain. From what I remember on the "scolding" he says the following "I already gave you beer, I already gave you money , what you want me to do ?! Give you my mother to look after you !!!" and saying that we should continue working for the whole day on Saturday and half a day on Sunday (in other words whole week of work) , I couldn't exactly remember the rest but everybody got the scolding but the worse who got all was BOSUN Diosana and A.B. Ryan. After the scolding session everyone was in a depressingly dark mood and were just hanging out on the crew mess. It was difficult for me to give the case of beer (ordered by Mr. cobra before the "scolding Incident" that this case of beer be distributed to the crew ) to my crewmates knowingly that they're were in the bad mood , but I still went on it in distributing it anyway as ordered to me by third mate corales. I did gave the case of beer to them and let them decide what to do with it.

When I handed out the case of beer to them, It was obvious that they were not in the mood and said that "they can buy their own beer" . As protest by Pumpman Thanny Sepulveda, Bosun Diosana and the rest of the crew to send a message that their not happy on the captain, they returned the case of beer back right in front of the Captain's Cabin.


Later at night, I received a call from third mate, informing me that three of cases of becks beer have been unaccounted .

Caricature drawing i made of our  "Mr. Cobra" , A very venomous Ship captain !! BEWARE !!!

LIFE OUTSIDE

Entry log at June 01, 2015 Monday



For a couple of days while this ship is at anchorage, we basically just did the basic maintenance work. Actually most of the time we just stayed for a few minutes pretending to be busy doing something.

At about 10:30 Pm May 30. I received a call on my cabin telling me that I had to prepare the pilot ladder on the starboard side, Basically it was always the same charade again - and as expected on work, I'm back doing my same old routines  before the ship berths. The channelling towards 'KINDER MORGAN" terminal in Houston took at about 5 hours all in all, BOSUN Diosana told me that while the ship is still channelling , I could go back in the accommodation block and take a quick nap. I did went back to the accommodation block to rest but I never took a nap and instead just waited out and let the time pass by playing Metal Gear Solid 5 : Ground Zero's video game in my PC. Around 5am I was called back and it was already to be on standby on mooring.

Mooring went fine without any problems.

Crew landing permit on the U.S.
24 hours later, I decided to go on shore leave for the first time since I arrived here on this ship. Shore leaves nowadays aren't that long compared to the days of yore where it last for days, In modern times its just roughly only a few hours. I decided to go out and see the environment around America since I have never set my foot outside (had already been here before but never set foot).

Rule in going on shore leave is that always go into groups, and never wander off alone. Since this is a foreign land there is always a possibility that there might be trouble. I decided to tag along with electrician Felix Rodriguez  and Fitter Rogelio  Lorenzo and took my shore pass from third mate corales along with a Xerox copy of my passport.

Due to security policies on U.S. port, We are to remain inside the ship until picked up by a cab. It was about noon when the taxi arrived and was asked by "Rosa" if we have anything on mind, Well for a start I was thinking of some place to shop, eating and drinking or checking out the place - something like that and not in any particular order.  By the way the taxi fee in the U.S. is 30 dollars one way per ride (doesn’t matter on how many we are), and another 30 going back (total of 60 U.S.D.)

Our first stop was "Best Buy" Store. There is nothing much to say about this really and compared to other malls this one is a very small one. Probably from my estimation it's just the size of any supermarket department on any malls in the Philippines. Anyway it's understandable why malls in the U.S. are small given that it's only a place to shop and not hang out. "Best buy" store isn't really much to speak of, it only has some latest electronics to buy like laptops, camera and video games - but not the complete set. On best buy due to budget and money limitations I had on my wallet , I only bought a stylus pen for my Acer Tablet PC and a laptop cooler pad for my HP - nothing more. Second stop was to go WalMart store, The three of us decided that since it is just nearby (according to Google maps it's just a 15 minute walk) we could stretch our legs a bit. Engine Fitter Rogelio Lorenzo was hesitant at first but Electrician Felix Rodriguez was able to manage to talk him out. Midway walking we received an SMS telling that third mate corales and messman galang are currently in walmart and asked if they could join in with us on the way hope. Electrician Rodriguez said that the reason why they plan to tag along with us was because they wanted to cut the cost of their transportation fee on the way back.

