A Travel Journal

My Tips & Recommendations

2009-05-16T11:57:00.002+08:00

It's a long post, I know, but I think it was the simplest way to share some of the "lessons learned" from my trip.

Please let me know if you have any questions

Tips & Recommendations For Freighter Travel From a First-Time Passenger

2009-05-16T11:50:00.004+08:00

Introduction: A freighter trip is a different type of travel adventure. From December 2008 to April 2009 I was a passenger on the MV Rickmers Jakarta for a round-the-world journey. The trip was 126 days, covered over 32,000 nautical miles and we made eighteen port calls. This was my first experience with freighter travel, in fact it was my first time on a ship. The following few pages are some suggestions and recommendations based on my experience. While I take full responsibility for any errors or omissions, I need to acknowledge the insights of fellow passengers, especially Dale Stenseth, Clive Pool and Dr Dieter Walther. The reader is also reminded that these are observations based on a single trip, so your experience might vary considerably. Check with your agent or freighter company for specific requirements. For an account of my trip you can also check my blog, http://gklucsarits.blogspot.com

Visas: Allow plenty of time for your preparation, especially for any visas that might be required. I was fortunate in that as an American citizen I didn't require a US visa, which I understand can take some time. I obtained my China and Vietnam visas at the respective consulates in Singapore. Make sure your passport is not too close to its expiration date as most countries require at least six months validity. Also be sure that there are sufficient blank pages for entry and exit stamps. Check with your relevant authorities about how to go about adding extra pages.

Basic packing principles: Since the trip around the world takes about 126 days and the weather can vary considerably depending on the time of year I packed considerably more than I would for an airline trip. In my case I was fortunate in that I didn't have to worry about a flight since I was starting and finishing in Singapore, a short cab ride from my apartment. On the other hand I tried to pack with a worst-case scenario in mind so I made sure that I could manage my luggage if I had to interrupt the trip somewhere and fly back. To that end I carried a large, soft-sided, wheeled trunk; a large, hard-shell, Pelican case for cameras and fragile things; and an Eagle Creek backpack with detachable daypack. I had a bit of extra room, which was useful for packing the souvenirs I accumulated along the way.
Practice, practice, practice: I recommend that you get familiar with any gear you want to bring before you get on the ship. Instruction manuals can be dull reading but it's much better to be comfortable with all the features beforehand.

Medicine, eyeglasses, etc: If you have any prescription medicine requirements be sure to bring enough for the entire trip plus a reserve. Be sure to have valid prescriptions as well. A spare pair of eyeglasses is another good idea along with your lens prescription. A decent emergency medical kit along with a course of antibiotics is a good investment; check with your doctor for recommendations. I visited my dentist shortly before my trip and brought along a simple dental emergency kit to deal with minor issues like a lost filling. My strategy was to make sure I could manage until I got either back home or to a port where I could get treatment.

Fitness: Our ship was not equipped with an elevator but some larger container ships do have one in the accommodations. This can be important when one realizes the number of stairs that need to be negotiated in an average day. The meals were served on the A-Deck and the passenger cabins were on either the C- or D-Deck and there are fourteen steps between each deck. Going from D-Deck to A- three times a day for meals alone will mean 126 steps to be negotiated in each direction. A visit to the Bridge from the D-Deck is another roundtrip of 56 steps. Also, getting on and off the ship in port can be a physical challenge depending on how the gangway is deployed. In Hamburg at low tide I had to climb up a ladder to the hold cover and then walk across the gangway to the wharf. Climbing in and out of the lifeboat requires a modest amount of agility and flexibility, and one also needs to remember that container ports are not designed with pedestrians in mind so it can be a walk of a few hundred meters to a gate. On my trip it was an exception when taxis were allowed as far as the gangway.

Clothing: I was pleased in my clothing choices. The dress code on board the ship is very casual so there's no need to worry about any sort of formal attire. I'm sure there are a hundred different travel guides that give the same advice, but the key is to bring stuff that works well together and is reasonably easy to clean. One thing to remember is that you will be on a working ship and as such has lots of greasy and sooty things to rub up against. The crew did a great job in keeping the living quarters clean, but there is always the possibility of some stray grease or paint while on deck. I think a simple rule would be to not take anything you would hate to lose. Some other travel guides recommend enough clothes for about ten days and that should be adequate. The laundry facilities were shared with the officers but I never had to wait more than an hour to get anything into one of the machines. The weather along the route can vary considerably, from the freezing temperatures of Beijing in the winter to the tropical heat and sunshine of the Panama Canal. Inside the accommodations I found it very convenient to wear some closed-toe sandals as these allowed me to easily remove them when entering my own or other people's cabins while still affording a good deal of protection to my feet. Most of the crew wore sandals of some sort when not working for the same reasons. For general purpose shoes, I would look for something sturdy and comfortable, preferably with oil-resistant and slip-resistant soles. These will serve you well on deck and also on shore. Remember that the ship might be berthed some distance from a port gate and shuttle buses are not always available, so long walks are inevitable.

Laptop: If you are computer literate a laptop is a handy tool to have during the trip. Mine was fairly large and I took it mainly to work on photos but one of the smaller ones now available might be a better general choice. The ability to check email or make travel plans while in port is a good reason to bring one. Internet cafés are not always available nor convenient but lots of coffee shop chains offer wireless access either for free or for a nominal fee. A good investment is a decent digital reference like the Encyclopedia Britannica Deluxe on DVD; it was very handy for looking up information on all the places we visited and also as a general reference.

Camera gear: I probably went a bit overboard in this area and brought a lot of additional kit that is not absolutely necessary. On the other hand, I've had some great photographic opportunities and have been glad for the odd lens to help me get the shot. At a minimum I would recommend taking a decent pocket camera that can shoot high-quality JPEG or better yet, RAW images. Most cameras can support 8GB memory cards and those will hold about 900+ high quality JPEG images, so get several cards and shoot a lot. Shoot at the highest quality and size setting that the camera will allow. I've been downloading the images from my compact flash memory cards to an external hard drive and backing up the RAW images on DVDs. Even if you're like me and take a trunkful of DSLR gear, a good pocket camera is very handy for those times when a large camera is impractical or inappropriate. With respect to the photos themselves, be sure to edit ruthlessly. It's very easy to take thousands of photos but that doesn't mean all of them are suitable for public display. Take advantage of the uninterrupted hours on the ship to select the best to share. I burned souvenir DVDs of my favorite shots for anyone who asked.

Binoculars: A nice thing to have along in order to take in some of the many interesting sights along the way is a decent pair of binoculars. Something small enough to comfortably carry or stick in a pocket and good low-light capability would be a suitable choice; water resistance is another good feature.

Small backpack: Another useful item for shore excursions is a small backpack. The great advantage over other bags is that it keeps your hands free which can be very important when clambering on or off the ship while at anchorage or even in port.

Maps: Bring along a good quality world map to track your progress. Try to get one that doesn't tear too easily. For the various destinations I think it would be a good idea to try to acquire some decent street maps in order to save time on arrival. The problem here is the variability of each ship's itinerary, so a compromise might be buying good paper maps of the most probable destinations and printing digital maps from Google of all the others, or those for which good quality paper maps are hard to come by. Also, be sure to check the accumulated maps in the lounge since earlier travelers might have left theirs. In most cities you can get a tourist map from the local hotels.

Guidebooks: generally a good idea, but a bit challenging for the same reason it's hard to figure out which maps to bring. I bought a copy of Lonely Planet's China guidebook in Hong Kong and Dale had some guidebooks for some of the other stops, but they tend to be large and thin on detail of some of the ports we visited. One ends up paying for and carrying a lot of extra material that's not helpful. Here again I think an online solution would be best and the traveler would benefit from downloading as much information as possible from official tourism websites, Wikipedia, etc and either storing them digitally or printing them out before the trip. Even if destinations are dropped it's no great loss, and if other ports are added it's usually easy enough to get the updated information while in one of the earlier ports. Another excellent source of practical and up-to-date information is other passenger blogs from earlier trips with the great advantage of directly addressing the needs of the cargo ship passenger.

Books, DVDs, music: Despite the many interesting things to see on the ship and the numerous port calls there are long stretches when it helps to have something to do. I mentioned in my blog how much I enjoyed the opportunity to read without interruption or distraction, which is a pleasure we seldom allow ourselves these days. I brought a few weighty tomes with me from Singapore and since then I've added to my collection in Japan and the US. It's a great advantage to read English since most of the major international cities have some sort of English language bookstore. Another option is to download e-books and read them on the laptop or iPod or other device, like the Amazon Kindle. One of our other passengers, Clive, kindly allowed me to play with a Kindle 2 that his daughter had bought for him for the trip. I was very impressed with a lot of the features and it certainly saves a lot of space; Clive had about 35 books on his. There is a modest collection of books and DVDs on the ship, mostly donations from previous passengers. I brought a couple of DVDs with me and purchased a few more on the way.

Money: Obviously the major currencies to carry are US Dollars and Euros; shipboard expenses are all settled in dollars. If possible, get a bunch of smaller denomination US bills, like 20s, 10s and 5s. These are handy for settling small expenses on board the ship and also for some payments on shore. One option I would recommend would be to try to get a small amount converted into the major currencies one is likely to encounter along the way. As I've mentioned in other posts, the cargo ports are usually quite a distance away from the city center and the usual tourist facilities; ATMs and exchange bureaus are usually not immediately available. I was lucky in that I had a collection of bills from Hong Kong, China and Japan left over from earlier trips and this proved to be a big help in paying the initial taxi or metro fares. I wouldn't change too much, perhaps the equivalent of US$20 to US$50. Singapore is a good choice for getting money for Vietnam, China, Japan and Korea; foreign exchange bureaus are readily available and with competitive rates, but more important if you are traveling eastward is that you will know by Singapore which other countries you will be visiting. If there's any left over it makes a handy souvenir or a gratuity for the steward. ATMs are available in most countries and are tied in with the major networks like Cirrus or Plus. In Japan one needs to use the ATMs at the Post Offices or in some of the major hotels as the rest are on a different system. Major expenses like hotels were easily handled by credit card.

Electrical stuff: The current on the ship is 220v and the outlets require the German style, two-prong plugs. Most devices today will automatically handle input currents from 100v to 240v automatically so a converter isn't necessary, but it's wise to double check. A good, universal travel adapter is a must for using the different outlets one will encounter on shore. Rechargeable AA and AAA batteries were much more practical and convenient than disposable ones and more environmentally friendly. Dale brought along a multiple-outlet extension cord, which was a good idea as the number of outlets in the cabins are limited.

Shortwave radio: Originally I didn't bring my shortwave radio as it's a larger model and not really convenient. However while I was in Antwerp I purchased a Sony ICF-SW7600GR model. It has a lot of nice features normally found in more expensive radios and it's proved to be a nice addition to my gear. I'd recommend that if you opt to bring a radio look for one with digital tuning and a scanning capability. The Sony also comes with a handy compact antenna that rolls up when not needed plus a frequency guide with broadcast schedules.

Mobile phone: I highly recommend bringing a mobile phone that will work in most of the countries on the itinerary. Look for descriptions like "quadband", or "world phone" and confirm with the retailer that it will work in Japan, Europe and the US. Most mobile phone calling plans have options for international roaming and the cost, though more expensive than regular calls, is reasonable when one factors in the convenience and security. It's very helpful to have a ready means to contact the ship or the local agent in order to stay abreast of any schedule changes.

Email: If you don't already have an email account, set up a free one with one of the major providers like MSN, Yahoo! or Google. If you have a laptop with wireless capability you might be able to check email while in port. Other options for checking email include seafarers' missions and internet cafes. Make sure you know how to log on and be sure to log off and clear the cache of any public machines.

Passport photos: Bring along a couple of extra passport-size photos for visas. On my trip I only needed one for the UAE but that can always change. Nice to have as it's not always possible to find a photo booth on short notice. Another very good idea from Clive was to have a laminated color copy of your passport's information page. This is a great alternative to actually carrying your passport while on shore.

Miscellaneous stuff: Some small magnets are handy for attaching maps, photos, etc to the walls of the cabin.

Ports and Agents: Each port presents its own challenges from a passenger perspective. For the most part the agents and the ship's officers did an excellent job of making our stays enjoyable, but one needs to remember that taking care of passengers is not their primary job. On arrival it might take some time before immigration and customs formalities are completed so passengers need to be patient; it might be several hours, or in our case in Nagoya, a couple of days before one is allowed on shore. Make sure that you have the detailed information on the ship's berth; some ports are huge so you will need to know the right gate, too. Get the phone number of the local agent; you should already have the Captain's mobile number for emergencies. Be sure to confirm with the Captain when you have to be back! Remember, the ship will not wait for you.

Other information sources: Take advantage of the crew and local port captains for recommendations and suggestions on where to go or how to best get around. We were pleasantly surprised to learn about the high-speed rail link from Tianjin to Beijing from the First Officer's wife; the trip took less than an hour and cost about USD10. The supercargo in Germany recommended that we take a taxi from the port to the nearby city of Harburg and then go by S-Bahn to Hamburg; much cheaper than taking a taxi all the way into the city.

Photos posted!

2009-04-29T18:09:00.003+08:00

I've had numerous requests to share more of my photos so this afternoon I spent some time uploading about 400 to my Flickr account. You can access them by going to the following website:

George's Photostream on Flickr

I'll be adding further comments and descriptions in the coming days, but for the time being you can simply follow the link and check out different sets.

Enjoy!

Back in Singapore

2009-04-26T11:29:00.002+08:00

Friday evening on the 24th of April we sailed into the Jurong Port and tied up at berth J5. It was my 126th day of my trip having covered a total of 31,984 nautical miles. I had visited seventeen different ports and spent all but eight nights on board.

Some of the crew assisted me in getting my luggage on to the wharf and then I had to clear Singapore immigration. The whole process was reasonably quick and the ICA officers were most polite and professional. They did have a few questions for me as I was apparently the first passenger they had ever encountered coming off of a cargo ship.

After that it was a call for a taxi and a short ride back to my apartment. I'm spending the weekend unpacking and sorting through my souvenirs. I'll probably do a few other posts with some additional photos and with my final thoughts about the whole adventure.

I hope my blog was enjoyable reading, and for those of you who might be anticipating a similar trip I trust it was reasonably informative.

More later...

