SATURDAY 14TH JANUARY

After a big brekky, we left the ship and headed towards the main gate of our wharf area. It was our intent to catch a bus or taxi to take us to a shopping centre for ………wait for it……..a few last minute things! While walking to the gate, a really friendly guy in a BMW pulled us up and offered us a lift. He was from the company who employed the stevedores who were working on our ship, and he told us he had done his university education in Perth for 4 years. He dropped us off at the train station and we caught the next train to China Town. Singapore has the best transport system of all time. To get on a train where all of the carriages are open from end to end, and spotlessly clean and graffiti free, makes the traveler feel safe and is really an eye opener. Take note “the rest of the world”, they may have strict internal policy in respect to some things, but they also have civil compliance unlike any other country that we have traveled too. Respect for others, and for others property, is most prominent in this small country. Enough of the politics!

The trip was only for a few minutes, and soon we found ourselves right in the heart of China Town and ready to shop. Now that we had seen our cabin, we’d prepared a shopping list and only sought the things we now knew would make life a little more comfortable for the next 4 months. High priority was 2 foam mattresses to go atop the innerspring ones on our beds. We knew before coming here that the ship, whilst German owned, was made in China. Those of you who have traveled to China will know how hard their beds are, unyielding in the slightest. Those who intend traveling to China, TAKE NOTE! Condition yourself by sleeping on the floor boards for a week or two and you will be OK, or be prepared to purchase foam mattresses. Shopping completed, we caught a taxi back to the ship, and arrived in time for lunch.

We where informed that the ship should sail about 1am but it was actually 4.15am. Yes, for our first departure, we just had to stay up and watch all of the action, and we witnessed our ship sail out of Singapore.

SUNDAY 15TH JANUARY 2006

The sea is so smooth there is hardly any roll being felt at all, I guess this will change in time.

We have a little over 3 days sailing to reach Hong Kong, so it’s time to settle down to shipboard routine. The most important things to learn are,
· Who is who, and what is their task on board
· Where is everything and what does it do
· What are the routines we need to abide by
· Are there any specific instructions we need to know


We have a crew of 23, consisting of,

· MASTER- Henryk Nowicki
· CHIEF ENGINEER- Andrzej Kwiecinski
· SECOND ENGINEER- Roberto M Dela Cruz
· THIRD ENGINEER- Edwin C Calzita


· CHIEF OFFICER- Andrzej Los
· SECOND OFFICER- Eduardo C Bombase
· THIRD OFFICER- Ferdinand M Capalihan
· STEWARD- Fred C Marquez

All the rest of the crew will remain nameless at this stage, simply because we haven’t had the opportunity to meet them yet. In fact there will be a change over of crew in Hong Kong. About half leave including our Chief Officer and replacements will arrive. We will get to know them in due course.

A little about our ship, the “RICKMERS JAKARTA”. It is owned by the “Rickmers Shipping Company” of Hamburg, Germany, but is operated by the “COLUMBIAN Shipmanagement (Deutschland) GmbH. You guessed it, both from the same office in Hamburg and obviously for taxation purposes. The crew is all contracted, once again for taxation purposes. The size and characteristics of the ship can be sourced at www.rickmers.com, then click on the Rickmers Linnie icon to bring up the specific site. A search of all the menu items down the left hand side of the page will reveal our schedule, the fleet list with photographs of our vessel (and other sister ships), and passenger facilities. We are in the Owners Suite and a floor plan and interior photos are located under the “passengers” heading.

Had a real lazy day, just read and looked around our ocean and what appears as will be the norm, ate much too much food.


MONDAY 16TH JANUARY

Today the sea was just as yesterday, flat and serene

We had a guided tour of most of the vessel from the 3rd Officer. He took us through the accommodation section showing us the main places we can use, i.e.: Officers Dining Room (where we eat), Laundry, Crew Recreation Room, etc. as well as all of the places and things we may need to know in an emergency such as fire accesses, extinguishers and the like. This was followed by a tour of the Main Deck, also pointing out the safety features and appliances. He also told us what alarms would sound like, and how we should respond to each alarm.

You guessed it, it happened!

