Port Blair was a failed attempt to establish a settlement in 1789 and was largely forgotten until 1858 when a penal colony for convicts was established by the British Indian government.
Again we were packed up and ready to depart for India and on the 2nd Dec 2008 we cast off at highwater in Yacht Haven. We were waved off by Marina Manager Nick and Zara as well as our agent Toby and Nong. There were no weeping maidens with a broken heart though.
We arrived Galle roads at 7am 18th Dec and I contacted the Port control. Port Control instructed us to proceed in and a naval patrol boarded us to do inspection. Once clear the sergeant asked for whisky… oh well. We entered the harbor basin that was boomed off except a 10m gap at the breakwater that was guarded by armed sentries. We moored at the “New pier” (N of Gibbett Island), a decently fendered cargo pier but not really suitable for yachts. Everywhere was a military presence and small guys patrolled around with big assault rifles slung on their shoulders or carried in various fashion. The LTTE threat was taken seriously.
Once alongside I met our agent Salim Jadwett and his nephew Ashraf that was the “action man”. Well, we started tackling the publicans and first were the Custom officials, lists were filed and stamped then whisky was given for lubrication of the process. After Customs we had the Immigration, same thing there, after them it was the Coast Guards turn. Once all was clear it was already 2pm.
So we arrived Port Blair some time ago. I will tell you all about it soon enough. Anyways, 9th Dec was Bakir Eid muslim holiday and in India it is customary to slaughter a goat and make buryani.
Our agent is Mr. Salim Jadwett from the illustrious Jadwett family and he invited me, Vivek and Saini for dinner, we actually went on 2 buryani meals, 1st lunch and then dinner.
Well, November brought big changes to our lives again. We had settled in comfortably in Phuket and then we suddenly had a guests arrival looming above our heads on 22nd Nov, which eventually was canceled due to the guests changed plans.
There has lately been a lot of coverage about piracy in modern days and I'd like to comment on it. Piracy to most laymen brings in mind Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirate's of the Caribbean movies or to the older generations James Cagney from his famous pirate movies decades ago.
My Jira has a history of intermittent heartburn and indigestion and last wednesday she started complaining about stomach pain and I thought "Ohhh, here we go again". Jira is particular that she can't drink any stomach tonics nor chew any medicines for stomach, so it's difficult to suggest treatments. It is also not easy to get stomach friendly foods here in Thailand as many dishes are stir fried and has loads of chillies....
Ships have a rather militaristic organization structure going in "chain of command" principle, or in other words linear command. On merchant ships and big cruisers this organization is quite rigidly followed due to conservative habits and on the latter due to the size of crews in order to be able to retain control.
On 12th Nov was the full moon of twelfth lunar month and Thailand celebrated Loy Krathong, it is a festival coming from the Hindu “Deepavali” Festival of lights. Thais believe it is the time to apologize to the water deity the past years transgressions in form of any pollution (showering, cooking, toilet use, etc.) as thanks for giving life to crops and orchards.
End of last month and this has gone cooped up in port. The rain season seems to give up late this year as it has been raining cats and dogs every other day it seems. As of writing this the weather is sunny but dark clouds are swirling on the horizon.
Anyways, since our return from Langkawi to Yacht Haven Phuket we started doing some serious maintenance (jobs never cease on a boat) and I hired carpenters, dayworkers and welders for our worklist.
As in previous blog it ended when we arrived to the drydock in Langkawi, which lasted 14th Aug to 18th Sept and was a very tiring affair for the whole crew.
Kalizma got a fresh coat of paint on the bottom, new zinc anodes, overhauled overboard valves, some new shell plating, additional echosounder and a muffler on the centre engine. Now when we’re idling one can barely hear the engines any more, I need to look at the rpm meters to verify I have propulsion. It is so silent.
When you contemplate working on a yacht or in general get involved in shipping you will hear the word certificate being mentioned in every connection. It is today's money making racket and standardization of shipping that has brought it about. Also manufacturers wants to ensure that the product they are selling is certified to a certain standard. You can't even have a piece of uncertified steel onboard or plywood for that matter, same goes for the crew...
As told before we arrived at the Wavemaster floating pontoon on the 14th Aug for our drydocking. Once alongside our agent, Nick Coombes, set immigration procedures in motion. I met with the yard Operations Manager Barry Eades and later in the afternoon we had an opening meeting for our scope of works which had been tentatively agreed upon in advance. We also meet our Project Manager, Mr. Irwan.
We departed Phuket on 12th of Aug for Langkawi. Weather was again fine, only when we got out of cover Ko Yao Yai did we get swell in from the Indian Ocean. We steamed on for the whole day and anchored for the night S of Ko Rawi (Butang group). Next morning we awoke to marvelous surroundings of high Islands covered in lush green and specked with white sandy beaches.
