Diving British Loyalty

28^th We reconnoitered the Island of Mulikolhu and found a couple entrances to go through the coral reef with jetski and rescue boat. Having a secured entrance we returned to IE and prepared for a dive at the British Loyalty wreck.

British Loyalty part of railing and a Feather star

Exploring Addoo atoll

On 27^th we got a local guide onboard to reconnoiter the local Islands for possible beach parties and barbecues. The locally called “Bushy Island” up north proved very difficult to approach and so we settled on the Mulikolhu Island in the south of the atoll that had recently hosted one of the “Survivor” series seasons with Icey teaching the urbanites how to open coconuts and to catch fish.

Addoo beaches

Voyage Goa - Addoo atoll, Maldives

Upon signing on the Indian Empress on the 20^th I was put through the motions of the shipboard management system as stipulated by the ISM code. Familiarization, safety, security and so on was being explained by Chief Officer Tsvetan and 2^nd Officer Emil on separate occasions. Then Tsvetan went on vacation and was replaced by C/O Bruno on the same day.

Paco of Kundalini Airport

Merry Christmas & Happy and Prosperous New Year

I want to thank all readers for having the energy and interest of reading my posts yet again for another year. Recalling my school years I actually hated writing essays not because of the writing but because of the teacher who was always bitching about my bad grammar. Well, I suppose he was only doing his job and I was doing rebellion. As I recall my shortest essay was quarter of a page once. For this reason I got special tutoring and must say it was much nicer to sit with a young lady and discuss writing...

Remember the Elves are watching your every move, so be nice ;)

Captain's blog December 2010

This blog is the last as the Captain of Kalizma because I’m being transferred to the Owner’s bigger yacht, m/y Indian Empress, as Captain/ Chief Officer but I will be coming to check in on Kalizma at regular intervals.

m/y Indian Empress

Captain's Blog November 2010

The year is fast coming to an end and looking back at the month gone by I don't see too much being done but we've been at it every day, working to get Kalizma shipshape for Christmas and New Year.

m/y Kalizma

Chapora Fort

On the 24th I took Richard with me to go and check out the Chapora Fort, Chapora river and Vagator beach. Actually my target was Chapora river in terms of possible monsoon anchorage so, on top of Chapora Fort one can get the view of all.

Vagator beach

Dudhsagar Falls

14th we had decided to go and visit the Dudhsagar waterfalls near the border to Karnataka in Ponda. We started early and took about 2 hrs to reach Colem where we had to change vehicles. In Colem we rented a Mahindra jeep with driver that took 6 passengers, as we were 4 there was another 2 NRI's from London sharing the 2 remaining seats. The charge was 500Rs/ head. Soon enough we were on our way to the Falls and entered the Nature Park where Dudhsagar is located.

Huge rainforest tree on the way to the Falls

Aguada Fort

On the 1st after finishing off provisioning I went with Richard up the hill to see the Aguada Fort as I had been staring at it from the anchorage long enough now and also been jogging past it many times. The road up goes past the exit to the Aguada jail and continues upwards past the Catholic church up on the hill. After that comes an exit road to the Helipad and then one arrives the Aguada Fort. The access is free and opening hours are between 0900 - 1730 hrs. The Fort is protected by the Indian ancient monuments act.

M/y Kalizma in front of Miramar beach

Captain's blog October 2010

Were now still in Goa and it is good as we don't have to cope with all the pollution as in Mumbai. The good weather is still eluding us as occasional thunderstorms keeps pelting us with water but in general the weather is good. We're still rolling at the Aguada Bay anchorage as the swell is coming in from the Indian Ocean.

Having Gujarati thali

Diving Grandi Island

On the 31st Saini's old course mate from his Divemaster school invited us to join him on a dive with his Customers at Grandi Island, we only needed to bring our own gear and everything else was free. It did not take us long to make up our minds and the night before we had our gear set up standby.

Grouper at Suzy's wreck

Voyage Mumbai - Goa

So, we had everything done and were hurriedly putting the finishing touches on the forward wood work. I had scheduled compass adjusting and engine sensor calibration for departure and was waiting for the pilot. The Adjusters and Engine technician were onboard and soon enough I also got the pilot.

MSC Chitra

Diving Angria Bank

We had arrived Angria Bank, it is an area 20' long by 5' wide in a NW-SE direction rising up from the seafloor some 400m depths to 23m. As we were not familiar with the currents and the pilot book did not give much information we decided to dive in the middle of the bank so as not be swept off by some odd ocean currents.

Angria Bank

Captain's blog September 2010

September was rather hectic time for all of us. Apart from the Krishna Janmashtami & Ganesh Chaturthi festivals it has been ceaseless maintenance on Kalizma and all the UB boats.