Pink Gin

2009-04-26T11:28:00.000+08:00

I meant to pass on this simple yet effective technique for preparing a pink gin that Clive was kind enough to share. It produces, I think, a more subtly flavored cocktail than the straightforward method of simply adding a few drops of bitters to a gin and stirring it around.

Take the glass you're going to drink from and pour in some mineral water; swirl it around to thoroughly wet the glass and throw it away. Next add a few healthy dashes of Angostura bitters to the glass and swirl those about, taking care to fully coat the inside of the glass. Dump out the extra bitters. Add gin.

The result is a nicely flavored drink, not overpowered by the bitters and with a very pleasing color as well.

The Final Stretch

2009-04-26T11:27:00.000+08:00

It's my final Sunday on board and I'm starting to get ready for my disembarkation in Singapore. We left Jebel Ali on 16 April and now we're making the long, straight run to the tip of India where we'll bear east, past Sri Lanka and on to the Straits of Malacca.

Dubai was a short but interesting stop. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to stay ashore overnight but we were able to spend a couple of hours wandering around the old part of the city, visiting the Gold and Spice Souks and taking in some sights. In the late afternoon we four passengers met up in the lobby of a hotel before heading to the Mall of the Emirates. As malls go it's pretty impressive; one of the largest in the world. The main attraction is the somewhat famous Ski Dubai indoor ski slope. Pierre had decided to take advantage of our stop to get in some skiing so the rest of us wandered about the mall. The number and range of stores was impressive but not much that was especially unique or interesting; a mall is pretty much like any other mall and the brands are the same ones that can be found in just about any major city.

Some of the restaurants have large windows that look out onto the ski slope so Clive and I took a break, ordered some appetizers and a couple of non-alcoholic beers and watched.

After that we stopped by a bookstore and then went to meet up with Pierre and Diane and start our trip back to the ship. The taxi stand in front of the mall is right next to the valet parking area and there was an impressive collection of expensive marques on display from large limousines to hyper-fast sports cars.

Our trip back to the ship was mildly eventful when we encountered a some difficulty after we retrieved our passports. There's a bit of a design flaw in that the office where we had to pick up our passports was next to a gate that was barred to automobiles - only trucks were allowed through. After some confused discussions with the driver and the guard it was made clear that our driver would have to enter through another gate and then loop around to pick us up. Once he did that he started driving confidently towards what we thought was our ship until we were surprised when he stopped in front of the US aircraft carrier, Dwight D Eisenhower. There was a bit more confusion between the driver and the guards and to cut a long story reasonably short we spent about another twenty minutes driving around until we found our berth. In the driver's defense the signage within the port is pretty useless especially compared to that of Antwerp. Communication is also a challenge; everyone was speaking English, but it was at best the second language of all the participants.

The next afternoon we cast off and headed out to sea. As we exited the port and while still in the channel we passed the The Palm, the famous building project of reclaimed land laid out to resemble a giant palm tree when seen from the air. From our relatively low vantage point we couldn't see much but there did seem to be some construction going on. I believe this is the second such development, the first one being farther up the coast near the Burj al-Arab hotel. Personally I can't understand the appeal; sure, it might be a nice house, but it seems to be a bit inconvenient to get back and forth to the city and no matter how nice the house is the outside temperature might be 45 degrees C and humid with a dust storm on the horizon. As the Encyclopedia Britannica notes, "[t]he [Persian] gulf has a notoriously unpleasant climate."

On Saturday the 18th the crew had a combined party to celebrate the previous week's Easter holiday and this week's Orthodox Easter holiday. Our Romanian crew members; primarily the two carpenters, the electrician and one of the deck cadets; spent a lot of time in preparing some delicious dishes. They made puff pastries, several salads, some meat dishes, and colored a few dozen eggs. There was also the usual grilled fare and plenty of beer and wine.

The next few days were relaxed as we enjoyed pleasant weather and calm seas. The water temperature reached 30C, about as warm as the air. I occupied my time by editing more of my photos and burning my collection onto some DVDs for the crew and passengers.

Thursday morning found us starting our turn around the northern tip of Sumatra and heading towards the Straits of Malacca. There is a further threat of pirates in the Straits of Malacca so the Captain increased the watch. Unlike the Gulf of Aden the threat is not one of hijacking but rather robbery.

The number of ships in these fairly narrow straits is really impressive; for a while on Friday morning we were traveling almost neck-and-neck with a large Maersk container ship as she slowly passed us.

Photos

2009-04-26T11:13:00.003+08:00

Here are some photos from the trip that I wasn't able to upload earlier:

The Suez pilot ships expect payment of some cigarettes for services rendered. One of our crew is shown here dropping a carton of Marlboros into a handy net.

Ferry waiting to cross the canal between the passing cargo ships.

While passing through the transit corridor in the Gulf of Aden we observed this Canadian warship checking out a "suspicious" fishing dhow.

Quick Update from Dubai

2009-04-15T17:51:00.002+08:00

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

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

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

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

More later,

George

Jebel Ali

2009-04-15T17:50:00.000+08:00

We passed through the Straits of Hormuz in the wee hours of Monday, 13 April. I went up on deck a few hours later, right before dawn, to observe the ship traffic in the Persian Gulf. As we approached Jebel Ali we encountered rain which was something of a surprise to me. It was also a bit of a problem for the port, too; the rain, heavy winds and decreased visibility caused the port to be shut down so we had to find a place in the anchorage and wait for our turn to enter. This happened around 09:00 on Monday and as of 12:00 on Tuesday we were still waiting our chance to enter the port.

The delay has not been uninteresting. First of all there were several dozen ships surrounding us in the anchorage; tankers, bulk cargo carriers, car carriers, etc. The radio traffic back and forth between all the different ships and the port control office made for interesting and sometimes amusing entertainment. On Tuesday morning there was some activity as a US aircraft carrier made its way into the port. I think it was the XXXX (#69) but am not sure.

The crew kept busy on Monday afternoon and evening by fishing with hand lines off the Poop Deck. They caught quite a few small fish that the Cook prepared for dinner. In the evening I was called down to see a large fish that one of them had managed to hook but which was too big to be hauled up from the water by the line alone. Several of the crew tried some rather ingenious but ultimately futile means to lift the fish before it worked itself loose and disappeared into the night. It might have been a species of barracuda, but I'm not sure.

We are only a few miles offshore so we can see some of the buildings of the Dubai skyline. The air is quite dusty, though, so it's hard to see much detail. On Monday afternoon we were able to see the famous silhouette of the Burj-al-Arab hotel. The ridiculously tall Burj Dubai was also visible through the gloom.

Gulf of Aden

2009-04-15T17:49:00.002+08:00

Due to the increased pirate activity in the Gulf of Aden NATO, the European Union, and a few other countries have now established a recommended transit corridor for merchant ships heading either to or from the Red Sea. There is no formal convoy system but rather a series of "groupings" based on ships' speeds. The entire corridor is about 490 nm in length with Point Alpha on the westernmost end and Point Bravo on the opposite one. Ships register ahead of time, at least a few days before their anticipated arrival at either entry point. Based on a ship's desired transit speed, e.g. 18 knots, the coalition will specify an entry time for it to enter the corridor. The ship will be grouped with others planning to travel at roughly the same speed. The goal of all this organization is to schedule the respective ships so that they are in the most vulnerable part of the corridor during the hours of darkness when attacks have been historically least frequent. Also, the warships are able to better monitor the positions of the different ships as they can anticipate their progress through the corridor.

Our entry time for Point Alpha was 16:00 local time on 9 April. The process itself was quite simple as there is no waiting around for other ships as would be the case in a convoy system. I spent some time on the Bridge listening to the radio traffic between the different merchant ships and the coalition warships and even the occasional helicopter.

Ever since our entry into the Gulf of Aden the crew have been maintaining a heightened security level and have implemented some anti-piracy measures. The most visible measure is the increased number of people on the Bridge. Normally there is only the Officer On Watch and sometimes an A/B acting as a lookout. For this segment they are joined by an O/S and a Deck Cadet as additional lookouts. No one is allowed out on deck without the Captain's permission, so everyone is restricted to the accommodations and all doors are locked.

Obviously the radar screens are continuously monitored for suspicious ships. For safety and security reasons all ships above a certain size must be equipped with the Automatic Identification System, or AIS. This system transmits key information about a ship that can be received by other ships such as the ship's speed, course, size, etc. Any ship in the area that is not transmitting this data is immediately assumed to be suspicious. In most cases these are just fishing vessels or small, local ships but their positions are noted and the information broadcast to other ships in the region.

The reality and severity of the current state of affairs was brought home by the news that Somali pirates had hijacked an American merchant ship the day before we began our transit. As I write this the BBC is reporting that the crew have retaken the ship but that the Captain is being held hostage by the pirates in a separate boat and that negotiations with US naval forces are ongoing.

There was also a bit of excitement around noon on 10 April when a Canadian warship, part of the NATO coalition, investigated a dhow towing three skiffs that had been reported as suspicious by a number of ships in the group. We were just pulling even with the dhow when the warship hailed us and asked that we alter course a bit to keep clear. All of us standing on the Bridge had a good view of the warship and the suspect vessel but I think this dhow was already a known entity since the warship just made a reasonably close pass and then returned to its patrol. I'm sure false alarms are a challenge for the coalition forces.

I'm not sure what is the best solution to this crisis. Obviously the coalition forces are having an impact and the establishment of monitored transit corridors is a step in the right direction. However, as I've noted in earlier posts, the ocean is a really, really big place and it's just unrealistic to think that every square meter can be monitored all the time. A further challenge is one of identification; just because a vessel is identified today as a harmless fishing vessel does not mean it won't be used for a pirate attack tomorrow. Historical approaches, e.g. hanging pirates until we run out of pirates or run out of rope, don't enjoy the same level of social and political approval as in years gone by. There are also additional risks in escalating the level of conflict as the pirates so far have been pretty good in not harming their hostages; this might not be the case if the risks increase.

On a more pleasant note, I was on the Bridge right before sunset on Friday when one of the lookouts called my attention to a small whale that was spouting off our port beam. Clive, Pierre, and some of the crew were there as well and we watched it swim for a few minutes. We only saw its spouting and some of its back, so I'm not sure what type of whale it was. On Saturday morning we were well clear of the piracy threat and there was a palpable sense of relief among all on board. The waters off the coast of Oman were very pleasant; we had our usual Saturday muster drill, after which we watched an ocean-going tug towing a barge with a couple of gantry cranes on deck and spotted a few whales blowing not far from our side. In the evening, during a beautiful sunset behind the Omani coast, we spotted some dolphins taking advantage of our wake to leap to astounding heights. I'm sure there's some biological reason for their leaping, but it's obvious they look for the ships' wakes to act as launch ramps.

Red Red Wine

2009-04-15T17:49:00.001+08:00

Back when Dale was on the ship he had purchased a "red wine" from the ship's slopchest that turned out to be something more of a wine-like product from Indonesia. Our assumption at the time that since "wine" was about the third-listed ingredient it was some sort of marinade or cooking wine. Unaware of the earlier controversy surrounding this "Columbus Red Wine", Clive bought two bottles shortly after coming on board. Once he realized it wasn't what he expected he was a bit upset at having bought two bottles. Nonetheless he and I decided to try it one evening and see just how bad it was. To our pleasant surprise it wasn't undrinkable; it was a very sweet, dessert-type wine flavored with fruit juice. It was a bit thick, but Clive opted to dilute it about 1:1 with some sparkling water and this had a very pleasing effect, the end result being a very tolerable aperitif.

So, Dale, if you're reading this and you're able to find a bottle of "Anggur Buah Marah" at your local wine merchant, try diluting it with some sparkling water and maybe add a dash of bitters for a pre-prandial tipple.

The Red Sea

2009-04-15T17:48:00.000+08:00

Early Monday morning we entered the Red Sea, which would take us about three and half days to traverse. The weather was warmer but not unbearable with the breeze. The seawater in the Red Sea is some of the hottest in the world and the ship's gauges registered temperatures of 27 degrees C.

For the most part we saw very little ship traffic despite this being one of the world's busiest waterways. We did see the occasional yacht in the distance and several smaller freighters moving up and down the Arabian coast. We have heard that ship traffic through the Suez Canal is down significantly due to the combined effects of the overall economic slowdown and the pirate threat in the Gulf of Aden. In the latter case, many ships are opting to avoid the area entirely and are making the longer journey around Africa via the Cape of Good Hope.

On the 7th we stopped in the early afternoon and drifted for about twelve hours. The Captain opted to do this so as to align our arrival at the beginning of the safety corridor in the Gulf of Aden with the start time for ships traveling at 18 knots. The safety corridor is part of the worldwide response to the pirate threat in the Gulf of Aden. The coalition has established a recommended pathway for ships passing through the area and while there are not actual convoys in the traditional sense, there are groups of ships that are loosely organized based on their sailing speeds.

Suez Canal

2009-04-15T17:46:00.002+08:00

We transited the Suez Canal on Sunday, 5 April. We arrived at the northern terminus of Port Said very early in the morning and began sailing through around 06:00 as the third ship in a convoy of six. Like the Panama Canal the Suez is too narrow to allow simultaneous two-way traffic so there is a series of convoys in each direction.

The activity around the entrance to the canal is quite hectic with pilot boats running back and forth and lots of small fishing boats heading into the Mediterranean. Apparently Marlboro cigarettes are an important currency with the Suez pilots; one of our crew had to go down the gangway to deposit a carton in what looked like a purpose-built and ready net held out by one of the crew of the pilot boat.

Traveling further we now encountered the ferries that go back and forth between the banks of the canal. Each one was full of cars, trucks and people and they waited rather impatiently for the much larger cargo ships to get out of the way before heading out before the next one arrived.

The next task was to secure a small mooring craft to our side. The mooring boat is used to carry the lines to the shore in the designated waysides where we have to wait for the northbound traffic to clear. The mooring boat, a small motorboat with two men on board, pulled alongside and matched our speed before securing a towline. Then one of our crew lowered the #4 crane over the side and the two men affixed their boat to the hook before one and all were simply lifted into the air.

We passed from Port Said and very quickly the landscape changed from that of bustling port city to one of open fields, small shacks and farms. The starboard, or western side of the canal was much more cultivated with irrigated fields while the eastern side was mostly just barren desert. Our convoy proceeded steadily along, passing numerous military watchtowers, presumably for the security of the canal.

