THURSDAY 30TH MARCH, 2006

Did the usual breaky, deck walk thing, and then spent most of the day reading. It is so easy to get into lazy mode when you have nothing to do and all day to do it.

We knew we would be at the Galveston Bay pilot station around 7pm, so we hurried our dinner and made sure we were up on the bridge when the pilots arrived. There were two pilots and they seemed to be real nice guys. Nothing seemed to be a problem to these guys, and they were really friendly to the crew and us. It was to be a six or seven hour trip through the bay and up the Delaware River to Camden/Philadelphia, and the Captain had told us that it was quite narrow and generally very busy. Sometimes you wonder how they see the different vessels that are approaching when it is pitch black, but I suppose if you do a job for long enough, some things come as second nature. Try as we may, neither Judy nor I spot another ship until it is almost right on us, but the pilot/s and crew have them sighted long before we can.

We stayed on the bridge until about 9.30pm, and then retreated to our cabin to try and ring Jayden and also to get a couple of hours sleep before we berthed at approximately 1 am. Judy was talking to Jayden when I noticed an SMS message had come through on the satellite phone, and when I retrieved it, it was from Stretton with very upsetting news concerning a friend/business colleague from Townsville who had been involved in a fatal aircraft accident near Archerfield Airport in Brisbane. What made it worse, if it possibly could be worse, was that Rowan had very close ties to the fellow (and his family), and had met him at our hangar at 5am that morning to make sure he was ok to fly to Brisbane. The fellow, John Sevina, was a very successful business man in Townsville, and owned and operated several chemist shops. He had purchased two of the Cessna aircraft we were using at the flight school from the previous owner of the school, and he was cross hiring these aircraft to us. About two months ago John had purchased a sports aircraft for his own use, and it was in this aircraft, that for reasons that are not known at this point in time, he perished when it crashed into a creek near the Archerfield Airport. We were really concerned for Rowan, as, in the company of the local Townsville Police; he was given the task of informing John’s wife and family of the tragedy. Both Judy and I considered this a big task for a 22y/o to have to undertake, but when we spoke to him a little while later, he had decided that as he had dispatched John that morning, and was the last person to see him alive, it was his moral duty to pass on the awful news to the family he knew so well.

It is times like this you really want to be there to support your children, but is also times like this when you realize that you probably did a pretty good job at raising them to adulthood, and giving them the right guidance to deal with the good and bad things that crop up in life. All in all, it would have been good to be able to be there with him on such a sad day. I have to add, once again his brothers, sister, and their respective partners rallied to the telephone and gave him tremendous support. Rachel Cooper, Rowans girlfriend of many years and who is in the last year of a double degree at Melbourne University, hopped on a plane and flew to his side immediately, so that in itself tells you how proud we are of her.

Back to Jayden. He is really enjoying Japan, and whilst there is some hint of home sickness, he will undoubtedly finish his twelve month contract before deciding on his next venture. His Malaysian girlfriend, Chrysann, will no doubt have some influence on what he does next, but time will tell, and in the mean time he said he will see and enjoy as much of Japan as he can.

We couldn’t sleep so spent the entire time until we berthed at 1.30am, looking out of the cabin windows watching what was transpiring outside. As soon as we were tied up along side the wharf, sleep took over for both of us.


FRIDAY 31ST MARCH, 2006

We woke up about 7.15am, and then headed for breakfast. I followed this with a trip to the pilot deck for a photograph session, taking shots of the berth, stevedores, surrounding buildings, ships, and generally anything and everything as far as the eye could see. It wasn’t until later that I was told that this entire area is a naval base, and under no circumstances was photography allowed.

The latest news from the officers was that we could go ashore whenever we liked, and that the ship would be changing berths from Camden, New Jersey, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, sometime Saturday. This sounded like a big move, but in fact all we were doing was crossing to the other side of the Delaware River, directly across from where we were now berthed.

