Singapore, Japan Bound, and Overdue

We are now back underway at sea after our brief stop in Singapore. It seems like the entire past few months have been spent at sea. As semi-adventurous as that may sound, it’s basically me staring out a window for 8 hours day. Can’t believe I get paid what I get paid to look out a window. 

The traffic going into Singapore wasn't as bad as I thought it'ld be. Or maybe it was but I've just gotten used to constantly zigging and zagging through it that it doesn't phase me anymore. The fishing boats were pretty heavy as usual and there must have been several hundred ships we passed. 

We were supposed to be in Singapore for 3 days, but it got cut short to just around 48 hours due to some political issues going on in the region which our ship might have to support some ships that that might get involved. I wanted to go to the zoo and have a tiger sit on my lap and ride an elephant, but wound up not having the time to do it. Because of the watch schedule, I spent most of my time on watch. The afternoon I did have off I rode the train a couple cities over and walked around a downtown area. I wound up sitting outside a Starbucks flirting with some local girls for a bit before having to head back to the ship. 

It might just be because we came from the run down shantiest town in the Philippines, but Singapore was exceptionally clean. In fact, I'd say its the most Western-like country I've been in since I started in December (5 and counting). For a minute, I actually thought I was in good 'ol 'Merica. That lasted until on my run I looked left instead of right and just about got laid out by a bus. They just had to go and drive on the wrong side of the rode here. 

The air there was pretty fresh, and like I mentioned earlier the city is so clean. They don't even sell chewing gum in the country so people can't spit it out on the streets. I'm pretty sure if you're caught littering, they'll cane you pretty damn quick. The cops here are for reals.  

And the women here! Oh boy, I must have fallen in love at least 7 times and almost got married twice. Staying here any longer than we did would have been dangerous. People of all descents, Asian, Australlian, Irish, English, Indian, a few Americans...they got them all here with every kind of mix possible. I can see why Singapore is home to so many ex-patriots (proper terminology? probably not)

So I had the afternoon off which I just kinda mosied around checking things out and then I had another night off. Which you know what that means...KARAOKE! You bet, we found a joint and went at it. I kinda broke a Karaoke machine in the Philippines after rocking the house on Livin' On Prayer. This time the Karaoke machine survived for another battle with destiny. 

So we pulled out the next afternoon and are now bound for Okinawa, Japan. We had a destroyer pull up alongside us and fueled them up a few days ago. I think we are giving them more fuel in a few more days before Okinawa. We'll be in Okinawa all of 12 hours before setting sail for Sasebo, Japan, a few days transit to the North. 

I'm hoping against hope that I'll get relieved in Sasebo. We'll be there for a few days but after that pretty much not in port until Guam and Hawaii at the end of June and then Washington. I'm 17 days over-due as it is right now. I have this sinking feeling that I'll be on until Hawaii (I've been there way too much). As much as it stinks to be overdue, I try to keep it positive. I'm already picking up 2 extra paychecks I wasn't planning on, and the overdue pay is compounding nicely. Plus, I'm now only 160 days sailing on my license from upgrading to 2nd Mate!

So thats about all I got for now. Its just been lots of staring out the window into a big empty ocean. I'm looking forward to getting off of here and back into the real world....where it'll be time to cut loose and party up!

Til next time,

Philippines , Overdu, Singapore

Well we made it to the Philippines in once piece. It was nice to walk on solid land again after spending the last month at sea. We were there for a vessel repair period where we had a bunch of contract workers come on board and fix a bunch of broken equipemnt and generally freshen up the ship.

The Philippines is known for being pretty cheap, and I'd have to agree with that after spending the last two weeks there. Beers were a buck everywhere, a 5 star meal at a restaurant would run about 20 bucks, and you could get the fanciest suite at a hotel for just under 75 bucks.

The streets are full of vendors selling fake Rolexes, bootleg DVDs, and fake Ray Ban sunglasses. Though everything is cheap here, you pretty much get what you paid for, the quality of even knock of brands leaves something to be desired. Needless to say, I didn't do much shopping here. I'd have to say the Philippines is the poorest country I've been to so far. I'd go on long runs and all I'd see was little shacks where people would live. 