Shortly after 10:00, about 50 km from Port Said and shortly after passing the Al Qantarah Bridge, the canal splits into two channels separated by a low, sandy island. Our convoy went to the western, or right side channel where we all moored to await the passage of the northbound convoy. This was where the mooring boat came into play; it was lowered to the water and the crew took the lines from the stern and made them fast to some bollards that were positioned along the shore of the little island. Accompanied now by a third member who also came on board earlier, they physically dragged the heavy hawser up the sand. Safely secured, the Pilot left the ship and we all settled down for a few hours' wait. We were told that we'd be moving again around 16:00. The Captain and some of the crew took advantage of this break to get some much deserved rest having been up most of the night and all morning with the maneuvering.

Around midday the activity on board turned to commerce as a small bazaar opened on the poop deck where the crew of the mooring boat set up shop to sell a variety of souvenirs, clothes and toiletries. I bought a couple of tacky nicknacks, probably overpaying as these guys were masters of haggling.

A little later I received a call from the 2nd Officer, Nicu, who was standing watch on the Bridge, to let me know that we were about to be passed by one of the largest container vessels in the world, the Edith Maersk. She was part of the northbound convoy that was passing us in the opposite channel. The sight of these large ships passing is a bit surreal as the channel itself is barely visible so it looks almost as if they are traveling across the sand. Having seen quite a few large container vessels these past few months I was still impressed by the sheer bulk of the Edith Maersk. She's 390 meters long, or more than twice the length of the Rickmers Jakarta and has a beam of 56 meters, double our width. Putting that in a bit of perspective, those dimensions are the equivalent of more than five acres. She was followed immediately by her somewhat smaller sister vessel, the Skagen Maersk, coming in at a slightly more modest 347 meters long.

Sometime after 16:30 our new Pilot appeared and we and the other ships made ready to resume our passage. The lines were cast off and we began to pick up speed on our way to Suez. I watched from the Bridge for a while as we passed some towns and cities and some larger resorts at Lake Timsah. There is a layer of dust and I suppose smog that hangs over the land, so the sunset was a rather dull event. The sun slipped down into the haze as a glowing orb in a dusty sky before disappearing below the horizon. I continued to watch for a while before heading down to my cabin for the evening.

The Meditteranean

2009-04-15T17:43:00.002+08:00

We sailed from Genoa on the evening of 1 April after loading a wide variety of cargo including a yacht destined for Jebel Ali. Genoa was an interesting city although we only had a few hours on shore. The old houses and palaces seem to cover every available plot of land and edge their way up the surrounding hills. The streets are a warren-like maze of dark alleys opening up on small piazzas. Many of the buildings have interesting facades and small balconies but the general feeling was one of being a bit too crowded. Many of the apartments opened onto alleys that were less than two meters wide and very dark as sunlight only occasionally found its way through.

2 April was a picture-perfect day on the water. The sky was almost cloudless and the sea was very smooth. In the evening after dinner I went to the forecastle and saw a couple of small dolphins swimming our way; they headed almost straight for our bow before disappearing off to the side.

The setting sun illuminated the sky and highlighted the shape of Stromboli Island and its active volcano. As we were approaching we could see some slight wisps of smoke and steam from just below the crest but as night fell we were able to see some actual eruptions. Every few minutes there would be a small explosion of bright red lava which would send sparks and glowing rocks down the side. Most of the eruptions were small but there were a few larger ones that looked very dramatic. All of us passengers and a few of the crew enjoyed the view from the Bridge as we sailed towards the Island, passing only a few miles from shore.

Once we were past Stromboli and the sun had completely set I trained my binoculars at the stars. It was a brilliantly clear night and with only the light of a quarter moon the sky was simply choked with stars. I don't think I've ever seen more at one time before. In a way it's sad to think that I'll not have that view when I return to Singapore and the city lights will hide all but the most prominent stars; now that I know there are so many out there I will miss them.

The Trip So Far

2009-03-31T19:43:00.000+08:00

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

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

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

On to Genoa

2009-03-31T19:38:00.002+08:00

The trip from Hamburg took us once again through the English Channel. On Thursday afternoon we saw our sister ship, the Rickmers Seoul, heading towards Antwerp. I took a few quick photos as she passed. In the late afternoon we were treated to the view of four large container ships traveling alongside and across our path. Fortunately there was plenty of sea room for all of us, but it was still quite impressive to see so many large ships steaming more or less side by side. Two of the containers outdistanced us; they appeared completely immune to the waves that buffeted us from time to time.

Observing some of the smaller craft one quickly appreciates the benefit of being on a fairly large ship. While we certainly notice the effect of the waves the voyage remains fairly smooth and uneventful. I can only imagine how difficult it must be on the smaller vessels which suffer more from the effects of winds and waves but also have the further unpleasantness of suffering longer as they tend to be slower.

In the early morning hours of Friday we entered into the Bay of Biscay where we encountered contrary winds and swells. The ship was rolling heavily in the night and the Captain ordered a change of course taking us more eastward into the Bay. Instead of a straight line to the tip of Spain we made a more indented course and over the course of Friday morning we navigated back towards our waypoint at Tenerife. Each change in course brought about a fair bit of roll in the ship. I was up on the Bridge for a while and the roll indicator showed that we occasionally exceeded ten degrees of list to each side.

Compared to the veritable traffic jam of ships we saw yesterday today the only craft we saw was a small sailboat a few miles off our starboard. Once again I'm struck by the emptiness of the ocean; there are no other ships visible on our radar and our AIS system shows the nearest ships being more than sixty nautical miles distant.

On Saturday our course changed and we were treated to some very smooth sailing as we had the wind coming from our stern; we also saw more ships, presumably approaching the Strait of Gibraltar. After breakfast I was relaxing in the bar, listening to the BBC and watching our progress through the large forward windows when I saw a killer whale off our starboard bow. It was swimming towards us but then made a quick U-turn and accompanied us for a few moments before disappearing below the water.

Since it was Saturday and we were at sea we had our regular lifeboat drill in the afternoon. The crew also had their additional practice in firefighting and oil spill control. The Captain scheduled a grill party for the evening to give the crew a bit of a break after all the hard work and long hours in Antwerp and Hamburg these past few weeks. I helped a bit by preparing some roasted peppers and onions.

Early Sunday morning we passed through the Strait of Gibraltar and entered the Mediterranean. I woke up too early due to a miscalculation on the start of the summer time and went back to sleep before we transited the Pillars of Hercules. Diane went up on the Bridge for the passage and was able to make out some of the features of Gibraltar in the predawn light. The rest of the day was extremely pleasant with mild temperatures and fairly smooth seas. Sundays are usually a bit more relaxed when the ship is at sea and lunch is something to look forward to as Joel grills steaks to order and there's ice cream for dessert.

Monday dawned promisingly but the weather deteriorated a bit and it was appreciably cooler and more overcast by midmorning. We passed Mallorca right around breakfast time but with the sun not fully risen it was mostly a dark silhouette with some scattered lights. In addition to the cargo and fishing vessels which have been fairly common we've also seen a few sailboats in the distance. Our trip became a bit rougher as we crossed the Sea of Lions where we were faced with some strong winds and waves breaking over the bow. A couple of the crew members were drenched when the waves and spray poured over the port side. The sheer force of the waves never ceases to amaze me; the shudder when we hit a larger wave head on is felt throughout the ship and the volume of water thrown up on both sides would probably fill a good size pool or two.

On Tuesday we arrived in Genoa. We docked around 11:00 and Diane, Clive and I took a taxi to the center of the city for a day of tourism. The weather is wonderful and it will be a nice break before the next long stretch to Jebel Ali.

It looks like my return to Singapore will be delayed a bit. The most recent schedule has us arriving on 22 April, but I believe that will slip some more.

Arriving in Hamburg

2009-03-23T22:37:00.000+08:00

The trip to Hamburg was comparatively short and we were favored with clear skies and smooth seas. We reached the pilot station about 20:00 Friday and commenced our long trip up the Elbe.

I was interested to see our maneuvering in the port area so shortly before 02:00 on Saturday the 2nd Officer called me to let me know we were approaching the Koehlbrandbruecke, or Koehlbrand Bridge. I made my way to the ship's bridge in time to see two tugs join us, one at the stem and the other at the stern. With their assistance and that of the two pilots on board we were guided under the center of the bridge.

It was a close fit and it was obvious to see how important the timing of such maneuvers were given the fluctuations in the tides. Once we were clear of that bridge we proceeded a short distance further within the port until we reached a turning area. The two tugs pivoted us just about 180 degrees until our stern was pointing down the channel leading to our berth. The turning was very smooth, but there is something strange about having a 192 meter ship spinning about.

Our stern now pointing in the right direction, the two tugs guided us down the narrow channel. The clearance to the berths and their barges on the sides was measured in meters and even cranes for loading and discharging cargo were pulled in and made fast to some of the buildings to allow for the free passage of the larger ships. The channel was also quite shallow. Most of the time we had less than three meters beneath our keel, and on some stretches barely two.

The narrowest part was still to come as we reached the Rethe Lifting Bridge. Not only was it a very snug fit for our ship to pass between the two towers, but the bridge itself was on an angle to the channel which meant that the tugs had to wait until the last instant before adjusting the ship's angle so she would slip between the bridge towers and underneath the raised roadway. The Captain later mentioned that it is actually a more challenging maneuver without winds or currents as there is nothing resisting the movement of the ship. This means each action of the tugs needs to then be counteracted to prevent momentum from moving the ship too far in any one direction. Of course all of this took place in the space of a few hundred meters; it was only the constant movement back and forth of the tugs as they aligned us for the passage that gave any clue to the difficulty.

We continued our backwards journey to our berth at the Wallmann Terminal. Since it was now about 03:00 I opted to return to my cabin and go back to sleep. I was very happy to have been able to watch these maneuvers as it's something that we normally take for granted. I was overwhelmed by the sheer complexity of the port area with its many channels, wharves and cranes for all the different products that make their way through the port. Given the narrowness of the passage I can only imagine the effort required to simply coordinate and manage the ship and barge traffic.

Hamburg

2009-03-21T21:00:00.002+08:00

It's Saturday, 21 March and I'm sitting in the Starbucks across from the Rathaus trying to catch up on some email and post a bit on the blog. We arrived early this morning after an incredibly smooth and pleasant sail from Antwerp. I'll post more in a day or two on the transit along the Elbe to our berth in the port; I wrote most of my notes at 02:00 in the morning and can't quite make sense of them at the moment.

Tomorrow I'm taking advantage of our time here to visit some old friends and then we'll be departing either Monday evening or more likely Tuesday.

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. Here's another sunset, this one from Antwerp. Enjoy!

Lengthy Stay in Antwerp

2009-03-21T20:55:00.004+08:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Across the Atlantic

2009-03-12T16:00:00.001+08:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

More Than Halfway!

2009-03-03T06:55:00.002+08:00

I'm writing this post in the Barnes & Noble in the Neshaminy Mall outside of Philly. We arrived last night and will be sailing tomorrow around noon, which is a bit of a change from the schedule. Originally I had hoped to make a trip to Allentown to see my father and some other folks, but the weather and sailing schedule conspired against me.

For those of you who are keeping track, I passed the geographic halfway point on my trip in Norfolk. It's just about the exact longitudinal antipode to Singapore, give or take a few minutes. I checked my calendar this morning and today is the 72nd day of the trip and I have about fifty or so still to go. I can honestly report that the time has gone by very quickly and I'm very much looking forward to the next phase.

From Philadelphia we'll sail to Antwerp and then to Hamburg before stopping in Genoa and then transiting the Suez Canal. After that it's through the Red Sea and on to Jebel Ali in the UAE, which is the last scheduled port until I disembark in Singapore.

I'll do my best to post some more updates and photos while in Europe, but for the time being I'll leave you with a shot of a sunrise from our berth in New Orleans

Heavy Lifting in Norfolk

2009-03-03T06:53:00.001+08:00

We arrived on schedule in Norfolk on the morning of the 28th. As expected, we made excellent time along the coast as we were able to gain considerable speed from the Gulf Stream. The usual working speed of the ship is about 19.5 knots, but we were able to consistently travel at 23 knots or a little more with the same engine speed. Our arrival was a bit embarrassing to this American as we had to wait about twenty minutes for the ship to be made fast to the wharf. This wasn't due to any technical difficulty, but rather to the intransigence of the dock crew to so much as touch a mooring line until 10:30, apparently because of some work rules. Instead of quickly securing the ship the two mooring teams stood next to their cars and talked, occasionally holding up a cell phone to indicate to the pilot and our crew that they would make no effort until the appointed time.

The Rickmers Jakarta is a heavy-lift cargo ship and as such is equipped with four cargo cranes, two of which, the No 2 and No 3 cranes, have a maximum lifting capacity of 320 tons each. The advertised maximum lift capacity of the two of them working in concert therefore is 640 tons. There are only a limited number of ships worldwide with this capability so the business of transporting heavy objects around the globe is a lucrative one for Rickmers. Here in Norfolk we had the opportunity to observe a tandem crane operation to load a large generator destined for Singapore.

Preparations for the lift began before our arrival. The object to be lifted, a generator manufactured by Siemens in North Carolina, was waiting on a track alongside the berth, cradled in a specially designed rail car. The weight of the generator was 340 tons, so it would require the use of the two cranes to safely bring it on board.

When working in tandem the usual crane hooks are removed and each crane is then attached to opposite ends of a large spreader bar. Cables are then slung from the spreader bar and used to secure the load for lifting.

Every aspect of this operation is challenging due to the sheer size and weight of the equipment involved. In order to remove the usual crane hooks the crew first placed specially designed cradles on the deck. Once these were in place the large hooks were lowered into the cradles which would serve to keep the hooks secure and upright once they were removed from the pulley. The size of these hooks becomes obvious when seen on deck and surrounded by the crew. Each one is almost as tall as a man and weighs several hundred kilos.

In order to release the hook the crew needs to remove a large pin which itself weighs many tens of kilos. This was accomplished through the use of sledgehammers and brute strength, abetted by some clever use of the smaller crane hook. Once the securing pin was loosed the pulley assembly and counterweight were attached to one end of the spreader bar. The process was repeated with the No 3 crane but only after the crew had finished installing a number of H-beams on the floor of the No 3 port-side hold. These beams would serve as a base for the generator to spread the heavy weight over a larger area.

It was very interesting to watch the preparations and we were impressed by the thoroughness and patience of the crew. This was all done in what can charitably be described as miserable weather; cold and raw with a steady rain and occasional sleet. There was also considerable time pressure to complete the lift during daylight so that we could depart for Philadelphia that night.

