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
MSC Chitra has the best view of Mumbai
MSC Chitra
Once I told the pilot we're also doing compass adjusting he grumpily asked why I did not do it before I came, well, I replied, your port regulations require pilot onboard for any movements... Then he asked how long it was going to take, 2 hrs the adjusters said. Then he seemed happy he could mooch away a couple hours onboard so he called his controller and them the "bad" news. It took 5 minutes and the controller called my mobile telling me where to do my swing and to let the pilot step off immediately. Pilot told me to have a good day and so he left. I guess the Mumbai Pilot House might be a tad understaffed.
Sunrise on Indian Ocean
Anyway, so we got our compass swinging underway and soon enough I had an adjusted compass. The adjuster, Capt Aga, wrote out the card and his invoice and off he also went. Then I continued going back and forth on different rpm for the engine technician to get his readings and some 45min later he was also done and he packed his things and so we were clear to leave Mumbai waters behind us.
M/s River Pirncess in front of Candolim beach
After passing the Sunk Rock we approached the Prong Reef and we could still see the wreck of MSC Chitra stranded on it. She was now emptied of containers and was lying on her side as seen in the news. Nearby salvage cranes were anchored. I reckon the next step is to right her and tow her to whatever fate that is decided, most likely to the shipwreckers.
Once passed MSC Chitra we started getting in a swell from west but it was low and long so it did not do much for us. As the sun went down we left Mumbai behind us and headed for Goa. The speed was not very impressive as the seagrowth on our ship bottom brought it down to some 7.5 - 8kts.
Next day at sea was sunny and calm. The swell had come down some more and weather could not be better. In the early afternoon we arrived Angria Bank that is some 70' offshore and we planned to do a dive there. The only traffic we saw was a couple of fishing boats. After some time we were in the middle of the bank and we stopped for a dive. Once up we continued our voyage to Goa.
Old Aguada lighthouse
On the early morning of 14th we arrived Aguada Bay and passed the familiar landmarks like the grounded River Princess at Candolim Beach, the light house, the jail and the villa. Soon I was anchored at our old spot and I called my agent Kenneth Pereira. He arrived after 9am with the Immigration and Customs in tow. It was the usual signing papers and stamping them and around half past ten we were done. Apparently the living standards have become expensive in Goa as the officials were also asking for booze which they did not do the last time I was in Goa.
The Villa at Aguada
Well, here we were and we got busy starting to get Kalizma ready for the Owners but it was not easy as we were rolling quite a lot at the anchorage, especially when the tides were changing. Stuff would slide off the tables so we had to do minimal setup. Then the weather got worse and we were getting rain fronts rolling in from the Indian Ocean. It just reminded us that the rain season had not yet been declared over...
Feb started with works related to our commercial certification and then on 1st Feb Boss came for a short visit and he probably would have liked to stay longer but unfortunately the small boat curfew was still valid so there was no landing possibility after dark. Soon enough we got orders to sail for Goa on 3rd Feb.
River Princess wreck at Candolim Beach that has eroded the beach by several meters
The trip was uneventful, when we came closer to Goa we saw the anchorage full of cargo vessels waiting to load ore at Mormugao port. At night it looked like a small town in the horizon with all the decklights visible.
Kalizma in Goa
Once in Goa on the 4th we made our clearance, met Augustine, our Company contact in Goa and Kenneth Pereira, our Agent. Funny enough the officials did not want bottles and I soon discovered the state of Goa has cheaper liquor so they can buy it themselves compared to the officials in Maharashtra. Later on I also met with Govind Tiwari, GM for the local Kingfisher brewery in Ponda and we discussed some arrangements to cover for any possible eventuality.
Anyway, Goans favor their own local liquor, fenny, that is either made of coconut or cashew. Depending on the skill and equipment of the distiller it can be a pleasant drink or a one that feels like you are swallowing a cheese grater.