Launching RIB I

Elephanta Island

On the 24th the Bosun of m/y Ashena, Mohsin, asked if I would like to visit the Island and I thanked yes as I had not gone there yet (as it often happens in many places, you stay a long time but you never see the sights thinking "Oh, I still got plenty of time to do that).

The train from jetty to shore

Ganesh Chaturthi ending

Was getting a bit tired of hearing all the "Ganpati Bappa Mouriya" shouting and experiencing all the traffic jams caused by the big Ganpati's erected on roads, but today was the last day of the festival when the Ganesh idol was taken from the house or the shrine and immersed in water.

Ganesh idol in a makeshift shrine

Ganesh Chaturthi

Ganesh temple at Mira road

Krishna Janmashtami

As I was out on errands and the end of the day was coming I kept seeing the Dahi Handi's (claypot filled with milkcurd) being rigged over streets, over parking lots and any large open area any sponsor had managed to come over. It was the day of Lord Krishna's birthday and this festival was called Krishna Janmasthami.

Pyramid starting and handi rigged up in the air

Captain's blog August 2010

So August has gone by and we have seen more rain that we would ever prefer. It has been raining hard, poured down with water, torrential rains, drizzled, rained moderately, rained vertically, horizontally and intermittently. Any description of rain that you may have, we have seen.

Sunset over Mumbai

Marinas in Mumbai

On 25th Aug I came across this article in Mumbai Mirror where they envisioned new Marinas in several areas near Mumbai, such as Gateway, Mandwa, Girgaum chowpatti, Worli seaface, Revas, Mandwa, Alibag, Elephanta and Belapur in 2-3 years. It is about time. They say only the investor is missing.

Fishermen cooped up for monsoon in Mandwa

Mumbai oil spill - epilogue

So the MSC Chitra is still sitting there on Prong Reef and waiting to be salved. By this time I understand Smit Lloyd has the contract for salving both cargo and vessel. I read the vessel will be a full write off, I hope she will be floated and towed off to ship breakers.

Leaving her where she is now could alter the marine climate severely. I was told by a local accredited reef surveyor I happened to meet that Prong Reef has wonderful corals there. I can only imagine what is the damage there now after all the heavy fuel oil that has leaked out.

Chitra can't blame it on Khalijia writes Mumbai Mirror but reading the article I can deem the Khalijia III came in on port side of MSC Chitra and was in error as the management claims. Also the Police argues correctly that action should have been take earlier to avoid the collision.

Pink color showing Khalijia III, red MSC Chitra

Mumbai oil spill

It was an ordinary day on August 9th when it was announced in the news that two cargo ships, MSC Chitra and Khalijia III had collided just in front of Mumbai harbor and that one of them was sinking. When MSC Chitra sank, or rather, was beached on Prong Reef, she started leaking out heavy fuel oil (HFO). Official estimates was that around 800 tons leaked out in Mumbai waters and about 500 containers had fallen into the sea.

MSC Chitra (picture courtesy of www.today24news.com)

Captain's blog July 2010

July has gone my vacation is over and I am back at work for a year or so to come. Well, those who are not famliar with the Mumbai weather I can tell you it is n the middle of the rain season and it rains a lot in Mumbai. It also winds a lot and at times we get over 1m waves here behind Elephanta when it really blows.

Torrential rain at Cuffe Parade

Shopping in Mumbai

So, we had arrived Mumbai and I checked into Hotel Elphinstone Annexe, est. 1946, an old colonial style building near the port on 149 P. D'Mello road. Not in the heart of Mumbai but close enough for comfort. The rooms were worn out but clean and had working hot water and A/C.

Our first day went in that we had lunch with Saini at the Balgi and then I took Jira to Crawford Market. From there she took the reins as it was shopping time. It was shoes. bags, clothes - the works. We even bought a light banderoll. Dinner we skipped and just rested at the hotel.

Dhobie Ghat laundry

Return to Mumbai

We woke up early and left Nagercoil for Trivandrum 3 hrs before the train was due to leave. We had our rally driver wannabe driving so we felt safe to reach on time (70 km trip). The traffic was light to begin with and we made good headway. I was still amazed with the amount of hospitals and schools in Tamil Nadu.

Loaded hay truck

Colachel Beach

This was our last day in Tamil Nadu and Richard had lined up a visit to Colachel beach and the Kali temple adjacent to it. Historically Colachel is famous for that the King of Travancore, Marthanda Varma, beat the crap out of the Dutch East India Company Naval Forces in 1741. At the Padmanabhapuram Palace I had seen paintings depicting the Dutch Admiral laying his arms at the feet of the King. I bet it was a great day to be King.