At approximately 16:30 all the preparations were complete and the spreader bar was lifted by the two cranes and positioned over the generator with the lifting cables dangling from shackles that themselves weigh about 120 kg each. The two crane operators need to work in perfect harmony to control the spreader and ultimately lift the cargo as each crane functions independently. The two operators, the ship's Bosun, Roderick and one of the more senior A/Bs, Joey, executed their tasks flawlessly.

The lift itself was slow and methodical. Once the spreader was over the generator the cables were affixed to the lifting points along the sides. With a barely perceptible motion the two cranes began to take on the weight of the load. As the cables tightened the ship tilted slightly to port but the Chief Officer compensated for this by transferring ballast water to the opposite tanks. Once the generator was lifted to a height sufficient to clear the ship's rail it was moved on board by the two cranes and lowered into the waiting hold. Unfortunately I wasn't able to observe the final descent as our view was blocked by the hatch cover.

Once inside the hold there was still much work to be done to secure the load for the long trip to Singapore. Obviously all cargo needs to be properly secured to prevent damage to either it or the ship while in transit, but one can only imagine the potential threat that such a large load could represent. Fortunately there are extensive guidelines on exactly how such loads need to be stowed, and the crew makes use of all manner of securing devices such as chains, cables, welded stays and lumber. The cranes also had to be restored to their usual configuration, so the earlier process was reversed and the hooks reattached and all was made secure for departure.

Heading to Norfolk

2009-03-03T06:51:00.000+08:00

We left Houston early afternoon on the 24th and began our next leg to Norfolk. The Houston Ship Channel is narrow and both banks are heavily built up with all manner of refineries and processing plants. Entering the Gulf of Mexico by Galveston we sailed through the oil fields which are quite a dramatic sight in the evening when lights on the oil rigs highlight the horizon. The passage through the oil fields is simplified by the use of designated fairways. These are recommended passages for ships to use when transiting the area as oil rigs are normally prohibited from being anchored within them.

Once we were clear of the oil fields we turned due east and started our passage towards Florida. We are passing within a few miles of Key West and depending on visibility we might just be able to see the lighthouse. Cuba is a few more miles off our starboard and out of sight.

As we round Florida we will pick up the current of the Gulf Stream which roughly parallels the east coast of the US. This is not the most direct, straight-line route to our destination, but the advantage of the favorable current will shorten our sailing time by a few hours. Once again I'm impressed by the calculations that are required to navigate a ship efficiently and economically from point to point. Starting from the basics of distance to be traveled and latest possible time of arrival the Captain and his officers need to consider the prevailing winds and currents plus the latest weather forecasts and then factor in what is the most efficient speed they need to run the engine to meet their goal. Contrary winds and currents can be overcome to some extent by speeding up the engine, but this has the consequence of burning more fuel. In the case of our Panama Canal transit, the Captain ordered a faster speed at the beginning of our Pacific crossing so as to ensure our timely arrival at Balboa. The cost of the additional fuel was minor compared to the potential cost in time and money of missing our reserved transit slot.

Houston, Texas

2009-02-23T03:57:00.002+08:00

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

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

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

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

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

Our Ship in the Panama Canal

2009-02-18T20:38:00.003+08:00

I'm indebted to one of the followers of this blog for this photo. It was a screen capture from the the high-resolution camera at the Miraflores Locks on the Panama Canal website:

Unfortunately I can't see any evidence of myself in this shot, but I believe you can just make out two white-shirted figures on the port side of the Bridge Deck. These would be the Captain and First Officer who were out there with the Pilot guiding the ship through the chambers.

At the rear you can clearly see the orange colored Free Fall Boat I wrote about earlier. For reference, my cabin is directly behind the upper portion.

Almost all of the white structures you see on our forward decks have been removed. They were windmill components that were offloaded in Galveston.

Some Additional Photos

2009-02-18T20:18:00.004+08:00

Here are some additional photos from the past few weeks that I thought I'd post with a few quick comments:

This shot was taken through one of the rope guides in the bow of the ship as we were passing along the Mexican coast. I was in the forecastle trying to get some shots of the birds and flying fish when I heard a loud splashing noise right beneath me. I looked down to see a number of dolphins swimming along in our bow wake and the noise was from them leaping out of the water and crashing back. I only got a few shots before they left.

I've mentioned the beauty of the sunrises and sunsets and here's nice example of the former. This was taken as we crossed the Pacific and were heading towards Panama. The shot is of some clouds and their beautiful colors just as the first rays of the sun struck them. For those of us who live in cities simple sights like this, or the star-filled night skies are a rarity that we seldom have the chance to truly appreciate. I wish I could post a photo of a cloudless night sky so you could see just how many stars really are out there.

Here's what the sunrise looks like from the Bridge on a Pacific crossing. We had really excellent weather all the way from Japan to Panama and I was fortunate to have the crew call my cabin to alert me when the sunrise looked particularly promising.

Here's a shot from the sunset in Nagoya, Japan. I have a few sunset shots from the Pacific but most of them were not so interesting as we had a large number of mostly cloudless nights.

New Orleans

2009-02-18T19:57:00.003+08:00

We arrived in New Orleans in the very early hours of Tuesday morning. After breakfast, Dale, Dieter and I decided to take advantage of some promising weather to head into the city. This proved to be a bit more difficult than we expected.

On reaching the gate we were informed by the local rent-a-cop that we were not allowed to leave unless we were escorted by a person holding a "TWIC card." For those of you not part of the transport or logistics industry, the TWIC card is the latest thing to make our borders safe; it is the Transportation Worker Identification Credential and is soon to be required by just about anyone who works within a secure area on a port. Anyone without this new credential who has business in a port area needs to be escorted by someone who has it.

Like so many large-scale programs, this one was implemented without all the details having been thought out. Right now, according to some of the workers I've spoken with, the real losers are the ships' crews who can't leave their ship without an escort. This can be a bit disheartening for people who've spent the better part of a month at sea and just want to get to Best Buy and Wal-Mart.

I'll leave that rant for now. The TWIC program won't be implemented in Houston until mid April so I'm hoping things will go smoother there.

We were finally able to leave when one of the cargo agents kindly arranged to escort us. The amusing part was that when we got to the gate there wasn't the slightest check of us or our IDs.

In the French Quarter we took a bit of time wandering the streets and observing the pre-Mardi Gras preparations, mostly the delivery of staggering amounts of beer. This was my first visit to the Big Easy so I enjoyed just taking in the sights.

After lunch and some book shopping we decided to spend the night in the city instead of returning to the ship. This was due to the potential complications and expense of getting back to the ship and the likelihood of similar difficulties if we tried to get return to the city on Wednesday. We got a very good deal on some rooms just a few blocks from the French Quarter.

Dinner was excellent. We went to a one of the smaller, friendly restaurants down one of the side streets, the name of which escapes me right now. The crowds of conventioneers and regular tourists were quite modest so the streets and restaurants were full and lively without being packed. I'm sure that will change next week when the drunken revelers descend for the big celebrations.

Galveston!

2009-02-16T00:52:00.002+08:00

It's Sunday morning in Galveston and Dieter, Dale and I are enjoying some coffee while I check email and post some blog updates. We docked early this morning and the crew is busy offloading the windmill parts that we picked up in Japan. This will be a short visit as we are scheduled to sail for New Orleans later this afternoon.

We should have some more time in New Orleans so I'll try to catch up on correspondence then. I hope you enjoy some of the pictures and I'll plan on adding some more in the coming days.

Panama Canal Transit

2009-02-16T00:39:00.005+08:00

We passed through the Panama Canal yesterday, 11 February. The whole transit took about twelve hours from when we left our anchorage until we reached the open water of the Atlantic.

Our passage started very early with the Panama Canal pilots and crew coming on board about 03:00. The crew was on board to handle the ropes and cables that are attached to the "mules" - small electric locomotives on either side of the locks that pull the ships through and hold them steady in the chambers.

After a very slow passage through the anchorage and past the other ships waiting their turns we passed under the Bridge of the Americas around 04:30 and headed to the Miraflores Locks. The lock system is very interesting, especially when one considers that it has been in operation, essentially unchanged, for about 95 years. There are three sets of locks, the Miraflores and Pedro Miguel locks on the Pacific side, and the Gatun locks on the Atlantic side. Ships approaching from either direction need to be raised 26 meters to the level of the Gatun Lake and then lowered again the same amount when they reach the other side.

At each lock there are two channels for ships. The ship chambers are 33.53 meters wide and 304.8 meters long which limits the size of ships transiting the canal to a maximum width of 32.3 meters and a length of no more than 294.1 meters. Our beam is 27.8 meters, so we had a bit of space on each side. The "Panamax" container ships, so called because they are built to the absolute maximum capacity the locks can manage, fit inside the chambers with only inches to spare on the sides.

At each lock the ships enter the specified channel and wait their turn to move into the chamber. At Miraflores we entered the chamber, the gates closed behind us, and we waited until the water level raised us up to the entry level for the next chamber. Ahead of us, another ship had left the second chamber and was moving into the Miraflores Lake. We waited until the water level in the vacated chamber was lowered, then the doors to the second chamber were opened and we were moved forward with the help of the mules, our engine, and a tugboat behind us. Again the doors behind us closed and the water level was raised while the level of the chamber we just left was lowered to wait for the next ship.

Transiting from the Miraflores Lake to the Gatun Lake was accomplished at the Pedro Miguel locks. Here there is only one step and the process was basically the same as before. We approached the channel, two of the shore crew rowed out to pass the lead lines for the cables, the cables from the mules were made fast by the Panama crew on our deck and we were pulled and pushed into position before the chamber was flooded and we were raised upward.

Once we passed through the Pedro Miguel locks we made the slow journey along the Gaillard, or Culebra Cut, a 13.7 kilometer long, narrow waterway that leads to the Gatun Lake and was excavated from volcanic rock and hard clay. Throughout the entire trip one of the two pilots was on deck directing our helmsman and guiding our passage. On this narrow section he would make use of a series of waypoints on shore which used a light system to ensure he was on the correct course; if the light showed green, he was correct, white or red indicated that a correction was necessary. At the exact moment, taking into account the currents and our ship's length, he would issue the rudder and engine commands that brought us safely and smoothly around each turn.

Next we passed into Gatun Lake which was created by the damming of the Chagres River. This part of the journey was about 38 kilometers long and took about four hours to complete. Here we saw the first of the ships making their way from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Due to the capacity of the locks and the narrowness of the Gaillard Cut it's necessary that the traffic in both directions be carefully managed to ensure the safety of the ships. The traffic passing from the Atlantic has to be timed so that the last ship from the Pacific has exited the Gaillard Cut before the first ship from the Atlantic has completed its journey across Gatun Lake.

According to the the information provided by the Panama Canal Authority brochure, the daily capacity of the Canal is 38 ships, which at the time of printing they were hoping to increase to 45. I'll have to check their website for the latest figures. Regardless, it is a complicated system of timing and coordination to maximize the throughput. The average, total transit time, including time at anchorage, is about 18 to 24 hours. In our case the company had booked a specific time slot for our transit at considerable additional expense. It was important that we arrived on time as re-booking can be costly and time consuming, so we had burned a little extra fuel across the Pacific to guarantee our punctuality.

We arrived at the Gatun locks right on schedule at around 12:30. Here we did the reverse of the process at the Miraflores and Pedro Miguel locks in that we entered the chambers and were lowered to the next level. The Gatun locks contain all three chambers, one after the other, so the ships drop an impressive 26 meters in a distance of about a kilometer. It was quite a sight to glance to our stern and see a huge container ship high above us in the first chamber.

From start to finish, the movement through the Gatun locks down to the Atlantic took almost two hours. On our way through the final channel at Limon Bay we saw a couple of caymans on the shore. Shortly after that we were in the waters of the Caribbean Sea.

Across The Pacific

2009-02-16T00:35:00.006+08:00

I'm writing this as we sail along the Pacific coasts of southern Mexico and the countries of Central America on our way to Panama. It's been over sixteen days sailing since we left Nagasaki and I thought a summary of the whole experience would be more interesting than posting all of my daily entries over that time.

My first impression is that the Pacific is huge. I know that sounds a bit simple, but the true scale of the place really becomes evident while sailing all the way across. During the whole passage I only saw three other ships; two car-carriers heading back to Japan and one other ship on its way from Hawaii to Los Angeles. On most days there wasn't any indication of another ship within a hundred miles.

After a day or two of somewhat rougher seas when we left Japan, the weather was extremely pleasant. Earlier in the voyage some of the crew had expressed their concern that we might encounter some heavy weather across the Pacific based on their previous passage; this is fairly common during this time of year. We were able to take advantage of a favorable break between systems that allowed us to sail in almost preternatural calm.

We did encounter some rougher seas for the better part of one day as we passed along the Mexican coast. According to the Captain this is to be expected in this part of the ocean; there is a strong wind that comes from the northeast through this corridor. There was some spectacular spray as the waves hit our port bow and washed over our gangways.

In planning the routes the officers make full use of all the technology available to them and one of these is a commercial weather service that provides recommended routes based on long-range weather forecasts. In our case, they recommended a modified rhumb-line to great circle route that took us farther south than a true great circle route would have. The difference in distance was negligible and the calm seas and clement weather were of great advantage to the crew.

With respect to life on board, the pace of work while at sea is much more regular than in port. In the latter there is always much work to be done in a very short amount of time and operations continue around the clock. In contrast, the workdays at sea impressed me as being much more routine and predictable. The Chief Officer took full advantage of the fine weather in setting out the work schedule for the crew. Under the direction of the ship's Bosun they spent many days in catching up on all the required maintenance and repair tasks. There was a lot of scraping and painting but also some high-wire work when a few of them went aloft to grease the cables of the ship's heavy lift cranes. They started at the top of the crane tower and then worked their way down the length of the cables with the aid of some bosuns chairs and carabiners.

The officers kept busy with their tasks as well. It seems like the paperwork never ends but at least the multiple days of uninterrupted, smooth sailing gave them the time to get caught up.

As a passenger I found the two-plus weeks to be extremely peaceful and relaxing. Dale, Dieter and I spent considerable amounts of time on the Bridge poring over the charts, tracking our progress and counting off intermediate milestones like the crossing of the International Date Line back on the 28th of January. It was interesting to observe the topography of the ocean floor, especially around the Hawaiian Islands ( we noted that Google Earth has a new service for exploring the ocean floor; I think we'll all be checking that out first chance we get ).