Following days went cleaning and polishing the ship up as well as getting stocked and decked out on flowers in anticipation of the Boss. He came 7th late PM and stayed until 8th. On the 9th we shifted in front of Baga beach and prepared jet skis with Augustine but eventually nobody came.
On the 10th crew continued routine maintenance and I went out with Richard to Panaji (capital of Goa) for some shopping and we had a terrific lunch at the Zest, there were not many customers and the service was impeccable and the food delicious.
Crew at Ponda spice garden
On 12th We visited the brewery in Ponda and also the Spice Garden close to it. Poor Raja Ram was elected to stay onboard and look after the ship.
Our spice guide
15th-16th Boss came again and we had party at anchorage. Our sailing plan to Mumbai was cancelled and left open. We carried on.
Richard in front of Ponda brewery
17th I was invited to attend Abroe’s sisters wedding in Goa. Abroe used to work as deckhand on Kalizma before but is now a part of the ground crew in Goa looking after Bosses boats and jet skis. We were me, Vivek, Raja Ram and Sunil that was attending from the ship.
The vows had already been exchanged and we arrived to the reception party. A band was playing old classics and people was dancing in the superheated hall, the atmosphere was really captivating. Due to the heat the canteen was ferrying out glass after glass of Kingfisher and RC. I know, I had a few.
After the dinner we all paid our respects to our hosts and gave them an envelope for the future and wished them long happiness together. It was time to get back to the ship.
On 18th I went with Richard and Martula to Anjuna Beach for some shopping (Wednesday is only day). The back of the beach is lined with millions of stalls selling stuff all over from India. One could see pashmina shawls from Kashmir, copy CD’s, hippie clothing, spices, coffee beans, silver ware, paintings, carpets and antiques among many things. Many vendors were addressing me in Russian as they seem to have taken a liking towards Goa and are nowadays a main tourist here. I just browsed on a lot of things and prices appeared inflated but in India you are expected to haggle for your purchase. Eventually I settled for a tin set of Hindu God figurines of their whole God pantheon (or the most of it) for a measly sum of 1000Rs. I’d say it was good deal. I got almost same set 200Rs cheaper in Mumbai’s Chor Bazaar two weeks later.
After our shopping spree we finally entered the beach and found our way to the “Loodhi Café”, it is perched on a cliff a bit up from the beach and gives you a good view. Best of all they got a live band. We managed to secure ourselves chairs at the bar as it was jam packed. At first there was a band playing blues and then they changed into rock, very good stuff. They called themselves “The Essence”, when the sun started to set the band was changed into another outfit whose leader was a Frenchman called “Paco” and he had a Rajastahani on tablas, a Keralaite on drums and an Israeli and Japanese on didgeridoos while Paco himself played an electric sitar. The group performed a most interesting fusion chill out music that really fitted into the atmosphere that was by now consisting of the sweet burning smell of charas. We just relied on Kingfisher and enjoyed the music and atmosphere, by 10pm it was time again to head back to the ship.
On 21st Boss arrived at 1am onboard and I was told of the Grandi Island cruise. We did the needful and made things happen. Luckily Saini joined us this day back from UK from his OOW studies, the extra pair of hands was very welcome.
22nd Boss left and gave me sailing instructions for Mumbai.
23rd was Martulas birthday and Richard arranged a farewell party for the ground crew and Martula. In the morning we went with Richard to Calingute in search of a birthday present for Martula and also to pick up her birthday cake. There was so much stuff available and e.g. the silver being sold I have no idea if it is fake or not. I all got stamps but it seemed fake, who knows, I did not buy anything. Finally we settled on a small “Happy Buddha” figurine. Once onboard we do up a small birthday card and prepare some beverages for the ground crew. We go ashore at 5.30pm and meet Augustine and we set up some tables and music. Unfortunately the Ashena crew couldn’t join us as they have guests onboard. We sit down and have a few and soon enough it is time to get Martula’s birthday party on a roll. We all load into cares and go off to the Flambee restaurant at Aguada. They already know us and we start ordering drinks and food. Martula is given presents, we all are having a ball. Once the dinner is eaten it is time to get out the cake, it tastes marvelous. After this we have some more music and dancing and closer to midnight we start heading back to the boat.