Students waiting for the morning bus

Thiruparappu Falls

After the aqueduct the driver took us deeper into the Tamil Nadu foothills through some very narrow and curvy roads with the gas pedal floored. I told Richard to ask the driver whether he had considered trying for a drivers job at Force India. I think we made record time and we arrived intact and parked at the Thiruparappu falls.

Thiruparappu Falls

Mathur Aqueduct

Next in the program was to visit the Mathur Aqueduct that is the longest and highest aqueduct in South Asia. Not that I think there are so many of them anywhere nowadays...

Richard and the aqueduct

Padmanabhapuram Palace

Next morning Richard picked us up again and on we went for the Padmanabhapuram Palace, the former capital of Kingdom of Travancore until it was moved to Thiruvanantapuram (Trivandrum). This palace is now in Tamil Nadu but is being administered by the Government of Kerala. The Palace entrance was lined with the usual sellers peddling everything from postcards to wooden carvings.

Stopped on the way to get some palm fruit, there was no wine

Kanyakumari

We had some breakfast and soon after Richard came to pick us up to go to Kaniyakumari (Cape Comorin). The day was already stiflingly hot and no inkling of rain was to be seen as up in north.

Richard & Jira outside Suchindram temple

Touristing in India

As I still had some days of vacation left to spend I asked Jira whether she would be interested in joining me to go down south India to Tamil Nadu and meet Richard who was on his annual leave also. She said yes and we spent a week getting her Indian visa made. Cost was abt 4000THB via a travel agent, at least it saved us the time and hassle to go up to Bangkok and in the end I think it would have been more expensive.

Maharashtra paddy fields

Captain's blog June 2010

Having been on vacation for most of the month there is not much to tell you this month. I flew back from Finland on the 8th I was Mumbai by the 9th to deal with the monsoon berth issue that had yet to be resolved.

Sunset over Mumbai 

Visiting waterfalls in Trang

I had been sitting at home or been doing errands when we then decided to go and see some waterfalls in Trang province for a change.

N. Toen  N. Min

Return to India

After the morning rituals it was time to stuff my luggage in the back of the car and head for the Helsinki-Vantaa airport. I was flying back to India with same Turkish airlines flight I had arrived with. Jari dropped me off at the terminal and we wished to see soon again and not 6 years later on as it had now happened. Well, only time will tell. 

Early morning in front of the Taj

Last dinner

This morning we had time with Mia to open up the attic of the old barn and explore the contents. Everything as covered in dust worth years. There was some really old stuff that some people would pay a fair amount of money to get their hands on. Just to mention there was some old hand blown glass bottles, one officially stamped 100+ year old potato measure, old furniture and so on...

Me in front of the old barn

Laitila

Next day all picked themselves up and spent the morning perusing the empty chicken farms that could house 100.000 free range chicks. There were many other outhouses as well used for various purposes not known to us but nevertheless Mia and Marko had their own plans already for them. Soon enough Niklas and Elina made their way towards Helsinki and Mom for Åbo. 

I was left as the only guest and Marko was driving me around his native town showing different highlights in this chicken growing community. In the morning I got dropped off at another chicken farmers estate where Mia was keeping her horse, Doli, and I got to follow Jessica, my niece, taking a Finnish horse for his daily exercise. Later on I also got to take him for a ride (or rather I was taken for a ride) too and boy was he feisty, he just wanted to go. After 10minutes I was already feeling sore in my thighs so I let him get further exercised by Jessica while Mia was exercising Doli at the end of a girdle.

Riding Simo

Laitila

Today was time for my sister to move to her estate in Laitila with 7 hectares of land. I was enlisted to the moving troupe. We left with my Mom and drove through Turku towards St.karins where my sister Mia lived. On the way we picked up my brother Niklas and his girlfriend Elina who were also chipping in the fun. We arrived soon enough and in the yard there was a big truck already, so all was set to go. Inside was Mia and her recalcitrant kids who had difficulties to understand which part of packing she meant. Nevertheless, the show went on the road and big and heavy items went out the window into the truck. Then smaller things followed and finally Jessica got her stuff packed and that was too loaded into the truck. Mias hubby Marko then loaded as the piece-the-resistance an engine, a grasscutting tractor and a moped and then the truck was full. Doors closed and off it went towards Laitila.

The happy new mistress of Sonkkila estate

Kustavi and Nousiainen

Next day came and me and Mom headed for Kustavi (Gustavs)  to see the summer house there, while Mom was doing shopping in the new Grocery store in the main village I wandered to the church and checked inside. Furthermore, the village had gotten itself an Alko store so there was no need to cook moonshine or drive to Taivassalo to buy booze. In the church there was still the same miniature ships sailing above the congregation heads, nobody was on the premises except a caretaker. 