Google maps was pretty accurate in telling the directions and told us exactly which direction should we go along with the walkway for pedestrians. Took us less that 15 minutes on foot going there in Walmart. In Walmart, it was pretty spacious compared to best buy - but not as spacious as Philippine super marts like I saw went I was still a kid. Walmart is impressive went it comes to size but that just basically starts and ends there.

Once we got inside the store we immediately saw and tagged along with 3rd mate and messman, actually we never see and it was them that saw us .Out of necessity I had to borrow 100 U.S.D. from Electrician Felix Rodriguez to buy a few videogames, chocolates and soap. Aside from that I couldn't think of anything else to buy . We scattered all over the place to shop and was decided that around 4pm we would meet at the entrance of the super mart in McDonald's booth. After a couple of hours we all met on the meeting spot and by the time we returned to the ship, it was already around 5pm - an hour late on my scheduled shift. Fortunately O.S. bantic isn't a hot heat and was able to talk to him about why I got late.

At 11am close to midnight, I was suddenly awaken by the P.A. system. The voice speaking was no other than "Mr. Cobra" Sorin , telling us to go to out mooring stations. At first I thought that it was already time to sail off - after all I heard before I finished my working shift that loading the cargo will be finished sometime near midnight and its only plausible that unmooring operations will soon follow. When I got out , I only found out that "Mr. Cobra" wanted only to tighten the moorings of the ship and had to call the whole crew about it - for short it was unimportant and our friendly reptile is having another anxiety attack, he thinks that moorings will snap back because of the recent ship movements caused by passing ships nearby. We finally got to adjust the moorings despite the annoyance and got back to my cabin, I thought it was over and the next thing I will wake up will be the actual unmooring. Again after an hour I was awaken again by the P.A. over the same thing.

(God Damn ! does this fucker ever get tired of disturbing people over petty matters every now and then ? - I swear sooner or later someone out there in the crew will one day will get really pissed with him when their having a bad day and throw him overboard, what the fuck does he what to do now ?! )

After again adjusting the soft rope on the bitts , with a much more tedious task than before - I went back to cabin to only realize that it was only 45 minutes away from my next shift. What the fuck ?! Hmm so much for rest - no thanks to this bastard ship captan.

At about 5am the pilot arrived , and immediately this ship went unmooring, after the unmooring ops, I had only a couple of hours left on the internet signal to download a few files for my games before the communications got silent - so I had to make the best out of downloading as much as possible despite bad internet signal. at about 12 noon this ship finally exited the Houston area and was going south to panama for the transit


Electrician Rodriguez and Engine fitter Lorenzo



Well majority of the shopping is made by electrician 

Call this cab driver whenever youre in houston area, very friendly fellow and helps out us filipino sailors in getting the destination 

Word of advice from a buyer and as a sailor , As much as possible avoid getting a T-mobile internet sim card - this sucker is terribly expensive and internet connection is slow and dropping plus as an insult it is only limited to 5 GB usage. A much cheaper version is this "Simple mobile" though it has the same speed as T-mobile , it is definately cheap and virtually unlimited connection. Simple mobile cost only 15 U.S. Dollars 

DOGMA OF BLACK LISTING

Entry log at May 24, 2015 Sunday



Internet connection in T-mobile wasn't helpful, it was definitely very slow and frustrating. worst part of this was that before I activate the sim card for internet connection, I had to call the telephone operator and give her some details about my phone and personal information. Seriously if I would compare the American service to the European one when it comes to internet connection, European internet connection is way much easier. Anyway based on the experienced I had , here is the step by step process in activating a T-mobile (internet) sim card I bought on walmart before my ship left in Charleston, South Carolina. By the way the sim card cost 30 U.S.D.

Step #1 Setup your phone

1.Insert your sim card into the back of the phone (duh !?)
2.Insert the battery and charge your phone (duh !!!!)