24th morning we say goodbye to Kenny, our agent and Augustine. I get paperwork done and we start heaving up anchors so off we go.
25th morning were approaching the hustle and bustle of Mumbai and we get our pilot on time at Middle Ground and sail straight into Victoria Docks where we tie up at berth #15.
Following days are hectic preparation for the pending surveyor visit from MCA. I will let you know about that next month.
Boss gave orders same day early morning that he wants to cruise Grandi Is. Next morning we scrambled up all agents and navy personnel as the area is controlled by navy. Sailing took us only a couple of hours and we anchored at SE tip of Grandi Is.
We were followed by Augustine and his small fleet of jetskis out of Sinquerim and I had to go around all approach channels and pilot stations so I approached the Grandi Is from the NW.
Grandi Island
Once securely anchored I jetskied around it with Abroe and saw all small beaches (3 of them) and tourists that abound at the only really worthwhile spot in Goa in respect of diving and snorkeling. I also checked out the Navy controlled Hansa beach at the mainland, a long desolate beach with nothing on it. Perfect for a BBQ. The only really good looking beach on Grandi Is is on the NW side where the jetty is. As the Navy has not been that active (it seems) the jetty has partly collapsed and there is no activity on the Island.
Orders were to arrange full dinner BBQ at Grandi Is jetty. Whole afternoon was spent ferrying stuff over and setting up tables, BBQ, cutlery, lights, candles and whatnot. Boss went for lunch at Gautam Singhanis yacht, the “Ashena” and came back at about sunset. The party was ongoing and at about 11pm a decision was made to move out to the beach. I was thinking of staying onboard and Boss asked “aren’t you coming?” so I just hopped onboard the tenderboat and off we went.
Sunset with m/y Ashena in front of us
Once we arrived the jetty we anchored the bigger tenderboat at the head of the jetty and used the smaller Kalizma tender (which is a RIB) to ferry people to the beach.
The highwater was close so the beach had almost receded totally under water. All chairs were pulled up to the extreme end of the beach, the slowly rolling waves kept wetting the guests feet, the barbecue was half in water, tables had to be righted once in awhile to prevent from falling over. The guests was loving it, the wine and drinks flowed and all were in high spirits.
While all was going well, my deckhand Dubey, who had been stationed on this Island during his Navy time, took me up on the Island slope, a concrete pathway leading up to the old barracks. We walked along the pathway in the light of a torch and I saw the old well that had been used, it was huge with about 5m diameter and maybe 10m deep. Now there was hardly any water on the bottom and big trees was growing out of it. We continued up the path and came to the old generator building, only the seat of the generator was evidence there now. All buildings that I saw had only the walls left, roofs had been removed or blown away. Dubey told me that when he was stationed here he would every morning get himself a tender coconut for breakfast in the groves that had been growing there.
At same beach there was also 2 other boats with some local people overnighting there and they had their own party ongoing at the remains of the partly collapsed jetty. After some time they also became curious of our party and approached us and was very excited of seeing our Boss. Eventually they wanted to join the party and Bosses bodyguard needed some serious persuading to do before the youngsters believed him. In the end Boss posed for a photo together with the guys.
Having done all this, the beach had receded quite a bit and was now getting a few meters of legroom to swing, but the clock was ticking and Boss decided to retire. All our guests were ferried back to the Bagpiper tender and left back to Kalizma. Crew started packing up stuff and we waited for the small tender to return.
We packed all our stuff and ferried it back to Kalizma and once all was onboard I sent Augustine with the bagpiper tender, our tender and the accompanying 3 jetskis back to Sinquerim. Our tender had to go as they were the only ones with a GPS chart plotter.
Following orders were to return to Sinquerim as well and that we did. I anchored off Aguada at 5am. All crew still awake went and threw themselves in for a few hours of shuteye, including me.