Church ship

To Åbo

I was up again early morning and went take up the fish net, as it happened I got 3 fishes which I removed and cleaned up the net and then the fishes. Then it was time for breakfast and once finished my Mom drove up to the house to join us for a cup of coffee. After some chatting it was off to Tallberga for lunch and then we started for Åbo.

Uncle Bengt

Going to Nagu

Next morning went we got up and Bengt headed for the health station to get some of his old age problems tended to and once back we went for some shopping and bought the necessary ingredients to make my Thai dish for lunch. After shopping Bengt drove my around the shores of Helsinki and showed some places of interest. Lunch became so much we got a lunchbox saved for my aunt Elisabeth that was going to accompany us to Nagu. In the afternoon we packed us into my Bengt's SUV and off we went westwards. In Klippsta we picked up Elisabeth and we continued our journey. My aunt I hadn't also met in 12years but she looked the same as before except a few more wrinkles. She ate the lunchbox with gusto but I could see the jalapenos was making her mouth burn. The new motorway to Åbo was really smooth and soon enough we found ourselves in Pargas where we stopped to buy some food for the evening. Then the next stop was at the inter-Island ferry (along the now named "archipelagic ring road") and we made the short seavoyage across to Nagu.

Canada geese in Helsinki

In Munksnäs

Next day more or less the same, breakfast and so on. I found out my bro has a Wii game so I got to try out this gadget as well. I packed my stuff and started orientating myself to Munkkiniemi where my uncle Bengt lives. 

Helsingfors Domkyrka/ Helsingin Tuomiokirkko (church)

Getting Indian visa

Next morning went as usual and after the morning feed we went off on foot towards Katajanokka where the Indian embassy is located. I found that my phone with in built GPS and maps very helpful in orientating in Helsinki as I have never had to do that. Mostly having visited Helsinki with ships it was easiest to find the way around with taxi as is customary by sailors on evening leave. 

The Havis Amanda fountain

In Helsinki

Next morning I woke up to the noise from Olga and dishes being put out on the table. I met Minna and was offered some breakfast while chatting about this and that. After breakfast we went out for a walk to see the surroundings, the house is in an secluded area with a lot of forest and greenery around. Olga had just learned to pedal her bicycle without supports so she shot off like a rocket ahead of us while we walked and I admired the spring flowers emerging after the long winter. Although it according to the calendar it should have been full summer it was still quite chilly with something of 16 degrees in the air. The beginning of the summer can always be a bit iffy.

Next morning in front of the house

In Espoo

My friend Jari I have known back when we used to work in Bore Lines as deckhands both on Bore Queen. Some years later he worked as 1st Officer for me on Columbus Caravelle in Singapore and Malaysia. 

m/s Bore Queen

Vacation in Finland

Having seen the troubles in Bangkok I suggested that I will go to Finland to sort out my Indian visa and vacation. The office agreed to it and on a short notice I arranged tickets and guarantee letters to get my visa sorted out.

Captain's blog May 2010

So, May went at anchorage in front of Gateway to India. By the time of writing this the skies have cleared and the swell has started to roll in the port area. It seems the monsoon rains are imminent.

1st of May I completed two years employment onboard Kalizma. Wow, times run fast the older you get.

The noise of the IPL scandal has since then died down and nothing is being heard of Modi either - yesterdays news...

4th May I signed a years contract to continue on Kalizma as Captain as well as to assist in relief work on other yachts and maintaining the local fleet.

On the 7th I met Avnish and Eddy Powis Jr from Phuket at the Mumbai yacht club. We had a nice dinner at Aashim's flat. His daughters were entertaining us with Bollywood dancing.

The Mumbai yacht club

Cdr Dilip Donde arrives Mumbai

S/y Mhadei

Lawrence Watch Co

Lawrence watch Co

Vardenchi motorcycles

After having gone to our meeting at RINA offices with Mr. Mishra, Mr Devadas and Bob Pinto re: our commercial yacht certification for Kalizma. Bob asked if I would be interested to do a small detour before going back to Gateway. He promised it would make both me and Mishra to feel young again. I replied "why not" and off we went towards Jogeshwar.

Mumbai - New Delhi - Mumbai by train

As we were stationary and due to move into the docks for the rainseason I planned to go and visit Saini on his vacation in Hariyana during the weekend. I bought the train ticket easily as a foreigner but had to pay hard foreign currency, one way it became abt 1500 INR, not bad for a 16h train journey on 3rd tier A/C.

Mumbai train station