I spent considerable time reading and working on some photographs. On most days I enjoyed watching the sunset from the Pilot Bridge and woke up early a few mornings to catch a particularly promising sunrise. One night, off the Mexican coast, I was treated to the sight of a pod of dolphins swimming by and crossing in front of the setting sun; I doubt Disney could have orchestrated a more picture-perfect ending to a day.

Another treat that we so rarely see nowadays on land was an unimpeded view of the night sky. In the middle of the ocean, far from any competing light sources the constellations display their true brilliance. The other night the almost-full moon was so bright that it was casting shadows on the deck and even I could identify some of the more prominent stars and planets. Watching a full moon set on a mirror-smooth sea just before dawn was another great moment.

Besides the dolphins, of which we've seen quite a few these past couple of days, including a few swimming right under our bow, we've also seen our share of seagulls and flying fish. The seagulls worked very cleverly with the ship in their pursuit of food, such as flying fish; they would take advantage of the ship's passage through the wind by gliding along in our port side wake and then diving full-speed into the water to snag a meal. It's impressive to think how sophisticated their vision must be in order to see their prey below the surface and be able to catch it while accounting for refraction of the water, the movement of the prey and their own dive. Sometimes two or more would make a simultaneous dash towards the water only to have one or the other break off the pursuit and pull up at the last instant.

Along the Costa Rica/Panama coast we were accompanied by a contingent of about fifty seabirds that used our masts as resting perches as they waited for the flying fish to dash out in front of our bow. The water was very smooth so when a school of flying fish took off it was easy to see. They would dash out en masse, flitting just above the water. The birds would dive in pursuit, sometimes catching them in mid flight and other times diving after them into the sea. It's amazing how far the flying fish can travel through the air; some of their flights seemed to be in excess of one hundred meters.

I saw two turtles crossing our path, although I'm sure they were buffeted aside by our bow wave. I wonder what they think when they see a ship bearing down on them? According to one of the crew they just pull in their heads and pop up in our wake where they continue on with their journey.

The day before our Panama Canal transit the Captain decided to take advantage of the time we'd won coming across the Pacific. We stopped the engines and drifted with the wind and the currents from about 13:30 until 02:30 in the morning. The crew took advantage of the calm weather to finish some tasks and we passengers just enjoyed the type of weather you normally only see in travel brochures.

Overall it's been a long passage, but the time has passed reasonably quickly for me. I can honestly say that I never felt bored for a lack of something to see or something new to learn. We're all looking forward to our transit through the Panama Canal in a few days and after that our next port call in Galveston before heading to New Orleans and Houston.

Food On Board

2009-02-16T00:34:00.001+08:00

I've made some passing references to the high quality of food on board so I thought it might be helpful to provide some more details to give a more complete picture.

There are three dining areas on the A-Deck; the Officers' Mess, the Crew Mess and the Duty Mess. The Crew Mess is the largest and consists of some long tables with chairs for the crew. The men serve themselves buffet style from large serving dishes. The Duty Mess is next to the Crew Mess and this is just a smaller dining area for the crew where coveralls and work boots are allowed.

The Officers' Mess is where we passengers take our meals. It's a nice sized dining room with two round tables. In the middle of each table is a rotating circular plate on which are placed the condiments and all the smaller plates of cold cuts, cheeses, bread, etc that accompany most meals. Five or six people can eat comfortably at each table.

The kitchen itself is the responsibility of the Chief Cook, Joel. He joined the ship in Xingang when our previous cook signed off. Joel is responsible for preparing all of the meals for everyone on board, twenty six crew and three passengers. His day starts around 06:00 with preparations for breakfast and continues until the final cleaning of the kitchen after dinner.

He is also responsible for ordering the provisions for the voyage and preparing the menus. He has to take into account the length of time at sea and the number of meals he needs to prepare. Using some guidelines he prepares a list for the Captain's approval after which the groceries and supplies are purchased and brought on board.

His kitchen is well appointed with cooking and prep surfaces, ovens, sinks and refrigerators. The grill and stovetops are mounted on gimbals to keep everything horizontal despite the rolling of the ship and all of the countertops have raised barriers to keep pots and pans from sliding off.

Meal times on the ship are fixed; the only exception so far has been for parties. Breakfast is served from 07:30 to 08:30 and consists of numerous options: eggs to order, sausage or bacon, an assortment of cereals, breads, jams, jellies, usually fresh fruit or yoghurt. Lunch is usually the most substantial meal consisting of a soup followed by a main course of a meat and vegetable, usually with an accompaniment of potatoes in some form or another and is served from 12:00 to 13:00. Dinner is served from 17:30 to 18:30. Coffee and tea are available at each meal along with water and fruit juices. The crew also has twenty-minute coffee breaks at 10:00 and 15:00.

Overall the variety and quality has been excellent. We benefit from the fact that the ship has ample storage space for provisions; there are several walk-in freezers, refrigerators and chillers on the Upper Deck.

The risk to the passengers is that it's very easy to eat too much as the portions are reckoned for the crew who spend their days actually working. I've noticed that some of my clothes seem a bit snugger after a little more than a month at sea; perhaps it's just the salt air causing them to shrink.

Boat Lag

2009-02-16T00:33:00.000+08:00

About every other night we've advanced the ship's clock another hour and we'll continue to do that as we cross the multiple time zones on our way to the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal at Balboa. In his round-the-world TV series, Michael Palin mentioned this phenomenon of "boat lag" that comes about from these ongoing time changes, how it was tiring because almost each day you had to wake up an hour earlier. It's kind of like going through Daylight Savings Time changes for two weeks.

I was curious as to how the crew managed this, whether one watch was shorter each night they adjusted the ship's clock, but it was explained to me that they advance the clock by twenty minutes during each of the three, four-hour watches at night so each watch is shortened by an equal amount.

Helpful Reference

2009-02-16T00:32:00.000+08:00

Before leaving Singapore I was lucky to stumble across a very helpful paperback: The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea, edited by I.C.B. Dear and Peter Kemp, ISBN: 978-0-19-920568-4. In addition to being a first class reference book with all the expected definitions and illustrations of shipboard equipment, it's also filled with many biographies of interesting explorers and navigators plus histories of famous ships and accounts of many overlooked nautical events. It's very well cross-referenced and indexed and it's provided me with a great many hours of enjoyable and educational reading. It's been a terrific adjunct to the first-hand information the officers and crew have so generously shared.

Lifeboat Drills

2009-02-16T00:30:00.000+08:00

In a short while we'll have one of our regular muster and lifeboat drills. We have these at fairly regular intervals and as passengers our roles are fairly simple; show up at the mustering station on the A-deck with helmet, life vest and perhaps the immersion suit; after all are properly accounted for proceed the C-deck and clamber into the Free Fall Boat (FFB). In the event of an actual emergency, follow the instructions of the Chief Officer.

As you can imagine, safety is a paramount concern of all on board since assistance can be a long time coming. In most cases, the crew is dependent on themselves and they need to be prepared for a wide range of eventualities.

The Free Fall Boat is our emergency escape mechanism in the event we would have to abandon ship. It's a rather futuristic looking, fully enclosed, safety-orange colored craft mounted on an angled launch at the aft end of the ship. I've seen identical or similar craft on most of the other larger cargo vessels we've passed.

Since the rear hatch is conveniently located right outside my window I can easily see the dimensions painted on its stern: 7.4 meters in length, 2.66 in width and a height of 1.07. Into this small space there are seats for 36 persons. The majority of the seats are arrayed two abreast down both sides of the boat, facing aft towards the entry hatch. The craft is pointed nose downwards at a fairly steep angle, about 45 degrees, to facilitate its launch, so entering it is like walking down a steep stairway.

The seats are in two levels, with 31 of them on the lower level and facing essentially "up", or back towards the entry hatch, so it takes a bit of agility to swing into our assigned places. Each passenger and crew member has an assigned seat. The seats are very snug and equipped with a four-point, seatbelt-type harness that we need to secure. The idea being that in the event of a real emergency we would drop backwards into the water from the launching mechanism and the harnesses would keep us from bouncing around and injuring ourselves. A rough estimate is that it's about an eight meter drop from the nose of the craft to the waterline.

There are also five seats at the rear of the craft perched above the lower level seats with one facing forward. This is where the craft's driver, normally the Chief Officer and the officers would sit. From the outside they are in a raised cupola about a third of the length of the whole craft. The boat is equipped with a motor and outfitted with communication and signaling equipment. There are also emergency stores of food, water and first aid equipment. Each member of the crew is trained in how to launch the FFB and start its engine.

Once the officer in charge of our drill is satisfied with our performance we unhook our harnesses, being careful to leave them arranged so that they are readily accessible for the next drill or real emergency, and then we climb up and out the hatch and back onto the deck. We've also been briefed on the operation of the rescue boat, the launching of the life rafts, and the operation of the emergency generator. There is a lot of emphasis on safety and emergency preparedness on board since help can be a long time coming.

This is pretty much the end of our drill as passengers; the crew then usually continues with various firefighting and rescue drills or a procedure review.

Tracking Our Ship

2009-01-21T06:11:00.003+08:00

Since we'll be away from internet connections for some time I wanted to post a few reminders about how to best track our ship as we make our way towards the US.

The simplest way is to go to the Rickmers website, www.rickmers-linie.com and click on the "Schedules & Routes" tab. On this page you can download a PDF file with the most up-to-date schedule via the small icon to the right.

To see our current status, click on the world map in the box labeled "Ship Positions" on the lower left. This will take you to the Purplefinder website and the fleet details for all the Rickmers' ships.

Once you see the world map and all the labels for Rickmers' fleet, click on Maps > Asset Map on the top toolbar. On the next screen select "Rickmers Jakarta" from the dropdown Asset Name list.

You'll now see a world map with our current position indicated by a little, green icon representing the ship along with a track showing our course over the past thirty days or so. If you click on the ship icon you'll see our current location, e.g. "Proximity: Nagasaki"

You can also zoom in for a more detailed view of the current location. Please note that the Purplefinder site can sometimes be a bit slow, so be patient.

Another good resource will be Dale's website, http://dalestenseth.blogspot.com . He has a satellite phone and will be making regular updates while we're at sea.

I've added a few useful links to the left. Let me know if there are others that would be helpful.

All for the moment. Thanks to everyone who's written with their words of encouragement. I'm really enjoying this little adventure and I'm glad to have this means to share a bit with all of you.

Nagasaki

2009-01-21T05:43:00.003+08:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Panama Canal Stuff

2009-01-20T04:54:00.002+08:00

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

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

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

More later...

The Big Update

2009-01-19T18:17:00.007+08:00

Greetings again from Nagoya. The following is an extended post from the last two weeks. I've been keeping a fairly regular journal of the trip in the expectation that I would be able to update more regularly. Unfortunately China proved to be a bit more of a challenge than I expected.

Enjoy!

Rougher Seas
(written on 2 January 2009)

We left our anchorage off Hong Kong Island around 03:00 on the morning of the 1st. Unfortunately we didn't get much of a chance to see the fireworks show in Victoria Harbour; our anchorage was off the western end of Hong Kong Island, a little southwest of Green Island, if my map reading is correct.

The seas have been decidedly rougher for this stretch; in fact they've been the roughest I've seen so far. For the most part, my cabin is relatively comfortable; I'm closer to midship, so I don't sense the rolling as much as the other passengers one deck above and farther outboard. I did see a beer bottle (fortunately empty!) go tumbling from my table, but otherwise it's fairly stable. I know that the others see items sliding around much more and in fact take precautions of relocating their laptops to the floor so they don't go crashing down.

Shortly after noon on the 1st we had a New Year's celebration with the officers and crew. Like the Christmas party it was held in the crew mess and once again our Cook did an outstanding job. He's scheduled to leave the ship when we get to Xingang in about a week. His replacement will certainly have a high standard to meet.

In the late afternoon I went up on the bridge with my camera to try to catch some shots of the larger waves striking the bow. It was a dramatic sight; the bow would catch one of the larger waves and there would be a shudder felt throughout the ship. Next the cascade of water and foam would crash over the bow and off to the sides. The forces involved must be truly staggering. I've been told that we can expect larger and more impressive waves when we get to the northern Pacific in a few weeks; I'll be looking forward to that.

In the photo you can see one of the better shots. For scale, the forward crane in the center of the ship is about 19 meters (about 62 feet) tall from the deck to the top of the mast and has a maximum lifting capacity of 35 tons. It's located about 155 meters (around 500 feet) forward of the bridge from where I was shooting.

As for any seasickness, I'm happy to report that so far I've been fine. Fortunately, despite the significant pitching and rolling, it's been mostly in one plane, so it's not quite so disorienting. At least that's my theory for the moment. Our progress has been straight in to the oncoming swells, so there hasn't been much side-to-side rolling.

I'm not sure how the severity of the seas measures up; my references are limited to what I've seen so far on this trip, but the crew seems impressed with some of the waves, and according to the log entries we were experiencing Wind Forces of 9 and Sea Scales of 8 with extensive pitching and rolling. Perhaps the more nautically minded can comment on what that means in relative terms.

As I'm writing this on the morning of the 2nd the seas are noticeably calmer but still quite severe. The frequency of the larger waves has abated and there are only the occasional shuddering crashes into the bow. Our speed has been reduced to about 15 knots from our usual speed of 18 or 19.

The 3rd Officer told us that we might be able to increase speed a little later as the forecast was improving, so it looks like we'll reach Shanghai sometime around midday tomorrow.
On the way to Dalian
(written on 5 January 2009)

Shanghai was a bit of a disappointment because of the weather. We arrived on the evening of 3rd and docked at the Luojing Wharf which lies farther up the Yangtze River, just past Shanghai.

Some of you might have read on Dale's website that he'll be gone for about a week. He left the ship here in Shanghai and will be rejoining when we return. It's not a bad idea, and I've heard from some of the crew that this is a fairly common option for passengers on this route; they leave the ship on the first call in Shanghai, travel around China for a week or so, and then rejoin on the second call.

Dietmer, Hubert and I were able to get a ride from the wharf with a business associate of Dale's who met him at the dock. He very kindly dropped us at the end station of one of the metro lines so we could make our way to the city.

The weather was really quite dreary. It was cold, a little above freezing, but with a heavy fog and mist that transformed into a light rain now and again. Not the best weather for wandering around the city.

