THURSDAY 19TH JANUARY 2006
We traveled all night towards Taipei, in Taiwan. It was quite bumpy, with fog etc. We ventured to the bridge again today, and spent about 45 minutes with the captain. He is a wealth of information, and I guess after 28 years at sea, he so rightly should be. We went for a walk around the deck for a bit of exercise, but it was a bit on the cold side, so Judy went back to the cabin pretty quickly. I did about 8 laps, somewhere around 3k’s I think. Nothing like around the lake at home, but throw in 4 sets of stairs and a 30-40 knot wind, and it did me the world of good. We picked up a new cook in Hong Kong, so dinner was different. Started with a lovely creamy chicken soup. This was followed with baked tuna, accompanied by boiled flavored rice and spinach. I enjoyed it, but I don’t think Judy rated it all that high. It doesn’t really matter if you don’t like one thing that is served; there is always salad, cheese, bread, fruit etc. on the table. You certainly won’t starve. Arriving in Taiwan, we couldn’t berth as the tide was out, so anchored off shore around 4am.
FRIDAY 20TH JANUARY 2006
The Pilot boarded at 11am to take us in to the Port of Taipei. This is a new port and construction was happening all around us. Some very funny antics by the head stevedore as we arrived along side our berth. No matter what, he wanted our pilot to move the ship about 10 meters forward of where we first touched the buffers. It was raining but about 10 stevedores were assembled on the dock, and almost all were gesturing to the bridge to move the ship forward, but the head man was doing a right song and dance. To see a little man stand side on to a massive ship, hold his arms out wide, and tell upstairs, “this is where I want the bridge to line up” (or from what I could interpret of his Taiwanese and gesticulations this what was he was saying!), was just hilarious. What made it funnier, we were the only ship at that dock, and too large for anyone else to fit there any way.
We were later told by the Rickmers Agent that we were pioneers. First Rickmers ship in that port, first passengers in that port, and largest ship to dock in that port. Makes you feel rather special.
Getting off was a comedy act in itself. Our captain said we should be able to go straight away. The agent then said 4pm, and then captain countered with 3pm. Oh no agent wins! It will be 5pm because that is when he can get us a driver. Stunk of the “jobs for the boys”, but didn’t really worry us too greatly. We did leave at 5.20pm, and headed for Taipei city, a good 1+ hours drive away. It was worth it, even being dark by the time we got there, it was a real treat. First stop was at the “Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall”, and spectacular would be an understatement. This was followed by the worlds tallest building, “Taipei 101” all 101 story’s of it. We went to the lookout at level 89, and the lifts, also a world record holder as fastest, took 37 seconds to travel the distance. The view, all-beit in the dark, was terrific. A bit of shopping followed, then off to the “Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall”, similarly quite spectacular. After this we drove past the “Presidents Office”, and this was an awesome sight all lit up and looking very grand. Then we headed back to the ship, arriving home at about 11.30pm. We had a great day.
SATURDAY 21ST JANUARY 2006
Cold and wet outside, but after working all night, the stevedores had every thing off by 9am. Our crew then tidied up and closed the hatches, tied down cranes, and we were ready to go. Departed dock at 10.50am, 10 minutes early. Once clear of the breakwater it got real SH***Y, and the roll really started. Pilot must have known what was coming because he disembarked before we cleared the breakwater. Guess he didn’t want to ride back in the swell that was running outside. About 2 hours out it really got rocking. Things were flying in all directions in our cabin. Judy was on the verge of sea sickness, but doing a valiant job fighting it off. I tried to catch and stow things in the cupboards and drawers when they hit the floor, but I was having a bit of trouble standing upright my self. Gee if I could have stopped laughing at my own antics, I am sure the task could have been done a lot quicker. Judy struggled through the sautéed cuttlefish for dinner (NOT! didn’t even stick her fork in it and went for the salad), and thought it was alright. After eating, we headed back to our cabin and both went to bed early (7.30pm). Well it was a battle; we now know why they have high timber sides on the beds. There is no way you can lie still, your body rolls from one side to another, and just when you get into a rhythm, mother nature throws a wave from another angle and the ship thumps up and down. It’s not scary, just bl**dy uncomfortable. We slowed down at around 9pm so as to anchor overnight adjacent to the Japanese island of Ishigaki Shima. Because we had been in Taiwan, politics between China and Taiwan come in to play. Chinese policy dictates that you are not allowed travel direct from Taiwan to China, thus we had to divert via Japanese territory. What a joke to have this sort of impost imposed on a ship that is delivering goods to both countries. We were anchored fast by 10pm, and sound asleep by 10.01pm.