We decided to head off and stay in a hotel until Sunday morning, when we would rejoin the ship at its new berth. After getting our passports, we walked to the main gate of the wharf and try and get a taxi. The guy on the gate knew who we were as soon as we fronted his desk, and obviously he had been given the list of people on the ship by the agent and rightly assumed that a male and female pair on a busy shipping wharf, with a suitcase in tow, had to be Douglas and Judith Kimber. We had to show our passports, and then when all was ok, he phoned for a taxi to take us across the river into Pennsylvania. The cab driver took us to Logan Square, an area we had identified on the few brochures we had onboard the ship, as the area we would like to stay in Philadelphia. The cabbie suggested the Four Seasons Hotel, or maybe the Embassy Suites Hotel, both of which were on Benjamin Franklin Parkway and right where we wanted to be. He dropped us off on a corner, and we walked up the Parkway to check out both of his suggestions. It didn’t seem as if there was much difference in either hotel from the outside, but in the end, the Four Seasons just looked like it might have better views from its rooms. Well we made the right choice, and managed to get a suite overlooking the Square, with magnificent views right up Benjamin Franklin Parkway, a boulevard designed on and very similar to, the Champs Élysées in Paris. It was superb, and just the tonic we needed to break the confines of the ship for a couple of days. To try and describe the customer service or the quality of the rooms would take far too long, suffice to say, we have stayed in many up market hotels before, but this ranks among the best any where. We found out later that this was recognized as the “bees knees’ of hotels in Philadelphia, and it was used by the Presidents, past and present, when they stayed in this city.

After getting settled into our suite, we decided on a city tour, and as we were on the main tourist route of the city, we only had to step across the road from our hotel to a stop of the “Philadelphia Trolley Works” bus. As this was one of those hop on-hop off style buses, we did about 2/3rd of the entire tour before getting off at ‘Penn’s Landing” along the Delaware River. We walked around for about half an hour, looking at the battleship, USS Olympia, the oldest steel warship afloat, and the USS Becuna, a Balao Class submarine, launched in January 1944. From here we walked to the Independence Visitors Centre, which is located adjacent to the Liberty Bell Pavilion and the Independence Hall. Now if all of you have studied up on your American history, none of these names need explanation, and by the crowds we struck, everybody in the states knows all about the area and its origins. Actually we did a detour on the way here, and stopped at “The Bourse”, a covered food market that is famous in this city. Both Judy and I had a famous “Philly Cheesesteak”, a roll filled with sliced steak, and covered with melted cheese. Now if any of you intend visiting Philadelphia, don’t miss one of these delicacies, you will not be disappointed with the taste, and like me you will wish they were available in OZ.

We managed to get into the Liberty Bell exhibition, but not before going through a most stringent security check, much similar to an airport, but everything had to be scanned, all pockets empty, and belts off. They sure are paranoid about the bell, and I guess rightly so, it is there symbol of independence and means so much to the general citizens. It was much smaller than we imagined, but big on sentiment. We had to book to go to the Independence Hall, and could not get in until 4.30pm tomorrow as it was so popular.

The day was getting on, so we caught the bus back to our hotel for a rest, I mean it is hard being a tourist, and you need to conserve as much energy as possible. Around 7pm we headed out to “TGI Friday’s” for dinner, and like all of these types of restaurants, the food was delicious and much more than either of us could eat. Dinner finished we went back to the “Four Seasons”, and with the TV (cable with 75 channels), it didn’t take long before we were both sound asleep.


SATURDAY 1ST APRIL, 2006

Awoke to a magnificent blue sky and the promise of a great day sightseeing. Our first stop was to the “Franklin Institute of Science”, a short walk from the hotel. As we expected, it was already full of people, and it seemed that they were all heading for the same exhibition that we were. An exhibition named “Body Works” was happening at the institute, and this was publicized in the local newspaper yesterday. It had great raves and was obviously going to be very popular with all ages, and as soon as we entered, the crowds told us that the raves were well noted.

The exhibition consisted of about 200 human bodies presented by means of a new process called ‘Plasticization” where by the complete cadaver was presented exactly as it was at death. That is to say, they had dissected, bisected, cut, shaped, removed, replaced, adjusted etc etc, every part of the entire body on display to suit each particular study. There were bodies devoid of all organs, skin and muscle, but just displaying the veins and arteries. There were bodies devoid of skin, but showing the entire skeletal and muscle systems. There were bodies presented in two halves, one half intact as we would see any person that was alive, but the other half, of just bones, organs and muscle. It was absolutely fascinating, and completely natural, and at no stage did it seem macabre or sadistic. This process was new and it enabled medical students and practitioners to study a body as if it was alive and complete. All of the bodies had been donated to science, and judging by the acceptance of the crowd, it was extremely well presented and informative. It will come to a town near you, and I suggest you go and have a look, even if it is just to see how Jon Taylor got his new hip, or how my liver is suffering from too many years of celebration.