I really didn't do anything crazy or exciting here. I meant to go to a zoo, but wound up forgetting about it. I plan on going to the one in Singapore there. You can bottle feed a full grown tiger while it sits on your lap. I think that would be pretty neat.

After two weeks of the Philippines, I was ready to get moving on again. 

Speaking of Singapore, we are en route to there now, expecting to pull in in a few days. I am 6 days overdue for relief with no relief in sight. As much as I'm hoping to get off in Singapore, I'm not counting on it. We are only going to be there a couple of days. I'm thinking it will be more like Okinawa at the beginning of June, maybe even Sasebo after that.

 As much as it irks me to be overdue, getting the extra paychecks makes things somewhat better. I've been car hunting for the last few weeks, and change my mind about every 5 minutes. I've gone from used Audis to sporty Mercedes convertibles. I think I've decided to go with a 2012 Audi A4 (though it might be a 2013 by the time I get off of here) with all the bells and whistles. I want something new and exactly the way I want it. And then go on a long, exciting road trip with it.

Singapore is the world's busiest shipping port, so its going to be pretty hectic getting in there. From what I've heard I can expect to be surrounding by a few hundred ships moving at various speeds sometime only a few hundred yards away from me. I'm slightly dreading it, but I know it'll be a good experience. I'll be glad when we are tied up at the dock.



What I'm going to do with my time off pretty much occupies 95% of my thoughts throughout the day. Its hard not think about it when you are so close.....yet so far.

So it's still business as usual. We got a new Captain on board, this makes the 4th Captain I've sailed under in the 5 months I've been on board. He seems pretty good so far, I have no real complaints. I'll post another update when we leave Singapore!

15 Days 'til I'm Outta Here....maybe

It's been a while since my last post, so I'll recap as best I can without getting long winded.

We have had a pretty busy last few weeks. We left Guam and headed West and South to the Phillipines. It took about 3 or 4 days to get to the Eastern side of the islands.

We then cut through the Phillipines to the Eastern side to the South China Sea to meet up with a couple Navy ships to give them some supplies and fuel. After that was over, we went South back through the Phillipines to the South Eastern side. There we met up with an MSC contract ship that exclusively works with special forces and delivered fuel and ammo to them.

The wind in this area is practically non-existent, making for areas where the water is smoother than glass. We are semi-close to the equator (going between 6-8 degrees latitude) so its pretty warm out. It gets so bright outside that between the flat calm waters and the bright sky, you can see so far its hard to see where the water ends and the sky begins.

One thing about the Phillipines is that the fisherman here are absolutely fearless...to the point of suicidal. They will come and stop dead in front of us at less than a mile just to keep us from running over some unseen fishing gear. We try to dodge the fishing gear as much as possible, but we can only do so much.

After we unrepped with the special forces ship we cut back through the Phillipines yet again and came out to the South-Eastern side and steamed for a few hundred miles. We wouund up a few hundred miles to the East of Singapore. Every time we made a cut through the Phillipines, we had to go through some narrow straits and post some guys on the bridge with rifles for a pirate watch....however, nothing excited ever happened and I didn't get to fight any pirates. Damn!

When we got to our point a few hundred miles East of Singapore yesterday, we met up with another AKE (the exact same type of ship I'm on..the Wally Schirra). We pulled up next to them and sent wires across and started transferring our ammo to them...which is a pretty good amount.

When we are done doing this, we will head back North East to Subic Bay, Phillipines...where we are slated to pull into on May 10th.

So thats what I've been up to lately. Its been pretty busy, I've been working 18 hour days pretty consistently. It's gonna be nice to pull into port after 22 day stretch at sea...the whole crew could use some nice R&R.