SUNDAY 22ND JANUARY 2006
Awoke surrounded by at least a dozen other ships, and we were anchored approximately 2 ks of the shore line. Gee it seems ludicrous to see this amount of disruption to the ships voyages simply by political decisions. Some where along the line the cost of the diversions to Japanese territory must be recouped and it is not hard to see that anyone who ships goods via sea in this area will be burdened by this needless expense. Our ship alone costs US$1000.00 per hour to hire, add to that the costs of fuel, crew, and port and other charges, etc etc, what a waste of money. Having said this, the Japanese Government probably loves the whole idea. The immigration charges for our vessel and crew (passengers included) was around US$1500.00, plus transport charges for the immigration officer to come to the ship. For the sake of comparison, let’s call it a round US$2k per vessel. Multiply this by the dozen vessels that were anchored near by us over night and it soon adds up to a tidy sum.
The Immigration Officer boarded about 9am and disembarked about 9.10am. That’s what I call easy money. Our Captain told us that Immigration starts work at 8am. Well with 2 boats servicing all of the ships at anchor, it didn’t take long for them to do their paperwork. We were the second last ship to be visited, and our man was on his way back to port as soon as he left us. The other boat was aside the last ship as we weighed anchor. Not bad, probably all back in their office having a morning coffee by 9.30 am, and US$24k in the bank! It doesn’t stop there though, as we were departing, other ships were arriving to go through the same rigmarole.
Off and running towards Shanghai, and that good old rough sea is with us again.
We traveled all night towards Taipei, in Taiwan. It was quite bumpy, with fog etc. We ventured to the bridge again today, and spent about 45 minutes with the captain. He is a wealth of information, and I guess after 28 years at sea, he so rightly should be. We went for a walk around the deck for a bit of exercise, but it was a bit on the cold side, so Judy went back to the cabin pretty quickly. I did about 8 laps, somewhere around 3k’s I think. Nothing like around the lake at home, but throw in 4 sets of stairs and a 30-40 knot wind, and it did me the world of good. We picked up a new cook in Hong Kong, so dinner was different. Started with a lovely creamy chicken soup. This was followed with baked tuna, accompanied by boiled flavored rice and spinach. I enjoyed it, but I don’t think Judy rated it all that high. It doesn’t really matter if you don’t like one thing that is served; there is always salad, cheese, bread, fruit etc. on the table. You certainly won’t starve. Arriving in Taiwan, we couldn’t berth as the tide was out, so anchored off shore around 4am.
FRIDAY 20TH JANUARY 2006
The Pilot boarded at 11am to take us in to the Port of Taipei. This is a new port and construction was happening all around us. Some very funny antics by the head stevedore as we arrived along side our berth. No matter what, he wanted our pilot to move the ship about 10 meters forward of where we first touched the buffers. It was raining but about 10 stevedores were assembled on the dock, and almost all were gesturing to the bridge to move the ship forward, but the head man was doing a right song and dance. To see a little man stand side on to a massive ship, hold his arms out wide, and tell upstairs, “this is where I want the bridge to line up” (or from what I could interpret of his Taiwanese and gesticulations this what was he was saying!), was just hilarious. What made it funnier, we were the only ship at that dock, and too large for anyone else to fit there any way.
We were later told by the Rickmers Agent that we were pioneers. First Rickmers ship in that port, first passengers in that port, and largest ship to dock in that port. Makes you feel rather special.