As we entered the garden on a footpath from the ticket booth we heard group of ladies walking in a circle, clapping their hands while singing local songs and as we passed under the entrance fragrant flowers was thrown on us and everyone got a “lei” around their neck.
Crew and Augustine at reception
After this we were seated at a table and we got some lemongrass tea and cashew nuts to snack on while our guide was assigned to us.
Once finished our snack it was time to get on the tour and we started walking after our guide, the spices were multiple, among many plants I can recall: bayleaves, lemongrass, vanilla, pepper, super hot chillies, nutmeg, banana (world’s tallest grass), cardamon, cloves, cocoa, turmeric (cheap mans , cashew, areca nut, coffee bean, curry leaves, garam masala (5 spices in one tree). While passing every herb or spice the guide was churning out ayurvedic remedies for various ailments the plant could be utilised for. E.g nutmeg is result for the large Indian population being a natural “viagra”…
Our spice guide
Cashew is a 2-part fruit that consists of the fruit and the nut, the nuts are the cashews that we eat roasted and the fruit is fermented into “ourak” and then distilled into “fenny”.
During the tour we also saw some camels and elephants that tourists could take rides on after the tour. As last number we were demonstrated how areca palms are harvested by climbing up the trunk with the aid of a sling around your ankles and then just swinging from tree to tree.
At the end of the tour we were poured ice cold herbal water down our necks to relax us or whatever, at least it was cooling. Then we were offered locally made cashew fenny and lunch. We tasted the fenny but declined the lunch as we had another engagement at the brewery. The fenny was quite a rough experience burning all the way down the throat and leaving a warm feeling in the bottom of your stomach.
We all left happy after the very educational experience.
Cheers gals and guys, been away for some time now but I'm back again, not with a vengeance but just back for a short while.
As some of you may know I had a boating accident recently involving my right hand and a rescue boat. We were at anchor in Male atoll in Maldives and we were tendering crew to a nearby Island called Bandos (should actually be renamed Bandits as they charged exorbitant prices and silly fees with no benefits).
After operation
Anyway, as it happened I was coming back onboard and the waves were kinda high (1m/3'), I went full throttle and planed the boat so I was jumping from wave crest to wave crest at the same time holding down on the bench with my right hand. As I was passing our ships stern I jumped another wave again and landed askew with the bow facing a few points starboard from my original course, this was enough to make my own dynamic energy to protest and try to maintain original course, as a result I tried to hold on but the boats seat were of glassfibre and the edge was very sharp so I could feel my fingers being cut.
I let go with the result that the boat went starboard, I went overboard. In the water I inspected my hand and saw 4 of my fingers bleeding, I flexed the hand and it seemed to work alright so I tried to swim onboard, the current was very strong and I could not make headway. Luckily my Able seamen, Ossi and Oskar, onboard saw what happened so they took another boat tied to our stern and came to fish me up as well as catch the strayed rescueboat that was now going in circles. I was by that time bleeding like a pig. Mental note: Next time wear the stop cord.
As we came onboard I went to take a shower in order to get the salt water off and then opened up ships medical chest and took out a suture set and some desinfectant. Went out in the sunshine and showed Oskar how to stitch by doing the 1st stitch myself, then he stitched my middle finger, after that I taped my three middle fingers together and thought that was that.
I had no more time to think abt my hand as we received guests onboard for the next 10 days and then I was due to some off time in Sri Lanka where I was at the same time to renew my Medical certificate that had expired. On the same day I was flying I removed the stitches & tape and thought that something might be wrong with my ringfinger as I could not flex the outermost joint. Did not worry too much and I spent 7days in Sri Lanka (which is another story) and returned onboard to go and see a local Doc in Male.