We took the metro to the People's Square station and made the short walk to the Shanghai Museum. We spent a bit of time looking at the exhibits, especially the bronzes, ceramics and currency.

Next we made our way to Nanjing East Road, the main shopping street in Shanghai. It's really amazing to see the number of shopping malls, boutiques, restaurants and so on. We stopped for some dumplings and soup as a late lunch and then walked down to the Bund.

Again, the weather made this a less than enjoyable experience. I really enjoy the architecture of the older buildings and find their collective history very interesting. Nowadays a lot of the older finance houses have been transformed to accommodate restaurants and bars but you can still imagine the old "taipans" staring out from their offices waiting for news of their cargoes.

Across the Huangpu River is Pudong and its collection of imposing edifices like the Oriental Pearl TV Tower and the 88-storey Jinmao Tower. On this day, however, the cloud cover, rain and mist decapitated all them at about 100 meters and imposed a gray haze on that which was still visible.

I felt a bit sorry for the photographers who take pictures of the out-of-towners with the Pudong skyline as a backdrop, and for all those who were visiting and could only see a collection of indistinct shapes across the river.

We were impressed with the amount of barge traffic on the Huangpu. It was quite a sight to see a steady line of heavily laden coal barges steaming upriver four abreast with an equal number of similar vessels coming in the opposite direction.

Thoroughly chilled, we started to make our way back towards People's Square via Fuzhou Road. We made a quick stop in the Foreign Language Bookstore and glanced inside some of the many shops specializing in paper, brushes and other calligraphic supplies before retreating to a coffee shop.

After a short break we made our way back to the metro, rode to the end station at Fujin Road and caught a taxi back to the wharf where we hopped on one of the shuttle buses that took us back to the ship.

This morning we cast off about 06:00 and are now heading back down the Yangtze on our way to Dalian. I'll be checking on our arrival after the Pilot has left the bridge.

A few hours outside Dalian
(written on 6 January 2009)

I'm writing this at about 09:00 local time as we sail steadily towards Dalian. The weather has cleared very nicely and we're enjoying some sunshine, although the air temperature is around freezing and the water temperature only a little above that. I'll have to make sure to bring my immersion suit with me for our next lifeboat drill.

We're scheduled to arrive in Dalian around 14:00. I'm not sure yet what the plan will be once we arrive, nor how much time we will have in port. I understand that we'll be berthing a good distance from the city, but I'm hoping to be able to get to an internet cafe and update the website and check any emails.

The next two weeks or so will be very busy. After Dalian we head to Xingang and then back to Shanghai. The schedule right now has us departing Shanghai on the 16th when we'll head to Nagoya and then Nagasaki before beginning our long trip across the Pacific. We're scheduled to depart Nagasaki on the 23rd and then it will be about three weeks before our next call in Freeport, Texas, right before Houston.

I'm hoping that I'll be able to provide some further updates from Japan, but as you can see from my recent posts, internet access hasn't been as readily available as I'd hoped given our short stays in port. Just a reminder that you can follow our progress by going to the Rickmers-Linie website ( www.rickmers-linie.com ) and checking the most recent schedule. Also, Dale will be updating his blog via his satellite phone, so you can get additional updates from him at dalestenseth.blogspot.com .

The time in port is extremely hectic for the crew as they are fully occupied with the loading and discharging of cargo. It's a tough job because they are under constant time pressure to meet the sailing deadlines. In some ports, because of the tides for example, a missed departure will put them at least a half day behind schedule. Of course their work is complicated by delays in cargo reaching the ship, or cargo arriving in the wrong sequence for loading.

Impressions of Dalian
(written on 7 January 2009)

It's late afternoon and Dieter and I just returned to the ship after having spent the day in Dalian. We left the ship this morning after breakfast and were driven into town by the local port agent and his driver. On leaving the port we had to report to an immigration checkpoint at the main gate. The security was much higher than what we experienced in Shanghai and the agent explained that it was because the port belonged to the Chinese military. In many ways the whole atmosphere was very reminiscent of the days of driving through the former DDR. The uniforms are similar, along with the dour expressions of the guards.

After we left the immediate port area it was about a 30 minute drive to the city itself. We were dropped off on a side street near the main center of the town and given explicit instructions to be back at that same spot by 15:00. Properly briefed, Dieter and I began walking down the main thoroughfare.

Dalian is rated as one of China's "most livable" cities. It certainly makes an impression on the visitor. There are plenty of new hotels and shopping malls, and construction of office blocks and new housing is booming. It will be interesting to see the impact of the current world economic challenges on places like Dalian; whether Chinese domestic consumption will be able to offset the decline in US purchases.

The weather was a huge improvement over Shanghai. It was below freezing as evidenced by the ice on some of the streets, but there wasn't any wind to speak of and the sun was shining brilliantly, albeit somewhat filtered by the perpetual haze that seems to hang over most cities in China.

After walking a bit we stopped for coffee at Starbucks and I tried to update the blog, but for some reason I was unable to add any new posts. No doubt the authorities have designated me as some sort of subversive and are doing everything in their power to avoid the truth from coming out. I'll have to try again when we get to Xingang or Shanghai, but I'm sure no later than one of the stops in Japan.

Traffic in Dalian, like a lot of cities in China, is a bit of an adventure. For pedestrians, a green light means they need to run quickly across the street since taxi drivers seem to be uniformly colorblind. Red lights seem to be taken more as a recommendation than a command by most drivers, so it's the brave or foolish person who trusts that an oncoming vehicle will stop simply because the light indicates he should.

The number of high-end automobiles was pretty impressive considering everyone here is at least nominally a communist. German marques seem to be the preferred choice as we were constantly dodging Mercedes, large BMWs and latest model Audis. VW was well represented along with Buick and one aging stretch Lincoln Continental. We also saw one Ferrari as we were driving back to the ship. It didn't have any license plate, but I suppose everyone who needs to know is aware who the owner is.

Wandering down some of the side streets I indulged in my weakness for street food. The first stop was a woman selling skewered tofu, fishballs, and mushrooms that were cooked in a soup of boiling chilies; really very good. Next stop was another woman who was selling what I think was squid and onions cooked in a batter on an iron mold, sort of like a waffle iron, but open on the top so she had to constantly rotate them as they cooked. The finished dough balls were a little smaller than golf balls and very hot, but also quite tasty.

My third course, so to speak, was skewered meat (pedigree uncertain) cooked over coals by a pair of Muslim Uighurs in a food stall along one of the open air markets. It was somewhat similar to the Malay-style satay, but I have to admit that at least one piece of meat was pretty much inedible. The rest wasn't too bad, albeit a bit chewy.

Our final challenge for the day was to track down a medicated salve at a pharmacy. Our first problem was that we didn't have the faintest idea how to identify a pharmacy. In one shop, that may or may not have had what we needed, the salesgirl presented us with a bilingual phrase book to try to identify what it was we were looking for. Regrettably the phrase book was Russian-Chinese, so that wasn't much help. Luckily we passed by a foreign language bookstore where we were able to look up "pharmacy" in an English-Chinese dictionary and ask the sales staff for some assistance. A very helpful young lady kindly took us into the street and pointed us towards a pharmacy a short distance away.

The pharmacy staff was most helpful and patient with us as we tried to explain what it was we were looking for. Finally, after examining all sorts of ointments, plasters, creams, etc we found what we hope we were looking for. The English translation is promising, but it still remains somewhat mysterious.

We wandered around some more before heading back to our rendezvous. Due to an error on my part, we were some distance from where we thought we were, and it was already 14:45. Taking my cue from Blanche DuBois, I was able to rely on the kindness of strangers to point us in the right direction and we were able to hustle back and meet our driver right on time, give or take a minute.

Approaching Xingang
(written 9 January 2009)

The pilot is on board and we're moving steadily towards our berth in Xingang. The sheer number of ships in these waters is truly impressive; looking out to the horizon from my cabin window I can see at least fifty cargo vessels.

A short while ago the Captain drew our attention to a capsized ship off our starboard. We went to the Pilot Deck and saw a large, Chinese cargo ship lying on its side in the middle of the shipping lane. He was rather dismissive of the crew's competence to allow such a thing to happen.

According to the Chief Officer the ship will be spending about two and a half days in Xingang to discharge and load a lot of cargo; we're taking on more than 4,000 tons.

It's almost 11:30 as I write this and we've just tied up at the dock. The usual procedure for securing the ship to the dock is that the tugs slowly push the ship into position and then when the ship is close enough a member of the crew throws a weighted line to the team waiting on shore. This line is attached to the heavy rope used for mooring, called the hawser. The docking team pulls the hawser ashore and loops the end over one of the bollards, the heavy protrusions that are spaced evenly along the dock.

In the other ports there were usually four or five shore crew waiting at each end of the dock as we pulled close. Here in Xingang, however, there were only two guys at the stern end (couldn't see what was happening at the bow) and they didn't appear to be very confident in what they were doing. Normally, once the lead line is thrown, the shore crew grabs it and quickly pull the hawser towards them. While some of the team make the hawser fast on the bollard, the others work to loose the lead line and get ready to pull the subsequent mooring ropes from the ship. These ropes are very heavy and difficult to handle especially when they are wet and the weather is as cold as it is today.

Anyway, it appears that the shore crew didn't pull the hawser fast enough and now one of the lines is looped under one of the cushioning bolsters. They were attempting to release it when I decided to retreat to the warmth of my cabin. It's brilliantly sunny today; the sky is crystal clear and a brilliant blue, but the air is quite chilly, especially when standing on the exposed deck.
The Forbidden City
(written 11 January 2009)

It's mid morning and we're just pulling away from the dock in Xingang. It's another clear, cold day with very little wind and an infinitely blue sky. We're on the way to Shanghai for our second call; maybe the weather will have improved since our earlier visit.

Yesterday Dieter and I spent a few hours exploring the Forbidden City. On Friday afternoon, after we docked, we decided to head to Beijing for a day of sightseeing. Friday evening the local agent arranged to have us driven to the train station in nearby Tanggu where we boarded an express train bound for the Beijing South Train Station.

The train turned out to be a pleasant surprise. It was a very modern, high speed express train, very similar to the Japanese or French versions. On the way to Tianjin we reached a respectable 160 kmh, but on the stretch to Beijing we went as fast as 332 kmh! The whole trip of about 160 km was finished in less than an hour at a one-way ticket price of RMB70 (about USD10).

Arriving in Beijing we opted to stay at the Hao Yuan Guest House based on a recommendation in the Lonely Planet guidebook. The hotel is in one of the rapidly disappearing "hutongs", the narrow alleyways and low houses that used to dominate the Beijing landscape. Our rooms were very comfortable and opened on to the outer courtyard, immediately behind the main gate. There was a second, inner courtyard to the rear of the hotel surrounded by some larger rooms.

The hotel is very conveniently located in the Dong Cheng District of Beijing, quite near the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. We spent some time wandering around one of the major shopping streets and pedestrian zones before opting for dinner in a Muslim restaurant. After that it was a very cold walk back to the hotel.

On Saturday morning we set off for the Forbidden City right after breakfast. It was a fairly short walk and again we were treated to some excellent weather. The temperature was below freezing, but the sky was crystal clear and not a hint of wind. After entering from the eastern side we first made our way to the main gate which opens onto Tiananmen Square beneath the iconic portrait of the late Chairman Mao. There was a chaotic but cheerful bustle as families lined up to have their photos taken all under the watchful eyes of the numerous military and police security guards.

Making our way back inside we bought our tickets and rented some automated audio tour guides and entered the Palace Museum itself. This was the former residence of the imperial families of the Ming and Qing dynasties along with their myriad of servants, aides, advisers, kitchen staff, factotums, consorts, concubines, eunuchs and other assorted hangers-on.

The scale of the place is overwhelming and as one proceeds from the respective gates, through the courtyards and on to the various halls, one can't help but imagine what it must have been like for those granted access to the emperor for the first time. The audio guide and the various plaques on the structures did a fair job of explaining the significance and purpose of each building, but there also seemed to be a lot of energy expended on ensuring the proper pecking order within the walls of this city. The commentary at the various Eastern and Western Palaces was replete with accounts of infighting, intrigue, tragic deaths and continual toadying for favor and perhaps relocation to a more favored accommodation.

Most of the exhibits were rather modest and after a while the different palaces started to look strikingly similar. Perhaps one reason was my complete lack of familiarity with many of the referenced personages and their respective places in history. I started to get the distinct impression that most of the residents of the Forbidden City occupied their time with rather frivolous pursuits and intrigues interrupted only by a myriad of imperial rituals and obligations.

After having our fill of culture and history we spent a few more hours wandering the streets and neighborhoods surrounding the whole Forbidden City complex before making our way back to the shopping district to buy a few souvenirs. Finally we caught a taxi to the train station and bought our tickets for the return trip to Tanggu.

On to Japan
(written 16 January 2009)

Our second stop in Shanghai was brief and highlighted by the arrival and departure of passengers and crew. Much to our collective disappointment, Hubert had to return to Germany, cutting his trip short about halfway through. It was for medical reasons; nothing immediately serious, but with the long trip across the Pacific ahead of us it was deemed the prudent thing to do rather than risk more dire problems a long distance from anywhere. The Captain and the Rickmers team in Germany plus the local agent made arrangements to put him on a flight to Frankfurt. Dieter and I accompanied him to the airport where we saw him through the safety checkpoint.

Dale rejoined the ship after his excursion to Xi'an to see the terra cotta warriors. You can read his account at his blog. It sounds like a great trip and I'll definitely have to make plans to visit myself someday.

There were also a few crew changes at Shanghai; our 2nd Engineer, Electrician and Steward all signed off and headed to their respective homes. Their replacements arrived shortly before our sailing. Our Cook had signed off a few days earlier in Xingang; so far his replacement seems to be doing a good job, but some of the crew seem to think he's not quite up to standard yet.

Today is a beautiful day to be on the water; smooth sailing with some high clouds. We're scheduled to arrive at Nagoya this evening but won't berth until tomorrow. We've also been informed that the Japanese immigration authorities don't work on the weekend so Dale, Dieter and I will be stuck on the ship until Monday. This is disappointing as we had been looking forward to some time on shore. The Captain has been in contact with the Nagoya agent to see if any other arrangements are possible, but right now it looks like our time on shore might be limited to a short visit on Monday. Hopefully we won't encounter similar difficulties in Nagasaki.