Getting off was a comedy act in itself. Our captain said we should be able to go straight away. The agent then said 4pm, and then captain countered with 3pm. Oh no agent wins! It will be 5pm because that is when he can get us a driver. Stunk of the “jobs for the boys”, but didn’t really worry us too greatly. We did leave at 5.20pm, and headed for Taipei city, a good 1+ hours drive away. It was worth it, even being dark by the time we got there, it was a real treat. First stop was at the “Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall”, and spectacular would be an understatement. This was followed by the worlds tallest building, “Taipei 101” all 101 story’s of it. We went to the lookout at level 89, and the lifts, also a world record holder as fastest, took 37 seconds to travel the distance. The view, all-beit in the dark, was terrific. A bit of shopping followed, then off to the “Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall”, similarly quite spectacular. After this we drove past the “Presidents Office”, and this was an awesome sight all lit up and looking very grand. Then we headed back to the ship, arriving home at about 11.30pm. We had a great day.
SATURDAY 21ST JANUARY 2006
Cold and wet outside, but after working all night, the stevedores had every thing off by 9am. Our crew then tidied up and closed the hatches, tied down cranes, and we were ready to go. Departed dock at 10.50am, 10 minutes early. Once clear of the breakwater it got real SH***Y, and the roll really started. Pilot must have known what was coming because he disembarked before we cleared the breakwater. Guess he didn’t want to ride back in the swell that was running outside. About 2 hours out it really got rocking. Things were flying in all directions in our cabin. Judy was on the verge of sea sickness, but doing a valiant job fighting it off. I tried to catch and stow things in the cupboards and drawers when they hit the floor, but I was having a bit of trouble standing upright my self. Gee if I could have stopped laughing at my own antics, I am sure the task could have been done a lot quicker. Judy struggled through the sautéed cuttlefish for dinner (NOT! didn’t even stick her fork in it and went for the salad), and thought it was alright. After eating, we headed back to our cabin and both went to bed early (7.30pm). Well it was a battle; we now know why they have high timber sides on the beds. There is no way you can lie still, your body rolls from one side to another, and just when you get into a rhythm, mother nature throws a wave from another angle and the ship thumps up and down. It’s not scary, just bl**dy uncomfortable. We slowed down at around 9pm so as to anchor overnight adjacent to the Japanese island of Ishigaki Shima. Because we had been in Taiwan, politics between China and Taiwan come in to play. Chinese policy dictates that you are not allowed travel direct from Taiwan to China, thus we had to divert via Japanese territory. What a joke to have this sort of impost imposed on a ship that is delivering goods to both countries. We were anchored fast by 10pm, and sound asleep by 10.01pm.
SUNDAY 22ND JANUARY 2006
Awoke surrounded by at least a dozen other ships, and we were anchored approximately 2 ks of the shore line. Gee it seems ludicrous to see this amount of disruption to the ships voyages simply by political decisions. Some where along the line the cost of the diversions to Japanese territory must be recouped and it is not hard to see that anyone who ships goods via sea in this area will be burdened by this needless expense. Our ship alone costs US$1000.00 per hour to hire, add to that the costs of fuel, crew, and port and other charges, etc etc, what a waste of money. Having said this, the Japanese Government probably loves the whole idea. The immigration charges for our vessel and crew (passengers included) was around US$1500.00, plus transport charges for the immigration officer to come to the ship. For the sake of comparison, let’s call it a round US$2k per vessel. Multiply this by the dozen vessels that were anchored near by us over night and it soon adds up to a tidy sum.
The Immigration Officer boarded about 9am and disembarked about 9.10am. That’s what I call easy money. Our Captain told us that Immigration starts work at 8am. Well with 2 boats servicing all of the ships at anchor, it didn’t take long for them to do their paperwork. We were the second last ship to be visited, and our man was on his way back to port as soon as he left us. The other boat was aside the last ship as we weighed anchor. Not bad, probably all back in their office having a morning coffee by 9.30 am, and US$24k in the bank! It doesn’t stop there though, as we were departing, other ships were arriving to go through the same rigmarole.
Off and running towards Shanghai, and that good old rough sea is with us again.
posted by Shipmates on a world journey | 7:40 PM
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