There is still no relief identified for my May 10th relief date. I won't be surprised if I'm on here at least until we pull into Singapore on the 18th or 19th of May....maybe even around the first week in June when we pull back into Singapore.  Though I could find out May 9th that someone is out to relieve me. My timing wasn't the greatest, the summer relief season is about to begin. But I'm at the point where I'm tired and need some vacation time.

Can't Stop, Won't Stop Gettin' It Done

I feel like the posts are starting to become repetive in their content and nature. I'll try to spice it up, but I make no gurantees for the fans.

We have been very busy here on board the Matthew Perry, I'd say its the busiest time period we've had since I've been with the crew. Since the last post, we left Sasebo headed South-South West to an area near Okinawa and pulled up next to a couple of small helo/aircraft carriers carrying air support for the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU). We gave them fuel, mail, food, toilet paper, engine parts, etc, etc. The Captain we have on board prefers to do ConReps via Vert Reps (meaning we connect the ships via wire and send supplies over the wire instead of using helicopters). We do this because it's quicker and more effecient than using helicopters and is also excellent training.

So we spent 2 days shuttling supplies to the Marines and a couple of Navy destroyers. After that we ran back into Sasebo for a couple of days to get more cargo and then headed back out, again on a South by Southwesterly course.

We met up with another destroyer the other day (I loose track of dates and days out here) and once again connected the wires and sent them fuel and palletized cargo. The only difference with this one versus the others we've been doing is what I did. I showed up a little groggy from my post-lunch nap expecting to take my usual place manning the throttles and supervising the helmsman. The Captain had other plans..he said "Mate, your driving today". After a few seconds of making sure my ears weren't playing tricks I  was like...ummm okay, hope this works.

So I took control of the ship and pulled up 100 feet off the side of this destroyer. From there I directed the cargo teams to hook up the wires and send across the fuel hoses. We ran along side them for a couple of hours...every minute of which I was saying a silent prayer that I don't pull the wrong move and sink both ships.  I think such a move would slightly blemish my career.

After the transfer was over, I initiated an emergency break away drill and we were on our way with out a hitch. The Capt. said I had a pretty good grasp on ship handling, so that wasn't too bad. It wasn't too much of a surprise, I know I'm pretty damn good at this job.

Other than the unreps, the transits were pretty typical. Lots of squid fishing boats and heavy shipping traffic. There were some areas where we'ld be chug a luggin along just fine and then the radar would just blow up with traffic...I think I saw smoke coming from it once or twice. At times the boats were so thick I thought we were seeing some uncharted land up ahead of us. But before I could pick a name out for these new found mystery islands to name after the great Mike,  the mass became little dots. I'd drop the radar scale down (basically ignoring the stuff 6-12 miles out and focus on conquering the 3-6 mile stuff) and pick a hole and go through. We never had any close calls but did have boats and a few ships coming within a 1/4 mile at times (we normally like maneuver so fishing boats stay at 1 mile and ships at 2 miles).

So we leave tomorrow after our 24 hour stay in Okinawa. We head to Guam. I'm excited for 4 traffic-less days of blue skies and a warm sun to navigate in. Though its just the calm before the storm. After that we head to the Philippines, where they not only have traffic like Japan, but I hear the fishing boats there are just straight lunatics at some of the stunts they pull. But I've got a slight curiosity and interest to want to getting to deal with it first hand.

So thats about all I got for now. When I'm not on watch, I'm usually working out, reading, or falling asleep on a movie I'll never finish. It's pretty routine life.

Til next time,

Running Supplies! Decision Time!

Since the last posting ,we have left Sasebo and come back.

We steamed South for two days to meet up with a couple of Navy ships carrying Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit. A couple were like mini aircraft carriers that carried 2 squads of Marine fighter planes, and 2-3 squads of Marine helicopters. We pulled up about 200 yards off the side of the ship (USS Essex and Tortuga) and they launched a helicopter. The helicopter would fly over and over about 10 feet above our flight deck where a crew member would hook a cargo net containing a several pallets of supplies to the helicopter. Then the helicopter would fly back to the ship, drop off the pallets and fly back to repeat. It took about 2 hours a ship and was very cool to watch.