Joy of joys, we have the pleasure of having to do our first lifeboat drill. The alarm sounded at 5pm. We immediately grab our life jackets and safety helmets, and off we trot down to “A” deck to the assembly point. We have been assigned numbers 26 and 27 so that is where we line up for the next order. The chief officer is happy with everybody’s arrival, so we head up to “B” deck to the rear of the lifeboat. Now if you have viewed the photos on the Rickmers site you will notice that the main life boat is perched precariously at the rear of the ship at an angle of approximately 45°from horizontal. When you enter from its rear as both Judy and I had to do, it’s semi dark, full of diesel fumes as by now the engine is running, and the angle as you climb down feels like almost vertical. We find our designated seats (9 & 10) almost at the front of the boat, thus a B****Y long way down, turn around to face the rear and strap the 4 point harness on. Our tour guide then said “Are you happy with what you have to do, and do you wish to get out now?” lucky nobody was between us and the exit, we were out of there ASAP or quicker! Any way, we now know “the drill” and hope we don’t have to put it in to practice…..EVER!

Gave us something to talk about at dinner, and it was fun after the event.


TUESDAY 17TH JANUARY 2006

Just like the last 2 days, flat seas and sunny skies. Gee it is easy to get into relax mode.

The captain asked if we had seen the flying fish this morning, so the scene was set for the afternoon that’s for sure. Down to the bow we trundled, and perched ourselves right over the front of the ship in a raised platform. They arrived, and it was unbelievably special to watch. The birds (Boobies) arrived and soared effortless in the updraft from the front of the ship. Every now and then they would spy a flying fish and dart into their path and catch them in their beaks. It was a unique display of Mother Nature at her best. Birds so well equipped to find their prey, and fish to B****Y dumb to stay under the water.

We spent most of the day, that is, either side of looking at the flying fish, assisting one of our fellow passengers, Cam. He wanted to copy his 4000 photographs to DVD so as he could give copies to the 8 crew who will leave the ship in Hong Kong. Well we tried and tried, but all to no avail. We didn’t put the right program on before we left home, and with what we have, we can’t copy still photos to DVD’s. We will get the program in one of our next stops.

A great day was had and we really like the chance to relax and unwind.

WEDNESDAY 18TH JANUARY, 2006

The change in the ships movement woke us at 4am. Well that, and the sound of things banging around on desks and in cupboards. The serene sea has gone, and so has the sun.

We ventured to the bridge for a guided tour by the Captain. This is a place to spend a lot of time! The radars and GPS systems are awe inspiring. Couple this to all of the other switches and levers and a lot of fun could be had here. We were able to see all of the other vessels around us on the radar. Even those that were beyond our line of sight could be tracked and their destination, speed, direction of travel, size and type of vessel was instantly available. Gee it makes life so much easier when information is available and can be digested before an event takes place. Our captain was able to decide to alter his track to avoid any confrontational accident many many miles in advance.

By consulting the radar, we could accurately forecast that we would be at the Hong Kong Pilot Station at noon to pick up our pilot. Spot on! Unfortunately the weather had closed right in, and with low fog visibility was restricted to about 1000metres thus no real view of Hong Kong City. But the shipping lanes made up for it, and any description that I proffer would not do the sights justice, suffice to say, more ships and boats than we have ever seen, any where! The harbor/bay of Hong Kong was a veritable menagerie of craft scurrying in every possible direction in what appeared to be the same time. There were massive super sized container ships crossing the paths of the smallest boats imaginable. All of them were intent on carrying out there designated tasks with the utmost speed. We had no sooner anchored, around 1pm, than we had 4 massive barges equipped with huge derricks, tied up alongside our ship. It was literally minutes and stevedores were all over our decks untying and unbolting various pieces of cargo. Unloading continued until approximately 9pm, and then our crew went about securing everything before departure at 10pm. What a sight, by then the fog had lifted and the lights of the city made for a very pretty farewell to Hong Kong.

It was unfortunate not being able to disembark and have a look around the city, but time constraints together with very expensive boat transfers made it almost impossible. When we were told that we may go ashore, we only had a 2 hour window before we needed to be back aboard. This was simply impractical as the launch trip would have taken about 30 minutes either way, and at a cost of US$120.00, not worth it for an hour ashore, and if we were late back, the ship just won’t wait.