We then visited the Cathedral of Sts Peter and Paul, a very grand church that was stunning both inside and out. There was aside to this visit in that we both wanted to spend a few minutes thinking of John Savina and his family in Townsville. John was a staunch supporter of the Roman Catholic Church in Townsville, so to us there was only one place we could go and honor his memory when we were so far away from OZ.

After this we walked to Reading Terminal and Market, via the “Philadelphia City Hall”. This beautiful building, of French period architecture, is complete with a 27 ton, 38 foot high statue of William Penn on the centre spire. After the city hall we passed the Pennsylvania Convention Centre, and timed it just right to see a drum and marching band complete an outdoor performance. The Reading Market is a well established food market in Philly, so famous it featured on…………”OPRAH”. This place was an eye opener in itself, and you could buy just about any food you wanted to either takeaway or eat in. The Ribs and Macaroni combo got me, and Judy went for another Philly Cheesesteak.

We went to the pre-booked Independence Hall tour, and it blew both of us away to see and hear how patriotic the people were towards this part of their history. Children as young as 7 or 8 were right up with the whole story, and were able to identify the famous forbearers of their society who were displayed in various paintings hanging on the walls. It was a real lesson to us, and one which we cannot ever associate with directly. We might be proud Aussies, but we have never suffered the adversity effects of civil war, and to listen to the American history and the way they have progressed from it is an awesome tale. Don’t get me wrong, all things American aren’t for us in OZ, but a lesson in patriotism might not go astray for all of us.

It was late in the afternoon when we left the Independence Hall area, so we decided to catch the Trolley bus back to our hotel for a rest before venturing out again in the evening. At 7.30pm we caught a taxi to the Liberty Light Show, a walking tour around the area of the Independence Hall area. Every person on the tour was given a head set that was tuned into a light and sound show at each of the areas we walked to. It was spectacular and well worth the money and effort. Even we got that patriotic feeling just being involved in the tour. In each location laser projectors were set to display images of times gone by onto the facades of buildings. The realism was almost beyond belief, and one couldn’t help feeling completely involved in the struggles that took place between the Americans and the English during this difficult time in their history.

Once the show was over, we decided to hoof it back to our hotel. We had been told that this was a dangerous city, and the crime and murder rate was the highest in the entire country. There was no way that we could see that this was possible. Maybe in some of the suburban areas, out of the main centre, things were not all that safe, but with the way we had been made welcome and the friendliness shown us to date, a walk at night would not be a problem. Well we were proved right, and we never felt in the least bit threatened during our walk back to our hotel. A short stop at “McDonalds” got us a healthy dinner, and then the 2K walk after it spent all of the calories we had digested.

The big TV kept us entertained for a couple of hours, but eventually we dropped of into a “Philly” induced sleep. What a great place, and one we will visit again with a bit more time up our sleeves to take it all in.


SUNDAY 2ND APRIL, 2006

We had a room service breakfast, and not long after this we had a call from Goran, the Captain of our ship, to tell us exactly where the ship had moved to, and what time we would be departing Philly.

We had plenty of time as scheduled departure was not until 6pm, but I was pretty keen to get back to the ship and watch the loading of the five locomotives that we were to transport from here to china. We checked out, but not before a quick walk down the street to a food market to stock up on munchies to get us through to Europe.

The Taxi trip only took about 20 minutes, but whilst we could see the ship, our driver did not know how to access the wharf area. Luckily for us we had been given a detailed set of directions from the ships agent earlier in the morning on the phone. These proved to be invaluable, and when the cabbie deciphered the directions, we were dropped off at the main gate. After showing our passports, we had to walk about 1.5k to the ship, but that was no big deal after the walking we had been doing. As the whole area was a naval base, no pictures were allowed, but true to form I got plenty anyway. These small digital cameras are so discreet!

Once back on board, and yes we did get our usual welcome from the crew, we unpacked and headed for the pilot deck to observe the cargo loading. It was a real hoot, five locomotives, each weighing 135 and costing US$5 million. We watched the third and fourth being loaded from the pilot deck, and then we went down onto the wharf for the lifting of the last one. Once again, my little discreet digital camera came into play, and we managed to get a few good shots of the whole lifting operation.
The stevedores were not equipped to lash the locos in place as they did not have the right people. Our crew spent the next four hours blocking and lashing the cargo into position, unfairly really as they were not getting paid to do this work, and it was not their job. Word is that the Captain will put a case to the company in Hamburg, and see if he can get some extra dollars for these guys doing the job.