Another thing we did was training with the Marines and Marine Special Forces in the MEU. When the supply transfer was done, we became a hostile enemy ship. The Marines had Harriers flying low and buzzing over our decks, and helicopters carrying them were launched. The choppers came and hovered over our deck while Marines fast-roped down onto it and quickly assaulted and took control of the ship.  Meanwhile, there were helicopters hovering off of our port and starboard side with Marine snipers aiming at anything moving on deck. It was all training...no actual or simulation ammo was fired.

It was all right out of a Marine recruiting video, and truly awesome to watch. Its amazing how professional and lighting fast those guys move and take control. Almost made me go and sign up for the Marines and get in on the fun.......almost.

That lasted 3 days. The Marine did a practice run the first day taking us over and then launched a for real run on us the second day.

After we were done with the MEU, we headed up North to meet up with a couple of more Navy boats. Here we pulled up right in between 2 of them. They were each about 150 feet off of our Port and Starboard sides. I believed they were destroyers of some time. We shot lines across to their deck and sent across fuel hoses and topped them off with fuel. We ran like that connected for a few hours. When that was done, they peeled off and we all went our own ways. It was another fun exercise and a good lesson on close quarter maneuvering.

So now we are back in Sasebo. We will be here for a few days before taking off to another Port in Japan, then Guam, and then I'm not sure what happens after that.

 The day before we left last time, a company I had submitted my resume to called me and offered me a job. The company is called Harvey Gulf Marine. They run Offshore Supply Vessels (OSVs) in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska. I would be sent to work on one of their brand new OSV's in Alaska under a contract for Shell that goes until October. After that, I would be moved to an OSV in the Gulf of Mexico.  I have a conference call here in a couple of days with the office to go over more details of the offer.

I could go on and on about the running list of pros and cons I have going. I love this current job, its been a blast but it would be way to long and boring. It boils down to I can't see myself styaing here and making a career....there would be no way to have a real personal life. Plus the money would be slightly better with a way better work schedule of 28 days on, 14 days off. From hearing from friends that are working for Harvey and similar companies, the job would be as equally rewarding and as fun as it is here.

As the offer stand right now, I believe I will take the job. I would probably be getting off here around May 10th in the Philippines and starting in June. In my gut it feels like the right decision, and I'm not sure if an opportunity like this will come along again. It will enable me to pick up some certifications that will really make me a prime candidate for companies that operate larger ships on a more global scale in the same industry.

Stretching the Sea Legs

Many plans have been made, thrown away, and made again...and then changed many more times since my last posting.

We pulled into Guam to load some pretty top secret and expensive cargo quickly. We pulled into Guam in the afternoon and were throwing off the mooring lines at 8 am sharp the next morning and made a course for Yokosuka, Japan with hopes of actually making it there before the Navy changed their minds once more.

The first couple days of the trip were filled with the standard glorious South Pacific weather which I made the most of basking out on deck reading books in my off time. Then we hit the Phillipine Sea where the waters turned from pristine blue to the more depressing grey of the seas that surround Japan and the rest of this region.

We hit some pretty lively weather, with winds reaching 65 knots in force (75 knots is a weak Cat 1 hurricane winds for perspective). The seas kicked up to about 20 feet on the bow and the ship was rolling and pitching nicely accordingly. On one of my night watches we were getting it pretty good, with the engines making speed for 15 kts and we were lucky to be making 8. The bow would rise up above a wave and then launch into the trough of the next, causing a deluge of water to come shooting over the decks and up to bridge windows. The whole house would shake violently until the bow would dig out of the water and start making her way up the wave. The whole thing was really quite impressive.

We finally got inland to Japan where we were somewhat better sheltered and we pulled into Yokosuka with calm weather and the front that caused the ruckus well to our East. We started cargo operations quickly and were pulling up the anchor the following morning for Sasebo. This time, we could take our time getting to Sasebo, and we made for about 10 kts of average speed.