It's hard to believe how fast the time is passing. I look at this document and realize it's been over two weeks since I last posted anything and a full month since I first came on board. It's been a great trip so far with a nice combination of new things to see and do along with plenty of quiet and free time to read, write and work on some photos. The port activities are interesting to observe as is the daily rhythm of life on a ship at sea. Since there really isn't a workweek, I've pretty much lost track of what day it is; as the 2nd Officer said in a good natured way, "At sea, every day is Monday, and at home every day is Sunday."

Yesterday I received an updated schedule which has us transiting the Panama Canal on the 10th and 11th of February. If anyone is interested I believe there is a live webcam of the Canal where you can watch the ships. You can follow our progress and position via the Rickmers website or one of the other ship tracking services; I'll be sure to stand on the Pilot Deck as we make our way through.

We're scheduled to arrive in Houston on the 17th and depart on the 21st, followed by New Orleans (22 - 24 Feb), Norfolk (27 - 28 Feb) and Philadelphia (28 Feb - 4 Mar).

Nagoya Update
(written 18 January 2009)

Unfortunately the earlier information we received was correct; we haven't been allowed on shore here in Nagoya as the immigration offices are closed on Saturday and Sunday. This has been a minor disappointment, but we have been able to spend some additional time observing the very efficient Japanese cargo operations.

Compared to the other ports I've seen so far, Nagoya is almost frighteningly clean. The tug that nudged us up to the pier looked as if it had been freshly painted that morning and the entire dock area is continually being swept by the workers. It's as if they are fundamentally unable to accept any untidiness in their work space.

I watched the crews unloading what appeared to be aluminum ingots from a ship tied up behind us and it was a veritable ballet of fork lifts and trailers. The ship itself was very impressive; a purpose built craft with massive gantries spanning her entire deck and a semi-automated crane rig that allowed the crew to offload sixteen pallets in each load and place them on the wharf for the battalion of forklifts.

This morning at breakfast Dale, Dieter and I decided that we will leave the ship tomorrow morning and travel to Nagasaki by train. It seems to be a better plan in that it will give us a bit more time to explore Nagoya and also Nagasaki. We're scheduled to go to the immigration offices here in Nagoya early tomorrow. After that we'll make our way to the train station and the tourist information office to see about train and hotel reservations. Our plan is to spend Monday night in Nagoya and then travel to Nagasaki on Tuesday. It's about six hours by train so this we should get to Nagasaki by Tuesday afternoon. Right now our ship is scheduled to depart Nagasaki on Thursday the 22nd, so that should give us the better part of one and half days to explore the city.

Greetings from Nagoya!

2009-01-19T14:22:00.004+08:00

Apologies for the lack of posts; I wasn't able to update from China, but tonight I'm in Nagoya with a decent broadband connection. I'll post a longer update from the past two weeks in a few hours.

Happy New Year from Hong Kong!

2008-12-30T21:05:00.004+08:00

Greetings and best wishes for a happy and prosperous 2009!

We arrived in Hong Kong earlier today and will be here probably until the wee hours of the new year. After that our next stop will be Shanghai.

This will be a longer post as I'm taking this opportunity to copy & paste some updates that I've been writing since boarding the ship. I haven't done a whole lot of editing, so forgive any errors or redundancies.

Underway!
(written on 23 December)

We arrived in Laem Chabong, Thailand early this morning, the 23rd. I went up on the deck around 06:00 to watch the docking operations. Two large tugs pushed us very slowly sideways until we were very close to the edge of the wharf. Once we were within range, a member of our crew threw a weighted line to the team waiting on shore. They used the line to pull a heavy rope from the ship which was then looped over a large cleat (I'm sure that's not quite the correct word). The rope was then drawn in by the ship's winches and the ship was pulled the final few feet to the edge and made fast.

It's been an eventful couple of days since I joined the ship on Friday the 19th. I arrived dockside at the Jurong Port about 15:30 and was settled in my cabin within 30 minutes.

The ship is the Rickmers Jakarta, a multipurpose cargo vessel. She's quite large, over 190 meters long, about 630 feet. There are four large deck cranes for the loading and unloading of heavy lift cargo.

My cabin is comfortable and located on the C-deck. There are three other passengers on this trip; another American, Dale, who joined the ship in Houston and will be departing there as well, and two Germans, Dieter and Hubert who embarked in Hamburg. Their cabins are on the D-deck above mine.

Above the D-deck is the Pilot Deck. This has been my most frequent vantage point these past few days. It has a lot of open space that affords a nice view of the ship and our surroundings.

The next deck above is the Bridge. More on that later.

As I've mentioned in some earlier posts, the schedules of freighters is subject to frequent changes. I had been told that we would be leaving Singapore on the 22nd, but that was moved up in an effort to get the ship back on its schedule.

I don't know all the details, but I do know that Rickmers runs a number of ships on this route with departures about every two weeks. According to one of the other passengers the schedule has been disrupted over the past several weeks due to various delays with the end result being that some of the ships are "bunched up" along the route. This can obviously cause problems for Rickmers and the customers; it's sort of like a city bus - there's never one when you need it, but then three show up together.

What this means for me is that my original itinerary is going to change, probably several times. For instance, I now know that we won't be stopping in Korea, but we will be visiting Hong Kong after Vietnam. Also, it looks like the San Diego stop is now off the schedule.

There is a Rickmers website that has a link to updated ship tracking information; it's www.rickmers-linie.com

As of 26 December, the schedule has us arriving in Houston around 17 February and New Orleans a few days after that. We should be in Philadelphia at the very end of February with a departure date of 1 March.

Port Activity

During our time in port in Singapore the ship was a very busy place. The crew was hard at work loading and unloading the cargo.

It was very interesting to observe and I have a great respect for the crew and the stevedores who do a very tough, physical job.

Unlike a container ship, the cargo on the Jakarta varies greatly in size, shape and configuration. Lashed on deck are quite a few pieces of large, heavy machinery. The holds contain other odd-sized items and there are also some standard containers throughout.

This makes loading and stowing the cargo a bit more of a challenge. As you might imagine, it becomes important to make sure that the cargo is loaded in such a way as to optimize the available space, but at the same time the weight distribution and the order of unloading plays a major role. The crew is aided by a very impressive computer program but there are always issues with incorrect weights or dimensions.

Loading the ship is accomplished by the four large, deck-mounted cranes. There is also a fifth, smaller crane at the rear of the ship for hoisting supplies and the like on board.

On the docks, the stevedores brought the cargo alongside the ship from the long, low warehouses. The crane operators would lower the hooks over the cargo and the stevedores would attach the appropriate straps, chains, hooks, etc.

The work is physically demanding and potentially dangerous. All of the equipment is oversized and heavy. I noticed that a lot of the stevedores walked with pronounced limps.

The crews worked late into the night to finish loading and when I walked back out on the Pilot Deck on Sunday morning everything was secured for departure. It was quite a contrast to the days before with the docks practically deserted.

Departure

A little after 08:00 on Sunday we were towed away from the dock by single tug. Once clear the tug pulled us around so that we were facing towards the open sea.

We then sailed from Jurong around the southern tip of Singapore, past Sentosa Island and eastward before heading north towards the Gulf of Thailand.

It was interesting for me to see Singapore from that perspective. It was also very interesting to see the huge amount of ship traffic in those waters. Everything from huge container ships to oil tankers to small cargo vessels were visible. I can't begin to imagine the effort needed to coordinate all the movements.

Once we were safely out of the more congested shipping channel, a small boat came alongside to pick up the pilot who had been on board. In most ports a local pilot is required to help guide the ship in and out. Getting off the moving ship is a precise exercise. A ladder is lowered over the side and the pilot climbs down to the waiting boat. We were in calm waters with beautiful weather; I can't imagine how tough that might be in more challenging conditions.

Shipboard Accommodations

As mentioned above, my cabin is spacious and comfortable. It's a double cabin but I'll have sole use of it during this trip.

It's outfitted with a small refrigerator, TV, DVD player, sofa and table, writing desk and chair, bed, closets, and a nicely sized WC with shower.

I have a single, unobstructed window that looks aft. All of the crew and passenger quarters are air conditioned. All in all very nice.

On the D-deck there is a small passenger lounge with a TV, a collection of books and some other items to help pass the time.

The other passengers and I take our meals in the Officers' Mess on the A-deck. Mealtimes are breakfast from 07:30 to 08:30, lunch is 12:00 to 13:00 and dinner is 17:30 to 18:30.

The food has been quite good and the other passengers tell me that the cook has been consistently excellent. I'm going to have to make sure I get some moderate exercise or at least pass on the additional servings.

The Bridge

As a general rule, passengers are allowed on the bridge at all times except when the ship is entering or leaving port, if there's a pilot on board, or in especially heavy weather.

The bridge of a modern ship is really something to behold. The ship is equipped with radar to indicate the presence of other nearby vessels. There is also an electronic chart with a trip computer that continually updates our position based on the GPS data.

All critical ship's functions can be monitored from this station. Engine RPM, ship's speed, ocean depth, wind speed, and so on are all readily visible to the bridge officers.

Other Stuff

It's only been a couple of days but so far I'm finding this mode of travel to be remarkably pleasant. The time scale is quite different from that of air travel; a flight from Singapore to Bangkok is only a few hours but we're taking almost two full days.

The ship is quieter than I expected. The engine noise is noticeable, but only in the background and there is a continual, slight vibration as we travel through the water. We haven't gotten away from the coastal waters yet, so I can't comment on how much we'll roll. So far it's been barely noticeable.

Christmas at sea
(written on 25 December)

A belated Merry Christmas to one and all! I apologize for not providing any earlier updates but I haven't had any opportunity to get to an internet café.

Early this morning, around 03:15 local time we departed from Laem Chabang in Thailand. According to the Captain, it is 36 hours of sailing, "pilot-to-pilot" so we expect to pull into Ho Chi Minh sometime on the afternoon of the 26th.

After Ho Chi Minh we'll be sailing to Hong Kong with a planned arrival on the 30th. It looks like we'll only have a short stay since we're scheduled to sail again on New Year's Day. I'm at least hoping to get some time on shore to see some of my friends and colleagues.

Today we will be celebrating Christmas with the crew at lunch. The Cook is preparing a special meal and I'm really looking forward to it.

Last Tuesday the local Thai agent took the four of us passengers into Bangkok for some sightseeing. We started at the Ancient City which is a sort of historical park arranged as Thailand in miniature. There are representative artifacts and replicas from each region so you get a bit of a feeling for the different artistic and architectural styles from the south to the north.

At first I thought it would be a bit kitschy, but it was actually very interesting. I think it helps that they have some genuine artifacts that were moved from their original location and reconstructed as well as some nicely done replicas of important buildings.

Afterwards we went to see the famous Reclining Buddha and then did a boat tour of some of the canals. For dinner we went to a hot pot restaurant where we met my friend, Ai. She graciously decided to join us and took charge of the ordering and preparation. Quite an excellent meal.

The agent then drove us back to our ship, stopping at a shopping center on the way so that we could buy a few personal items.

Christmas Eve was another busy day for the crew. There was a lot of cargo to unload in Laem Chabang, some of it quite heavy and bulky. I was able to watch most of the activity from the Pilot Deck and it was fun to see all of the specialized heavy lift equipment.

Once again I was struck by the sheer physicality of the work on deck and on shore. All of the equipment is oversized; it took five men to move a single lifting cable and I was informed by the Chief Engineer that the larger turnbuckles weigh in at 65 kg each.

At one point the Chief Officer and Chief Engineer were hoisted up by one of the cranes to the very top of a neighboring one. They secured the basket and then the Chief Engineer climbed out to conduct an inspection. I was told this morning by one of the other officers that this was a routine check that's done prior to certain heavy lifts.

On the way to Ho Chi Minh
(written on 26 December)

It's Friday the 26th and we're sailing towards Ho Chi Minh City. Our estimated arrival time is later this afternoon, but I'm not sure when we'll actually dock. According to the crew we sail upriver to the wharf.

Yesterday we celebrated Christmas with the officers and crew. It was a fun party. The Cook and mess staff did themselves proud with a lavish buffet. There were roast turkeys, smoked salmon, a roast pig, spring rolls, breads, and several different desserts.

We all gathered in the crew mess which had been decorated with some simple, homemade ornaments, including a Christmas tree that was purchased in Singapore.

Lunch began around 12:30 and it was followed by several hours of karaoke and music videos. It was a really great atmosphere and a lot of fun to just relax and drink beer.

Leaving Ho Chi Minh
(written on 28 December)

This morning about 05:00 we set off from Ho Chi Minh City. This was a delay from our planned departure of 15:00 yesterday, but it seems that the cargo operations took a bit longer than expected which caused us to miss the tide.

I was on the Pilot Deck for some of the trip down the Mekong River. A large number of ships travel this river each day and it's quite a sight to see such large vessels steaming past anchored groups of small fishing boats.

Shore erosion from the wakes of these large ships seems to be a significant problem, at least to my inexpert eye. Although we were proceeding rather slowly the wave from our bow was striking the shore with some force by the time the stern had passed.

The shore visit to Ho Chi Minh was a bit of a disappointment. I had hoped for a longer scheduled stay in port, but when we arrived on the evening of the 26th we were told that our planned departure was for 11:30 on the 27th.

The other passengers didn't have visas for Vietnam and they all decided that since it would cost USD75 it wasn't worth it. I already had my visa so I took the opportunity to try to find an internet cafe where I could update the blog.

The trip to the main street (I'm not really sure where we were in relation to the city center) was by motorbike along some horribly maintained roads. When I came back to the ship by taxi I got out a few hundred meters from the gate and walked as the taxi was behind some tour buses heading back to a cruise ship and they in turn were behind some large flatbed trailers carrying cargo to our dock.

Along the main street were numerous cafes, bars, coffee shops and restaurants. Some looked rather appealing and it would have been nice to enjoy a meal and some Vietnamese beer if we'd had more time. Instead I found the internet cafe and made my earlier, abbreviated update.

We're now heading towards our next stop in Hong Kong. We're scheduled to arrive on the 30th and depart on the 1st. I'm looking forward to being able to observe the harbor lights and the celebrations from the water.

One other observation on my trip so far is that I find I've more or less lost track of the day of the week. I only realized today was Sunday by checking the calendar on my computer. I think the reason is that the rhythm of the ship is dictated by the daily routine rather than the weekly cycle to which we're so accustomed. From the perspective of the crew members the only difference is whether or not the ship is in port or at sea; aside from that their tasks are dictated by the duty roster. As the 2nd Officer explained, at sea, every day for them is Monday, and on shore during their breaks, every day is Sunday.