We departed the wharf at 10pm, and both Judy and I were on the bridge to watch the first part of our downstream journey. By 11pm we had had enough, and bed won for the day.


MONDAY 3RD APRIL, 2006

Had a real lazy day, no breaky just a sleep in followed by not much at all. Even dinner was a drag for us tonight, but little did I know how that would change.

As we were leaving the mess, one of the OS asked me if we would be joining the crew in their recreation room to celebrate the birthday of Arnuldo, another of the OS’s. We went to our cabin and I wrapped a biro and key chain with OZ motifs that we had brought along with us for just such an occasion. Judy decided that she would not be going down to the party, so off I went alone. I blew up a party balloon and wrote on it in texta for the birthday boy. You would think this was something special by the way they reacted when I carried it into the rec room, the laughter and clapping was terrific.

One thing led to another, one beer to another, one song to another, finally around midnight I called it quits and headed for bed.


TUESDAY 4TH APRIL, 2006

Just like yesterday, we didn’t fly out of the box, but we did make it down for breakfast.

The seas were getting rougher as we sailed away from the USA, so no doubt we were in for a few rugged days. We walked the deck after lunch, but it was quite cold and windy. The crew was doing the post port clean up; only difference was that this time they had many tonnes of the timber to dispose of. This was timber that had been used to either separate cargo for slinging, or to stack cargo on in the hold, and was now of no use. Three crew members were on top of the number 2 hold picking up the timber and tossing it into the sea. Another three crew were working on the main deck doing the same thing to stacks of timber located at the base of the superstructure. We decided to give them a hand, but when Judy picked up the first piece of timber to throw over the side, she nearly went with it when the strong winds got hold of it. Cured of all pretenses of aiding the crew in their work in such a short moment, we continued our cold deck walk.

Judy realized that some of the crew were trying to attract our attention by yelling and waving at us, and when we cottoned on to why, we spotted a large school of tuna jumping out of the water about 200 metres from the ship. It is amazing to see these things so close, but when you consider the size of the oceans we are traveling, these sights are quite rare and most days it seems the only thing out here is our ship.

We didn’t do much more for the day, but the books were getting a solid workout.


WEDNESDAY 5TH APRIL, 2006

Since leaving the USA, we have gone through three time zones, and we have added 3 hours to our clocks accordingly. This may not seem much, but with the rough seas and general lack of sleep, it was starting to play up on our body clocks. Added to this, we were doing a lot of early morning SMS’s and phone calls to OZ endeavoring to get things in order for the sale/settlement of the Woodside Beach Caravan Park. Sleep was avoiding us like the plague, and the sea sickness was trying it’s hardest to ad to our gloom.
Judy was doing it real hard, and working on the computer was a real drag for her, the sooner this sale is over the better.

We didn’t do much again today, the deck walk was cut short as at noon it was 6°C, and B****Y windy. The crew, as usual, didn’t get any relief from their chores due to the bad weather. Today they had the job of sorting and counting all of the lashing chains and hooks. Apparently the major portion of them were too rusty to be used any more, their strength now compromised by more than 10%, and as such they would be off loaded in Hamburg and replaced with new ones. As well as this task, we now had about 3000 nylon lifting slings, each about 6 metres long with a SWL of 5 tonnes, and they were lying in big bundles on the deck and needed sorting, rolling and stacking in lifting bags. What a job, and you could see the boys were not all that impressed to cop it. Like most jobs on the ship, the Bosun tends to alter their allocation around amongst the crew, so they might get a bad job today, and a better (or worse!) one tomorrow. The crew all work well together, and it is surprising how much can be achieved by so few when they all get going. As I have mentioned before, they are on the ship for 9 months, and it stands to reason that if they are busy, the minds don’t tend to drift back to their homes and families, accordingly, it appears to be good practice to keep the work up to them.

The rest of the day was spent reading and dozing; I just hope sleep comes easier tonight.


THURSDAY 6TH APRIL, 2006

We skipped going down for breaky again, and had some cereal and yoghurt in our cabin.

The phone went on and on again last night, and the seas were getting worse. I didn’t get to sleep until after 6am, and I was awake by 7.30am. It is going to be a long day for me, and by the look of Judy, seasickness is going to make it a long one for her as well.