It seemed like every time I came onto watch, a signal went out to all surrounding vessels to come and mess with the Perry. I was constantly battling traffic every watch. At one point we cut through a fishing fleet that must have consisted of a few hundred boats; it looked like land was ahead of us at times on the radar. It was a pretty good experience to have,though with a price of a hefty headache after each watch.

We pulled into Sasebo the other day. I don't know too much about our future schedule. We will be getting a new Capt here in a few days and then we are going to be running with a battle group of several ships while they conduct target practice somewhere of Japan. We will fuel them and give them ammo while they conduct operations. I think thats supposed to last most of March with us ducking into Sasebo every now and then for overnights.

Sometime in April we will be back in Guam, and then sometime in May we might be dumping our ammo and taking up food stores and supplies and doing runs to the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.  But all that is wildly scheduled to change. For now I'm enjoying this brief rest in Sasebo.

Made plans? Fahghettabout it!

Well we made it to Guam safely. It was by far my favorite ocean passage yet while on board. I had minimal to no traffic almost as soon as we cleared Japan. It was so nice to not have to deal with those damn little fishing boats and shipping that makes that region one of the busiest in the world. One thing I didn’t quite see coming when thinking about doing this route is how stressful it can be underway.  Having to maneuver through and around constant traffic for 8 hours a day can be pretty stressful. Thank goodness its broken into 4 hour segments. Though I’ll admit, it’s excellent practice for navigation, radar plotting, and ship handling.

We were in Guam for 5 nights and 4 days. We offloaded a whole bunch of old ordancince that will make its way back to the states via another ship. I didn’t have too much to do with the cargo offload. I tried to get off the ship as much as possible when I wasn’t on watch and enjoy the tropical climate to its fullest. I went on nice long runs and took some amazing naps on the beaches. I found one trail on a run that was kind of overgrown, like nobody had gone through it in years. So I ran down it and it opened up to a beautiful cove with a completely vacant beach. This is where I wish I could report that there was a scantily clad island girl beckoning me into the almost bath-water warm waters…..but it was just me, some lizards, hermit crabs, and a couple of harmless snakes. 

I only went off-base a few times,  mostly at night. The base itself is in immaculate condition and very well maintained….not so true for the city outside the base. It was just kinda run down and crowded. Though there were some nice beaches. I went off base to do some shopping and get a good steak. If we were there longer I would try to go over to the east side where I here its nicer.  We were on the Southwestern side.

So after a mild sunburn and newfound island energy, its was time to pull out. The ship that is taking our old stuff away and giving us fresh stuff was coming in. We were going to go up the North end of the island and do some practice ops with the local Navy Helicopter squadron and some special forces in the region, then go up North to the island of Saipan and anchor. We would come back into Guam a week later and pick up the ammo. The whole crew was looking forward to it.

However I came up for watch last night and the Capt and 2nd Mate (navigator) were busy talking about the sudden change of plans. We are now going to Yokosuka, Japan. We were routed there by the Fleet commanders to go pick up a submarine periscope and bring it back to Guam. We are going to pull into Yokosuka, spend about 2 hours loading this periscope, and then turn around and head back to Guam.  Like you couldn’t put it on a cargo plane bound for Guam? You have to re-route the entire ship? Its like going the distance from San Fransico to NYC and back for this periscope which measure about 20 feet long and 1.5 feet diameter. Oh well…a job’s a job. Though I’m not looking forward to dealing with that damn Japan traffic again so soon. I was just starting to get used to Guam!

So this whole ordeal has put a 5 day delay in our overall schedule, which had been planned out until the end of April. So after we get back to Guam, anything can happen. We are all hoping we’ll get an extended stay…but not about to put money on it.

So that’s that. We are certainly keeping busy over here. Its much better than sitting around Chinhae, Korea doing nothing like we did in January….which seems like ages ago.

Just Runin Around

It's been a while since the last update, but not too much has happened.  We made it Sasebo and hung out in the harbor at anchor for a couple of days. We moved a little bit of ammo ashore, but nothing significant. I was able to go ashore in Sasebo for the first time, but there really isn't anything significant there. I wound up just going for a couple of long runs through town and eating at the CPO club on base.