This month Kalizma did not move from her berth, we stayed put for ongoing maintenance works. We have upgraded the deck lighting, installed a diving ladder and UV covers onto the tenderboats. All decks got a fresh coat of varnish as well as rust was chipped off on exposed metal parts and repainted, teak oil was applied to all railings. In the Engine Room various piping works related to the aircon was renewed and modified for the better.
M/y Calisto in Yacht Haven (sistership of Cousteau's Calypso)
The month of June came and went without any particular happenings, routine maintenance was carried out, weekends some of the crew went hashing (running). Hash house harriers are a tradition invented by English expats in Malaysia and has spread all over the world. I also discovered the world small as I met my ex Electrician from Ukraine that worked together with me 5 years ago on another ship.
Departure 29/05/2008 at 0600hrs ship left Yacht Haven Marina in good weather. The sea was calm as can be, only some wind ripples could be seen. Upon leaving the channel and reaching open seas we experienced a gentle swell coming in from the Indian Ocean. However as we progressed on our voyage it became apparent that prevailing wind and current from Malacca Strait were against us. We passed Phi Phi Island on the east about 1000hrs and turned more south for a straight course to Langkawi Island. The wind became somewhat stronger and the swell more pronounced, but still the weather was fine, sunshine at times overcast the next, in the afternoon we even got a few showers. At 1800hrs we were already approaching Langkawi but night was setting and we entered the Kuah channel in darkness, at 2200hrs we dropped anchor in the General purpose anchorage outside the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club.
After having been dismissed from Titan due to the sale to new Owner's I was again on the look for new horizons and the Chief stewardess from Titan had a lead from a Swedish Captain in her network and put me in touch with him. After a bit of talking and interviewing I was accepted as Chief officer and soon enough was on my way to Australia.
I arrived in the evening on 31st April by train and minivan from Bangkok to sign on m/y Kalizma, the van left me at the Yacht Haven Marina junction and a final motorbike ride took me to the Marina.
Many times you see or hear of a yacht and you just wish you could work there, but sometimes the picture behind the scenes is not as rosy as it looks like from the outside. The question here is how to sort out on what kind of yacht one is suitable to work on?
Cheers everyone, been away for some time now but I'm back again, not with a vengeance but just back.
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).
A few weeks ago I went out for my morning walk with my colleague Wendy. She had been hankering for days to walk on the beach and the idea was cool to me too, so we took our rubber dinghy and drove to the closest beach near the shipyard which is Woodman's point.
Been awhile since the last time but I've been really busy starting up this yacht I'm working on. Currently we are doing a "shakedown" cruise to find all faulty systems and to see that everything is working properly.
Damn, last nite we had burglars in the house. One of my flatmates, Wendy, forgot to lock the doors and they had been marching right in the door and took the closest thing available - her laptop. Luckily they did not take the other 3 laptops in the house, her jewellery, portable hard drives, our beers in the fridge...
Last week and this has not been good for our team here in Australia. Our Captain who was on a wine tasting session with our boss got nipped by the coppers on a DUI (just over the limit) and today our landlord called us that we have exceeded our internet cap by the double and the bill is 4200 ozzie dollars.
Yesterday our boss came to inspect the ship he is building here in Australia. He had loads a meetings and finally settled down to discuss matters with the Captain.
The weather has been awful for the last week, rain, rain and more rain. Haven't seen raining men but it sure is close. Well, enuff of that stuff. Yesterday we went out cruising east on the intention of seeing wild kangaroos or skippies as they call 'em here down under.
Greetings from Australia once more. Have been down under in Oz for a couple weeks now. Last Saturday I volunteered to be the designated driver for my colleagues. Ah, need to back track some more. We live in a 3 bedroom (3-story) house that is near the center of Fremantle.
This post is copied as seen on ssmaritime.com for RMS Windsor Castle (5 pages), the website SSMaritime is private and the author elderly so one doesn't know how long the domain will remain active. I give all credit to the author Dr. Reuben Goossens, who has compiled the pictures and written the text.
This to honor the history of the vessel I was involved in saving after the storm in 12th Feb 2004. (JL)
Back in 2003 I was in Greece working for SETE yachts converting Columbus Caravelle to mega yacht Turama and we were alongside in Lamda shipyards where I had a good view of the laid up vessels in the sheltered Elefsis Bay, one of the interesting vessels out there was Margarita L, her imposing silhouette brought into my mind a lot questions of what is this ship doing here, where has she come from and what is she doing here. Little did I know that she was the property of the Latsis family.
After some research I learned that she was originally launched as Windsor Castle and sailed for the Union Castle lines from UK to South Africa. She was the last cruise ship ever built by Cammell Laird shipyard. Eventually after the advent of air travel cruising was no longer popular and she changed hands and became property of Mr John Latsis who used her mostly in Saudi Arabia where he had business interests. After that she was laid up in Elefsina Bay.
Then one night in the middle of the winter in 2004, Feb 12th she broke her anchor chain during a winter storm.