Around 11.45am I went to the bridge and for the first time for a few days, there was another ship sharing our sea. As well as this ship, there were a few whales surfacing through the 3 metre swell. Just a brief look, but still a buzz when you see them.

We went for lunch and after we dined we tried a deck walk. It was quite rough and the decks were awash with sea water coming over the sides. It was real cold and windy, but we needed to get some fresh air, and the walk was doing us both some good and clearing the heads a bit. Well I got more than I bargained for when a large wave broke over the bow and I copped the lot. You would think sympathy would be forth coming from my darling wife, and maybe it was but I couldn’t tell from the laughter that was coming from her direction. ‘Oh well, it’s only water’ she said, still laughing, but I wasn’t seeing it that way, it was freezing cold and the fun had gone from the deck walk. The crew were still at the chain and sling jobs, and didn’t need (nor were they getting) our help, so we headed back into the warm dry cabin.

We didn’t do much more for the day, just the usual reading, movie and bed.


FRIDAY 7TH APRIL, 2006

The seas had got worse, and obviously any sufferers of sea sickness weren’t enjoying themselves as much as they should. Judy was hanging in, but doing it real hard now, and the work for the sale of the park together with the lack of sleep, and feeling unwell was going to make this a long day for her. Once again we skipped going down for breakfast and just looked after ourselves with what we had in the cabin. The telephone had been constant again last night, and the 13 hour time difference was causing us a fair degree of grief trying to get things organized.

Judy skipped lunch, but joined me for a deck walk mid afternoon. Revenge is sweet!

The decks were awash again, but it wasn’t quite as cold. The waves were crashing over the bow every so often, so both of us crouched down under the prow and watched the water come over our heads and flood the deck, it was a real hoot. After a while we tired of this spot and moved to the main fore deck area to see if I could get a picture of the water crashing over the bow. We both stood behind some of the winches, and it wasn’t long before we got the shot we wanted. I moved to head back along the side of the ship, but as I did I sensed that the ship was suddenly diving down into a large swell. I managed to spin into some cover under the forward mast, but the lady who found herself laughing at me yesterday was stranded in the open. It was a beauty, completely covering the fore deck and everything on it, Judy included. She was soaked, and it was my turn to laugh. No way was I holding back on this one, it was so sweet you would almost think it was scripted. Hahahahaha, that will teach her! We went back to our cabin and got dry and warm, and then it was back into the books.

Around 5pm we did our usual trip to the bridge to see where we were and if there was any other ships in our area. Checking the charts we saw that instead of sticking to the Great Circle Route, we were zig zaging all over the sea trying to avoid the swell that had now reached 4 metres, with some swells even larger than this. There was not another ship on the radar, so we had this part of the Atlantic to ourselves. We stood at the window of the bridge watching the waves crash over the ship, and boy were we glad we weren’t outside on the deck now. The sea was awesome and the water was surging over the ship. Judy couldn’t take too much more of the watching, the pitching and rolling of the ship was really exaggerated from the bridge, so now her eyes were also telling her she might be getting sicker. Jay, the 3rd Officer, who was relieving on the bridge, was really doing it hard. He was sicker than Judy but had no option than to work on. Imagine being really ill and having to do your duty staring straight ahead at a rolling sea, gee we felt sorry for him.

We went for dinner, and the word was that a few more of the crew were not all that flash, including the steward who was charged with serving our meals. Now if you felt sorry for the bloke on the bridge, how do you feel about a poor chap who is really struggling with sea sickness, and has to dish out and serve food? Poor bugger!

I mentioned a week or so ago, that since leaving Houston, Judy and I were now sitting at the Captains table for our meals. This is so much better if you are an inquisitive bugger like me. The Captain and Chief Engineer always have some discussion in regards to the ship or its management, and by listening in to this you get a much better appreciation of how the whole ship and the ship owners work. Another advantage of sitting at this table is in the meals. What the Captain wants, the Captain gets, and thus, we get all sorts of treats to savor. His latest is a wine (or 2 or 3 or….) with dinner, and we have noticed that the dinner sitting seems to be getting longer and longer. All good though, the discussion is quite entertaining.

I spent the rest of the night getting this blogger up to date, and finally joined my seasick wife in bed around 12.30am.