We left Sasebo and went North to Yokosuka and tossed out the anchor over there. We gave the Navy base there fresh missiles and what not while we got old stuff from them to make its way back to the states. We wound up having to leave early due to a major front coming through that was going to be putting up 40 knot winds, which would have most likely caused us to drag anchor. So we pulled up the hook and made a night departure for Okinawa.

It took 2.5 days to get to Okinawa, one of Japan's southern-most islands. The base here is GIGANTIC. Its not really one base, but a conglomerate of separte Airforc, Army,  Navy, and Marine Corps bases. Its a relatively tiny island and the bases take up quite a bit of real estate. I can see why the local yokals want them out. We were here to deliver a bunch of ordnance to the Marines stationed here. It was 2 full days of cargo ops. We also picked some of their old/used stuff that will make it back to the states for refurbishing or proper discarding. I didn't have too much to do with ammo ops.

We have a bus that runs us to the Airforce base about 20 mins away. I hopped on it for a ride over for lunch and to do some shopping and what not in the exchange. I have to say, of all the military personnel at the bases I've been going to, the Airforce seems to have the win when it comes the attractive ladies. I was pleasantly surprised, and used to opportunity to do some socializing over lunch. I plopped down across from an AF Capt named Ashley who was sitting alone eating and struck up a conversation.

What I was just figuring as an awkward lunch conversation turned into a pretty lengthy one and we wound up walking around base chatting it up for the next few hours. I have yet to meet a stranger anywhere I've been going! Anyways, she gave me her number to give her a call to go out sometime the nextime we pull into Okinawa. So that was day 1 off the ship.

Day two was a take it easy day for me. I've been on the midnight to 8am watches here so I have all day off. It consisted sleeping til lunch, then sleeping a little more after lunch.  After the post lunch slumber, I decided I had to take advantage of the gorgeous weather here. It's been in the mid to upper 60's and pretty sunny. I laced up the Nikes and went for a 3 hr run out into town just to see the sites. I got back in time for a quick shower and dinner, after which I fell asleep watching a movie and didn't wake up till 11:30 for watch. Boy it felt good!

So we leave Okinawa tomorrow, I partly wish we could spend a few more days here. But we are Guam bound next, and everyone on board is looking forward to that! We are dropping off all of our old and used ordnance that we've been picking up. That'll take about 3 days, then we pull out and another ammo ship comes in picks the old stuff off and drops of fresh stuff, and we go back into port and pick up the fresh stuff.

I don't know how long all that will take, all I know is that its quite a bit of cargo being moved, so it might be a while. After Guam I have no idea where we go. It'll be somewhere in the Japan/Korea area, but our schedule of specific ports changes about 5 times a day. The office just can't be happy with one schedule. Its driving the Capt. nuts.

Speaking of the Capt. In Sasebo we got a new one. The old Capts time was up so he rotated back home and this one came on. He's from the older generation of Capts here, and I think this is his last trip before he retires. He seems pretty good. Straightforward and easy going, I don't think I'll have a problem with him. I've gotten lucky with 2 good Capts, there are a good number of ones that are much much more difficult to get along with.

Thats about all I got for now. Til next time,

Goodbye Korea, Hello Japan!

Our time in Chinhae, Korea has come to an end, and most of the crew seems relieved. I think we are all getting antsy to get on the move again. Most of that was due to the lack of activities to do in port, it quickly led to restlesness.

We conducted sea trials a few days ago. It consisted of going out of the harbor and running on a course for a couple hours at varrying engine RPMs to break in the repaird engine. After that we ran back to Chinhae. However, the engineers decided to wait to do the test where we run the engine at 95% power until we were in the harbor. Needless to say, the Capt wasn't too happy when the Chief Eng. called up and requested that we do some turns and keep going on full power. I'm sure it made some others around us a little nervous when the saw us doing tight circles at 20 kts through a crowded anchorage.