The Doctor confirmed my suspicions that the tendon in my ringfinger was severed and said that it should be operated asap because the end of the tendon is receding as the time goes by. I reported to Captain Nicolas and we decided to postpone any operations as recovery time is 6weeks plus and we were due to receive guests in a day or so. After having guests onboard and again had a week downtime (no guests) I flew to Goa, India as hospitals in Maldives were not recommended. Our Laundryman Nandush was from Goa, he had organized a meeting with a local surgeon on the day of my arrival the 1st of April. No joke.
I arrived India good and well and Nandush was to pick me up from the a/p in Goa and we drove to the capital of Goa, Panjim. We visited Nandush apt and his family and we started with some local beers for breakfast as we thought I would only have a meeting with the Doc today and operate tomorrow. At abt 10am we got our stuff together and piled into the car and drove off to see Doctor Oswald. He had his own clinic in a colonial era Portuguese house that is beautiful. I showed the finger and the case became very clear for Doctor Oswald and he told Nandush to take me immediately to hospital as I had only time until the 4th of April.
Once in the hospital it became apparent I was going to be operated immediately, I was whisked into a room after my body temp and weight was taken and then I had to wear the hospital gown and nurses came and went all the time, one giving me pills, the other inserting trip line another putting medicine in the trip and so on. At the same time I was running to the toilet pissing out the breakfast beer. Finally at abt 3pm I was trolleyed into the operating theatre.
In the theatre were 2 Doctors and they started with local anesthesia, long needles with big syringes were pushed into my armpit and under my collarbone, all very uncomfortable. One of the Doctors were asking if I can feel anything I replied "yes, yes, don't cut yet" (more drugs) and finally they relented and said they would put me to sleep, drugs were put into my trip and I was breathing into a oxygen mask, last thing I can recall is that my brain is saying I can't breathe and I'm trying breathing but I can't feel anything and I'm feeling distressed.
Next thing I know I'm being patted awake and my bed is moving out of the theatre into the ICU. My hand is or rather my finger is hurting from the operation, I'm all dizzy from all drugs and the anesthesia so I sleep again and again. Mika the 3rd Engineer who is also on vacation in Goa visits me for awhile but I'm not that coherent so he leaves after a few minutes. During the night my finger is hurting even more, I guess all the painkiller are wearing off so I ask for something, the nurse injects Tramadol that is a replacement for Morphine. When it courses into my veins I start to feel nauseous and feel like throwing up for a minute, then the drug kicks in and I can relax, the pain is reduced to a numbing sensation in the background. I think I would make a bad junkie, all that stuff with needles and nausea does not appeal at all. Anyway, a few days go by I am put into an ordinary room, I start eating solid food, I am fed pills etc. on the 3rd I am discharged from the hospital to stay the last night in a hotel to fly off to Male via Bombay. Quite a boring trip actually.
Once back onboard I am wearing the whole hand in a cast, on the 8th I visit the local clinic to remove the stitches, wound is not healed enough so I have to wait another 5-7days. Luckily I got the cast off so I'm more comfortable moving around and boy were the other fingers hurting from the one weeks immobility, not a thing I can recommend. Anyway, we received guests onboard again, I am but a one armed bandit helping out here and there as I can't use my right hand. On the 15th I take the stitches off myself, feels good to heal, I finished off all the meds the Doctor sent with me. On the 31st we finally disembark all guests and I also pack my things to fly home for some physical therapy as the finger is frozen in nearly 90deg angle and is not moving at all, except inwards.
Once in Thailand I visit the best hospital in the vicinity, Sanamjan in Nakhon Pathom abt 20 clicks from my house. I go to the P.T. ward and am started to be treated with ultrasound, a very painful sensation to experience, like being hit on the finger with a hammer somewhat like that. The after that paraffin bathing, I have to immerse my finger in a tub full of hot paraffin 10x for 5 rounds. Not so bad, quite hot. After this I am getting finger massage and stretching, the stretching part was so painful on the first day that I wanted to cry. It still hurts now after 2 weeks of treatment but is not that painful. My finger is now nearly straight, it still is slow I need constant exercise and stretching and I think it will never be the same but only time will tell...