SATURDAY 8TH APRIL, 2006

We both had a reasonable night’s sleep, despite almost being thrown out of bed on many occasions. The ship was rolling and pitching quite well for most of the night, but it was 7am before either of us was awake enough to get out of bed. Despite losing another hour last night to time zone change, I woke feeling pretty good. Judy was still a bit lethargic and went back to sleep, so I just read until we both got up around 8.30am. Breakfast was in our cabin again, it’s becoming a bit of a habit now.

We lazed around for the morning, Judy reading and me on this blogger. Around noon we went to the bridge to see if we had company out here, and to check on our current position and expected arrival in Hamburg. The ships log book made for interesting reading, with reference to 4 metre and larger swells during the night, and the notation, “ship was pitching wildly at times”. No wonder we were getting tossed around in our beds.
Following lunch and a quick read, we headed down for a tour of the deck, and a chance for some cool (very) air. There was still a swell of about 2.5-3 metres, but it was nowhere near as bad as earlier this morning. The wind was howling though, and we retreated for the insides sooner than we thought we would have had too. On the way to our cabin, we asked the Steward for some milk and oranges for our cabin. Well this is not just an open the fridge and get things; we had to go down two decks to the freezer/cool rooms and raid them for what we needed. Ricardo wouldn’t let us just take 2 oranges and a litre of milk, no way! Next thing we know we are loaded with several oranges, milk, tubs of yoghurt, and a packet of chocolate biscuits. These guys love us, and nothing seems to be a problem to them if we need to ask for something.

On the way back upstairs, we ran into the 1st Officer, and he told us he thought it was incredibly rough last night, and he, like us, was tossed around all night in bed. Don’t let me paint the wrong picture here, it is rough but not unexpected, and once used to the movement you can get some sleep, all be it, disturbed. It is funny to feel your body going one way when you intended to go another, but when the big rolls come, you go where mother nature says, and if that means crashing into a wall, so be it!

To add to the above, on the way to dinner we went to the bridge to get the latest position of the ship as well as any other gossip that might be happening. The log book now showed “vessel rolling and pitching heavily, very rough sea and heavy swell”, and they got it spot on!

We dined with the now compulsory bottle of red, followed by some robust banter around the table concerning all things that matter in the world. We headed for our cabin about 7.30pm, but by the time we got up there, Judy was really feeling the malady that comes with voyages at sea in rough weather.

We will try a movie before bed, but I don’t think she will see it out before sleep beckons her. Bed is the best place to be when feeling like this, so they say, and looking at Judy now, she won’t argue with that prophecy.

SUNDAY 9TH APRIL, 2006

Well we had a shocker! The ship rolled all night, and we were continually getting up to stow something that had fallen or was moving and banging in a cupboard. At 1.30am, both Judy and I decided that sleep would not come, so we might just as well be reading a book as lying (or trying to lie!) in our beds. I think we were both awake well after 4am, but eventually we both got a bit of rest. It is hard to describe, but whilst you do nod off, the constant violent roll of the ship stirs you slightly awake, and you really don’t get a proper sleep. I can’t just blame the heavy seas, what with another change in time again last night, that good old body clock is really screwed up!

We got up around 8.45am and had breaky in our cabin again. Didn’t do much until lunch, but when the Captain arrived at the table, he told us that he too was wide awake at 4am, with the time change and rolling ship keeping him from sleeping as well. That does make us feel better, if a 30+ year veteran of the sea can’t sleep, we aren’t doing too badly.

No chance of a deck walk today, if we were to go outside, a very long swim would be a certainty. We just spent the arvo reading, and at 5.45pm we headed for the bridge before going down for dinner. At the bridge I checked the ships log for the last day, and the comments in each 4 hour block were much the same, “Vessel pitching and rolling heavily. Very rough sea and high long swell”. It looks good for later tonight or early tomorrow, the swell should drop as we get into the shadow of Ireland, and also shallower water. Let’s hope!

The funny thing about being captain of a vessel is that whatever you say, the crew does. This could not have been more evident than at about 6.15pm, while we were seated at the dinner table, a large swell made the vessel roll quite severely, almost causing the Captain to spill his beer. He was immediately up on his feet, then on the internal telephone to the bridge, and the conversation went like this, “Change course straight away and steer to 55°. Keep it at least until we have finished eating our dinner. Put the vessel in a better position to the swell”. It was a marvelous command, and certainly enabled all of us to eat and drink without having to chase things around the table.