We made it through the sea trials unscathed and the engine still in tact. After that we offloaded a whole bunch of ammo for the base here in Korea and picked up a few hundred tons of old or expended ammunitions. We'll offload the old and empty ammo in Guam to another ship that takes it stateside to be taken care of there. I volunteered to get down on deck and help out the 2 cargo mates (cargo mates have license like I do, but instead of navigating,they work cargo) so I could learn the ammo end of this ship. I didn't get any overtime, but I got some sign offs and certs that will look good for promotion to 2nd mate.

So we are on our way to Sasebo, just a quick overnight trip. We''ll be there for a little while and then off to runs on a few bases in Japan and then Guam. Thats as specific as I can be without giving away sensitive information about the ship.Hopefully while in Sasebo I'll meet up with a couple guys I went to college with who are Ensigns in the Navy on a ship stationed there.

Meanwhile, I've been hearing from friends that the Gulf work is having another hiring season and I've looked into a few companies. If I can make the same pay and comparable benefits here, and have a month on/month on schedule, or even a 3 mo on/ 3 mo off schedule there's not much keeping me here. But I'm just seeing if the fish are biting right now.

I've put in for a ship to ship transfer in April. I'm hoping to get one of the duty oiliers that stay in San Deigo or Hawaii. These ships stay there and once a week or so go out and fill up Navy ship with fuel. I'd do another 4 months on there, getting off in August, which was when I was thinking about getting off here (the Matthew Perry). There are a few benefits of getting to transfer. I'll be on a different class of ship and will get my Tankerman PIC (person-in charge, I run the show loading/discharging cargo), which will make me highly marketable for 2nd Mate/Cargo Mate promotion at MSC and also marketable outside of MSC. If the transfer doesn't go through and I can't get a stateside ship, I'll probably just stay here til August.  Oh, and being stateside, I'll make about twice as much dough as I am here. If you are in a US port and work between 5pm and 7am you get paid your overtime rate, something I only get when I work outside of watch here.

It seems like a long time, but time really flys by here. And when I get off, I'll be able to take around 3 months vacation (although only have of it will be paid). And, I'll only be a couple months short of upgrading to 2nd Mates, which I'll have no troubles getting on the following hitch.

Thats about all I got for now. Time to get back to it and do some work!

Chllin' In Chinhae

Wow, I didn't realize so much time has passed since I last updated. Thankfully, things haven't been too crazy so it shouldn't be hard to bring the world up to speed.

We are still docked in Chinhae. We have been having contractors come on board every day to fix the engine thats down. Along with the engineers keeping busy, there have been some contractors coming up to the bridge to test and inspect all of our GMDSS equipment. GMDSS is the system we use to send a recieve emergency calls to and from anywhere on the globe. However, we only have it set to the a particular grid area that we are operating in. Along with those inspectors we have had the Coast Guard here inspecting all the firefighting and lifesaving gear.

I still stand 8 straight hours of watch, and we still switch which watch we have every three days. I spend my time surfing the internet and looking at Camaros and reading. I've got my eyes on a particular 1969 beauty of a Camaro in Florida, hoping its still for sale when I get off in July. Though everything says don't blow that money on a car....I really really really want that car! Such a tough choice. I bounce between getting it and not about a hundred times a day. I'll probably get it.

We are set to do sea trials on the repaired engine on the 25th. This involves leaving at about 8am and going out on the ocean and running the engine at high RPM's, testing it astern, manuevering, etc. Basically braking it in and seeing if it holds together. We'll come back to the dock at around 4pm.

Then on the 30th we are scheduled to go back to Sasebo if the sea trials are successful. From there we have runs to Yokosuka, Okinawa, and a few other places in the works. I'm ready to leave, I've had enough of Chinhae and I'm hardly making any over time just sitting here. And not having any OT is not gonna pay for that Camaro. Plus, its gotten kinda boring. I can only surf the web for so long before going insane.