Finally, an update!

2008-12-26T22:33:00.003+08:00

First of all, a very merry but belated Christmas to one and all! Apologies for the lack of blog posts, but my clever plan hasn't been working exactly as I'd hoped.

Tonight I'm in Ho Chi Minh City. We arrived a few hours ago and will be leaving again in the morning. The schedule has been very hectic and I haven't had the time to update the blog and catch up on email.

This update will be brief, but I will try to provide some additional updates when we reach Hong Kong next week.

I boarded the ship on the 19th in Singapore. We sailed on the morning of the 21st to Laem Chabang in Thailand. While we were there I had the chance to make a trip to Bangkok with the three other passengers - another American and two Germans.

We departed Thailand on the 24th bound for Ho Chi Minh. Yesterday we celebrated Christmas with the officers and crew. It was a lot of fun; the cook outdid himself and laid on an impressive buffet. Everyone had a great deal to eat and there was plenty of beer and karaoke afterwards.

Overall the trip has been great so far. The pace of travel is a bit different than what I'm used to, but I find it very relaxing. The food has been excellent and the peace and quiet lends itself to lots of reading.

The schedule has been changing almost daily; there are a number of reasons for that, but suffice to say that my original itinerary is no longer valid.

Our next stop is going to be Hong Kong. We should arrive on the 30th and sail again on the 1st. I'm looking forward to seeing some friends, but I'm worried it will be too short a visit. I've also been told that we'll be offshore in the anchorage and not tied to the dock, so it might be a bit more difficult to get to town.

For future updates, I recommend using the Rickmers website, www.rickmers.com

If you follow the links to the vessels you can then scroll down the page until you find the Rickmers Jakarta; clicking on that link takes you to the tracking page. The map on the lower lefthand corner will provide you with the most updated information.

Also, one of the other passengers, Dale Stenseth, has his own blog that he updates daily via a satellite link: http://dalestenseth.blogspot.com

I have some photos that I'll try to post next time I have some internet access. My cabin is quite comfortable; small, but nicely appointed.

It's been a fascinating experience so far being able to observe the activities in port and on the water. It's a reminder that so much of what we depend on for our modern life is dependent on a lot of people doing physically demanding jobs.

That's about all I have time for at the moment. Apologies again for being such a miserable correspondent, but I'll do my best to keep you updated and provide a more detailed report in the near future.

If I don't post anything beforehand, Happy New Year!

Pirate Updates and Schedule Changes

2008-12-18T18:32:00.002+08:00

This morning I received another form to sign from my booking agent, Hamish, in which I was to acknowledge that my trip would take me through some pirate-infested waters and the company would not be liable for any ill befalling me.

I suppose there is some element of risk to this whole venture, but I figure that statistics are on my side. Despite the increase in incidents around Somalia, it still only represents a small percentage of the ships that actually transit those waterways. Obviously I'm happy that more nations are taking a more serious approach to the problem, so all in all I figure that my risk is fairly modest since I won't be in those waters for a few months.

In other news, it looks like I'll be departing Singapore a little sooner than I expected. As I mentioned, the original schedule, at least as far as Singapore was concerned, had been pushed back a few days. The update I received from the company was that I would be departing on the 22nd.

This afternoon I confirmed with the local agent that the ship is berthing tomorrow morning, Friday here in Singapore, but instead of leaving on the 22nd as I had been told it is now scheduled to depart around 18:00 on Saturday.

This is good news since it looks like we'll be getting back to the original timeline I posted earlier. On the other hand it means I need to get everything done by tomorrow afternoon.

My plan is to go to the Jurong Port sometime around 15:00. I hope to get settled on board and then have the first half of Saturday to take care of any last minute issues.

According to the agent, departure formalities such as immigration and customs clearance need to be completed about two hours before the scheduled sailing.

Hard to believe I'm only about 48 hours from the start of the trip.

Basic Freighter Travel Information

2008-12-14T07:25:00.003+08:00

A few people have requested information on freighter travel in general and how I arranged my trip in particular.

Once I decided that I wanted to do this type of a trip I began searching on the internet for information. The first place I checked was The Internet Guide to Freighter Travel.

This was a good starting source for background information and links to other helpful sites. I then made a general query through FreighterTrips.com and received a response from Mr Hamish Jamieson of the Hawke's Bay Travel Centre & Freighter Travel (NZ)

Hamish was a great source of information and he patiently answered all of my questions.

As some of you may already know, most modern container ships spend very little time in port. Here in Singapore the turnaround time for even the largest container ships is measured in hours rather than days. Some passengers prefer these types of ships as they spend more time on the sea; I on the other hand was interested in the "heavy lift" ships that dealt more with project cargo and therefore usually spent a couple of days in each port.

Hamish's recommendation was the "Pearl String Voyages" offered by the MCC Rickmers line.

With all that information in hand it was just a matter of planning and scheduling, making the payments and getting the documents in order.

I hope the above is helpful. Please let me know if you have any specific questions.

One Week To Go - More Or Less

2008-12-14T07:14:00.002+08:00

The time is going quickly and I have about a week left before my trip commences. On Monday I'll check in again with the local port agent and get a confirmation on the ship's schedule. Right now we're looking at a departure date from Singapore of 22 December.

My preparations are pretty much completed. My landlord generously agreed to a two-month extension to my current lease. Originally it ran through the end of May, but we agreed to extend it through July to provide me a bit more time to get reorganized when I return in late April.

This weekend I've been making some last minute purchases and starting my packing. Fortunately I'm pretty well equipped from other trips.

The rest of the week will be occupied with all the mundane little tasks, like canceling my cable, getting cash for the trip, prepping my apartment, and probably one or two important things I've completely overlooked.

On a side note, I was suffering from a minor respiratory infection last week but the antibiotics have cleared that up nicely. The biggest inconvenience was the associated fatigue.

Ticket In Hand!

2008-12-04T05:56:00.002+08:00

I received my ticket this morning! The ship is scheduled to arrive in Singapore on the 19th of December and depart on the 22nd.

Hard to believe that's only about two weeks away. I actually think I'm pretty well set, but no doubt I'll realize I overlooked something critical at the last minute.

More later...

Some Amazing Technology

2008-12-02T20:10:00.002+08:00

We do live in amazing times. I was checking out some sites for tracking ships at sea and came across a few that might be of interst to those of you who have expressed an interest in following my trip.

Probably the one with the easiest interface is www.marinetraffic.com

For those of you who think this stuff is just really, really cool, you can zoom in to different ports and even track specific ships. You can register for free and then you can receive alerts on the movements of specific ships.

I'll be traveling on the Rickmers Jakarta (MMSI: 538001921); there are some other sites as well, so you can use that information to see which works best. I'm still playing around with some of the other sites and I'll report back if I find anything better.

As you'll notice, coverage around a lot of the Asian ports is a bit thin. Therefore you won't get any updates for the beginning and end of my trip. However, coverage around the major ports in the US and Europe is fairly good, so I'm hoping you'll be able to get more up to date information on my port calls.

Enjoy!

Equipment

2008-11-29T06:59:00.002+08:00

I bought a large Pelican case (model 1654) primarily for my camera gear and other breakables. It's quite impressive in its construction. Does anyone have any experience with this or similar cases?

I'll be experimenting with some different packing configurations, so any suggestions or recommendations are most welcome.

The case was fairly expensive but I decided to buy it since I want to make sure my camera gear (a lot more expensive!) is well protected. I'm going with over-engineered stuff as much as possible since I'll be traveling for about four months. Given the total cost of the trip I'd hate to have something fail for lack of a few dollars.

Major Tasks Out Of The Way

2008-11-29T06:54:00.002+08:00

This has been a productive week. I took care of my Vietnam visa on Thursday and picked it up Friday. Much easier than the China visa; just one guy taking applications and collecting the fees, making change from a big roll of bills in his pocket.

That was the last document I needed, so today I'll send the visa along with scans of some other documents to the shipping agent to complete my booking process. After that I just need to pack, organize my apartment and get ready for my departure next month.

China Visa and Insurance - Done

2008-11-24T18:36:00.002+08:00

I picked up my passport from the PRC embassy this morning. I have a double-entry visa for China. Later this week I'll take care of the Vietnam visa and then that's the last one.

I also purchased my travel insurance package today and was able to take advantage of a 15% discount. I should probably be keeping better track of all these lesser expenses as they are adding up. I mentioned earlier about the fee for the PRC visa of SGD 225 ($190 for the application + $35 for the rush service). The travel insurance will run about SGD 600 and I still need the Vietnam visa.

Visas, Vaccines and Schedule Changes

2008-11-21T19:31:00.003+08:00

It's been a while since my last update. I spent a few days in Taipei visiting with some old friends and playing tourist. It was a lot of fun; Taipei has really improved since my last visit about nine years ago and it was a great time seeing some old friends, visiting the sites and eating some wonderful food.

As for my trip, my preparations continue. This morning I applied for my PRC visa; I'll pick up my passport on Monday.

As an aside, the rates they charge for Americans at the embassy here in Singapore are scandalous. For the double-entry visa, Singaporeans pay SGD 35; other countries pay SGD 75, and Americans get to pay SGD 190!

I'm required to get a yellow fever vaccine for this trip. I arranged to get a shot here in Singapore back on the 3rd. I probably should have paid more attention to the side effects.

For those of you who might have to get a yellow fever vaccine you should realize that there is a fairly good possibility of feeling very bad about one week after the shot. I was in quite a bit of pain; it was as if I could feel every minor, nagging injury from my misspent youth. I suppose it's a preview of old age, and if that's the case I'm not looking forward to it.

Finally, I received an updated departure date for Singapore. It now looks like I'll be shipping out about three days later than the original schedule. I'm not sure how that impacts the rest of the timeline, but for now I'm assuming all the dates listed below are now pushed out an equivalent amount. For those of you playing at home, adjust your calendars accordingly.

Enough for the moment. I'll do my best to answer some of the more specific questions over the weekend. Thanks to everyone who wrote; it's really great to hear from so many old friends.

Regards,

George

Some Preparation Details

2008-11-08T20:47:00.002+08:00

Travel on a freighter is a bit different from travel on a cruise ship. On the one hand, my accommodations should be quite a bit larger than what you'd find on the average cruise ship; I'll try to post some updates from the company in the coming days.

One reason I selected this particular itinerary was because it would allow me a few days in most of the ports. Most large container ships these days spend less than 24 hours in port. The other year I was fortunate to get a tour of the Port of Singapore and it's really amazing to see how fast the ships are unloaded and reloaded; time is money.

For those longer stretches across the Pacific and the Atlantic I'm looking forward to spending some quiet days without email or a cell phone. If I get bored looking at the waves I'll be bringing some mind-improving books along to read.

Freighters are limited to no more than 12 passengers. This is due to maritime regulations; once there are more than 12 passengers then there are additional requirements like the need to have a doctor on board.

Part of my preparations was getting a doctor to sign off on a medical certificate promising that I was in reasonably good health. I also had to get a yellow fever vaccination and naturally I need some decent travel insurance.

Right now I'm almost done; I need to apply for the China and Vietnam visas and I'll take care of that later this month. I have to be within 30 days of sailing to buy the travel insurance, but that's a simple process.

I'll be buying a hard-sided Pelican case for my camera gear and some cold-weather gear to keep me warm and dry. If anyone has any suggestions or recommendations on things I should take, please let me know.

A Few Answers

2008-11-06T05:52:00.002+08:00

Wow! Great to hear from so many old friends. Thank you all for your response to my email. I'm looking forward to hearing from you during my trip and I promise to make regular postings.

One reason I set up this blog was to minimize a lot of duplicate email answers to common questions. Here are a few:

Working on the freighter: this is explicitly prohibited. I will be a passenger with my own cabin and my main concern will be meal times. I'll post some information on the ship in the near future.

Pirates: Thanks, yes, I'll watch out for them.

Reasons for doing this: There are several, but I suppose the most compelling was an opportunity to take a break from work and do something a little different and exciting. I've also had an interest in ocean navigation since reading the Patrick O'Brian stories; not quite wooden ships and a star to steer by, but still fascinating.

I also like the idea of experiencing travel as more of a journey. Not to sound too jaded, but international airports start to look alike after a while. There is a schedule, but the accuracy is measured more in days and weeks instead of hours and minutes.

Questions from schoolkids: Sure, I'd be happy to answer them, and feel free to use the blog and any updates in your classrooms.

Thanks again for your emails and support. I hope I can be a worthy correspondent.

The Itinerary

2008-11-05T10:54:00.007+08:00

Here is the current itinerary for my trip. Please note that this is subject to change, so the dates of arrival and departure might vary. I will update this list as more information becomes available.

Port	Arrival	Departure
Singapore	16-Dec-08	19-Dec-08
Laem Chabang, Thailand	21-Dec-08	23-Dec-08
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam	24-Dec-08	26-Dec-08
Shanghai, China	29-Dec-08	1-Jan-09
Dalian, China	2-Jan-09	4-Jan-09
Xingang, China	4-Jan-09	8-Jan-09
Shanghai, China	9-Jan-09	12-Jan-09
Masan, South Korea	13-Jan-09	16-Jan-09
Kobe, Japan	17-Jan-09	20-Jan-09
Yokohama, Japan	21-Jan-09	23-Jan-09
San Diego, CA	4-Feb-09	6-Feb-09
Houston, TX	17-Feb-09	22-Feb-09
New Orleans, LA	22-Feb-09	25-Feb-09
Philadelphia, PA	1-Mar-09	4-Mar-09
Antwerp, Belgium	13-Mar-09	17-Mar-09
Hamburg, Germany	18-Mar-09	20-Mar-09
Genoa, Italy	26-Mar-09	27-Mar-09
Suez, Egypt	31-Mar-09	31-Mar-09
Jebel Ali, UAE	7-Apr-09	9-Apr-09
Singapore	17-Apr-09

More to follow...

My Upcoming Trip

2008-11-04T08:17:00.000+08:00

Hi,
As some of you already know I am going to be taking an extended trip around the world by freighter. I realized that trying to keep everyone updated by email was going to be impossible, so I've set up this simple blog as a central clearinghouse on all things trip related.

I'll be updating everyone on my preparations, the sailing schedule, etc, in the next few weeks. Once I'm underway I'll plan to provide regular dispatches as time and circumstances permit.

If you have any questions, please let me know and I'll do my best to answer them.

All for the moment. More to come...