Step# 2 Get Ready For Activation  

Prepare to provide this information ,if an IVRS (answering machine) or telephone operator answers your call

ACTIVATION CODE (can be found on the paper attached on the sim card)
SIM Serial # (can be found on the plastic credit card size that holds the sim card)
Phone Serial # (number at the back of the phone, under the battery location)
Agent code (optional)
Area code (if unknown , just ask the operator )
Date of birth (just provide this info)
Security PIN 4digits (just provide any four digit number)

Step# 3, 4 and 5 . Just ask the operator on what to do to access the web

In other news

On last Saturday , Since being the assistant bond store manager. I had no choice but be present on the crew mess whenever there's a drinking session among the crew and attend to their liquor purchases. For the moment the news about these purchases was that Captain "Cobra" is interfering on bond store matters and said that I'm only allowed to sell "beck's"  brand beer to the crew , all other brands of beer are prohibited until further notice. Wine and smokes have no restrictions for the time being. So basically its was beck or no beer at all.

Crew wouldn't mind having a Beck's beer and seems to be suitable but the bad part was that this particular brand is a bit expensive compared to other brands of beer stored on the bond store like "ASTRA"  , San miguel or even Dutch beer. A case of becks beer cost at about 15.5 euro's on the menu and some of the crew refrain from ordering because of the price. So as a result most of the crew ended up ordering wine instead given that its way much cheaper (only 3 euro's per bottle on any brand)

During the drinking session that lasted up to 4am the following morning. I noticed that some of the folks here are still basically the same grunt sailors subconsciously afraid of authority and very critical even for people with minor mistakes, they even brought up on the topic of my recent fiasco in the gangway no thanks to 3rd mate german tan corales. Anyway I'm not bothered if it was brought up and just went along on their self-righteous lectures. Those hypocrites even warned me that I'd be send home if ever I get careless and manage to destroy the gangway. Frankly I'm not bothered at all and would even consider it a blessing that I get out of this job and start over something new, I'm not saying that I should be careless or lax on my job but what I'm saying is that I'm not afraid on NOT being a sailor anymore.

The thing here why people are so scared on making even the slightest mistakes was on the fact people will get sent back home and eventually lose their jobs and not even be rehired on other shipping companies. Their afraid of these so called reports that will come up on our shipping agencies. I guess this is one of the dark sides of being a sailor in the Philippines. "BLACK LISTING AND BACKGROUND CHECKS" , according to new international employment laws Blacklisting is already illegal and violates basic human rights (and workers' rights), sadly in the Philippines this is still in practice and as a matter of fact a normal part of employment for overseas Filipino workers

Another thing that was brought up on the drinking session that I didn’t like was my association with Captain Nick betts. I don’t deny that he's my sponsor and backer in getting a job in Career Ship management but apparently 3rd Mate German Corales simply can't get his fat mouth shut about this information, worse part is that he spreads this rumor here in Conti Agulhas. This info has already been around in Cape Tallin and unsurprisingly made its way here - no thanks to Mr. Blabber mouth. No matter how I start fresh , My past keeps catching up. Anyway I'm still lucky that this contract in NSB Conti ships just last six months and there's no guarantee that the folks I encountered here will be on the next ship - So basically that means that there's a possibility that I will start fresh again on my next ship.

In other news

By Monday May 25th. The summer heat of Texas area weather is simply unbearable and I had resort again on the same old tactics I knew (and use) to counter the hot climate problem. Through the years I had been so adapted on cold weather environments that I'm somewhat resistant to it by now, however despite my adaptability on cold weather , I have no effective tactics or methods in a hot weather environment and this becomes a problem for me especially in central American climates. Well I do still use the tactics like wetting my coveralls to keep myself cool but , it's not that effective and has a nasty side effect of temperature stress to the body.

For the moment there is nothing much that can be done about the weather and  according to rough speculation , this ship will still be on this environment for at least a month until Ecuador.

Again in other news.

Much to the dismay of crew , the anchorage position this ship is located is very much far away to get a clear internet signal. Obviously a lot of the crew are not very happy that most of their top up loads for the internet will go to waste because of this - and apparently the person to blame why this ship is put on this location was of course Mr. Captain Cobra. The crew says that he sabotages this because he's jealous that our internet connections are working while his is already gone.

Anyway it seems that much to the amusement of our "Cobra Captain" which loves people being miserable , he orders us to pull out and prepare the mooring ropes during late at noon , where the environment temperature is at the highest. Unsurprisingly we had a difficult time preparing those mooring ropes because of the hot weather, we had to finish the job as quick as possible - so that our heat exhaustion won't get any worse.

Good thing for me I had come prepared for the said work.