After dinner we went to our cabin and watched a movie before retiring for a nap before the phone will surely start. Today is the settlement day of the Woodside Beach Caravan Park, and the kids have got to do a fair amount of work for us to get it all sorted. We will see who rings first.

I couldn’t sleep, so I got up and watched the “Three Stooges”, in black and white and probably made 40+ years ago. Funny back then, but that sort of slap stick humor doesn’t have the same effect it used to have on me way back then. I got sick of this so I started watching “Drum Line”, a movie that anyone who knows me would know I would love. I have seen it before, but I could never get sick of drums, could watch it over and over.

Well 1.45am was the first phone call, and it was Erin. She was due at the purchaser’s solicitor in 15 minutes to get our cheque, and the directions given her didn’t seem to be working. I gave her the solicitor’s phone number so she could ring them and find her way, and then I rang Adam at home and got him to ring Erin with directions direct from the street directory. Judy had now got out of bed, and she joined me watching the movie while we waited to see if all was well with the settlement

Next call was from Erin again, about 3am, and to say she had the cheque and was heading home. After this call we had to ring Briony at the caravan park to make sure all was well to pay the adjustments on the sale contract, and when we knew that was done, Judy and I had a couple of celebratory Cointreau's before finally heading to bed.




MONDAY 10TH APRIL, 2006

We started the day with a phone call from Stretton to say he had successfully passed his General Flying Proficiency Test, and that it had taken him 6.5 hours to achieve it. Now we have two pilots in the family, although Stretton can only fly in the training area until he passes his Private Pilots Licence. Knowing him in his impetuous way, that won’t take long.

Awake now, there was no way either of us would get much more sleep. We both had breaky in the cabin again, and then made a few calls to home to make sure all was well with banking etc. Judy went back to bed mid morning, so I went to the bridge for a look see, followed by a stroll around the deck. Well it was more a run, it was sooooooooooo cold; I couldn’t move quick enough to get back inside. We must be approaching England!

When I got back to the cabin, I tuned the TV into English channels, and spent the time until lunch watching soaps and variety shows. Judy woke up in time to dine, so off we went to the ness. We followed lunch with a deck walk, but this time we were rugged up to the max. It was still cold, but the sun was shining so it was a little better than this morning. As we were now in the English Channel, the ship traffic was increasing dramatically, and we both wondered what it was going to be like when we go between Dover and Calais tonight. This is where the channel between England and France is at its narrowest, and also where we would strike the most traffic.

We headed back to our cabin around 2.15pm, and I went to try and catch a few zzzzzzzzzz’s as I really needed a sleep after the last few nights. The steward came to clean the cabin and change the bed linen, but Judy told him to come back at 4pm as she knew I would be real cranky if I didn’t get some beauty sleep. Telling the steward to do anything is a job in itself, as whilst he is a really nice fellow, his command of English is very poor, and even the simplest of requests gets confused in the thought process of his mind. Anyway, I woke around 3.45pm, and when he arrived promptly at 4pm, it was good to go for him.

We had some reception on my mobile telephone, so we took the opportunity to download some of our company web pages to show the Captain and Chief Engineer. Both came to our cabin to have a look and discuss our businesses, and it wasn’t long before we had to stop and head down for dinner. Getting sick of eating, but what can you do!

After dinner we went straight to the bridge to get an update on our position, but by now we were surrounded by other vessels plying the channel. We stayed and had a chat with the Chief Officer for a while, then headed down to our cabin. There was work to be done on this blogger so it could be downloaded tomorrow. “We” meaning Judy, decided that I should get this done before we watched a movie, and then we were going to go back to the bridge to see the traffic we would have to negotiate through the narrow bit of the channel.

We headed back to the bridge about 10.15pm, and the sight that greeted us was incredible. We were in amongst about 20+ ships, and roughly 10 miles off the coast of France. Over the next hour we passed the lot, as we were now doing 22.5 knots. Now that is faster than you need to water ski! We stayed on the bridge until 12.30am, and by then we had passed between Dover and Calais, and left most of the other ships in the channel in our wake. You could clearly see the White Cliffs of Dover, even though it was dark. This bit of the journey will stay in our minds forever. In the past we have flown over the channel, sailed over it in a ferry, floated over it on a hovercraft, traveled under it on a train, but this is the first time we have been on it in a freighter ship!

We headed to bed about 1am, and sleep came easy tonight.