I haven't really been back out in Chinhae much since last time. Once or twice to grab a bite to eat when dinner just looks dreadful (really cook, fish heads?!). Beyond that, I'm just content to stay on board and work out and watch movies. I do go for runs on shore though. There just isn't much to do out in town except spend money. Hopefully some of the other ports are more interesting.  I'm really looking forward to Guam coming up sometime soon.

Thats about all I got. I'll do the next update after we leave Chinhae. I think it'll only take a day or so to get back to Sasebo.

Oh Hey. Chinhae!

Happy New Year! Another week or so has gone by and the adventure continues. We had an uneventful 2 day stay in Yokosuka and started for Chinhae, South Korea. Although we had a liberty boat in Yokosuka, I didn't go ashore. From hearing what little there was to do ashore, the spark for any motivation to mess around with the liberty boat just didn't fire and I stayed aboard.

The ride over to Chinhae went pretty smooth. We went through the South China Sea and Philippine Sea primarily. Most of the time it was as calm as the lake usually is, and sometimes even calmer. It took us about 50 hours to reach port. During that time I got the whole shebang of scenarios with heavy traffic. I had guys to overtake, people overtaking me, people crossing my bow, sliding between ships, and a few times of reduced visibility (<5 miles). If that wasn't a test of my skills, I don't know what is. For the most part, I like having to deal with traffic, it helps watch go by quicker.And I'm pretty much the best at it, so I got that going too.

So we pulled into Chinhae and now we sit. We are here for 4 weeks, mainly so the engineers can repair an engine and get it back online. So while in port, we (the other third mate and the 2nd mate) have divided the watch into 8 hour blocks and we each take one. Every 3 days we 'double back' and someone gets a 32 hour break. For instance, when we pulled in I was standing the 4pm-Midnight watch, we doubled back and I had an 8hr break and then went to the 8am-4pm watch. We doubled back again 2 days ago and I got an 8 hr break and then am now on the 12am-8am watch. I think the next time we double back is when I get my 32 hrs off.

I don't mind doubling back, its nice to get time off. But doing so every 3 days reeks havoc on any sorta sleep schedule (which is pretty much nil anyways), but I suppose I'm slowly getting used to it. There really isn't much for me to do on watch. I just hang out on the bridge and do general admin work. After I get off watch I usually pull a couple hours of overtime doing inspections of lifeboats and lifesaving equipment about the ship.

I have gone ashore here in Chinhae. We have a bus that takes us into town and drops us outside the gates to the base. I went and wondered about town and then went to base to the bar for some cheap drinks and a live band that was playing American cover songs. Though there were only about 10 of us in the bar, all from the ship, it wasn't too bad. The base is crazy small, so it wasn't a big surprise.

As I was getting ready to leave, one of the supply guys asked if I wanted to go into town and get some good Korean food...and of course I said sure. We took a cab to this place that was AMAZING. They brought us a whole bunch of marinated and spice pork and we had this mini-grill on the table where we cooked it ourselves. From there we put it in a lettuce leaf, put that whole thing in another green leaf, put some kind of sauce and sauteed onions on, rolled it all up and ate it. It was sooo good. I'm definitely going back. I have no idea what the place was called, but I the place had lighters with its name written in Korean on them, so I can just show a cabbie that for him to take me.

After that, we were just out walking about and I popped into a Mcdonald's to use the restroom. I caught some Korean girls eyes that were sitting at a booth and figured what the hell and stopped to chat with them. An hour later through choppy conversation and hand gestures I had some numbers and a date set up with a Korean hottie! I met up her today and she took me to another great Korean place to eat and she took me on a walking tour of the city showing me statues, parks, etc. It was pretty fun. I really need to invest in a Korean/English dictionary. Hopefully we'll meet again.

So that's pretty much all the excitement that I've been up to. We'll leave here towards the end of the month and go back to Sasebo and after that I have no idea. The only thing I know is that we should be going to and making runs around Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines around May-ish, though I haven't decided if I'm going to stay on for that long.

Thanks for reading!