Training

After having stepped off Maryah in January I looked for new challenges but it appeared no one was stepping off or looking to employ Captain's. I ended turning down one offer as I was just about to board a plane for a course so that went as well. Then having been pretty much unemployed for most of 2016 I did my STCW Manila upgrading and renewed my license so I am good to go for the next 5 years.

Courtesy of The HR suite

Address to Haggis

I had the honor to be invited for Burns night at the British embassy and took opportunity to record the prayer to haggis that is customary to be done at every party when the haggis is brought in.

Donington Park - Download festival

Black Sabbath

Having been a fan since teenager it took me over 35yrs to finally see these guys live. I wish the weather had been a bit better but I spose this is the charm of open air festivals. Enjoy the pics below.

Video still to be uploaded

Maryah

24.09.2015 - 21.01.2016

31.07.2015 - 04.09.2015
13.05.2015 - 13.07.2015
08.08.2014 - 16.04.2015
31.01.2013 - 04.08.2014
21.08.2012 - 30.01.2013
m/y Maryah (ex Czar, Szczecinska B970/01, Fortune, Dalmorgeologiya) IMO no 9044619

Captain

M/y Maryah (photo by Manuel Hernandez via marinetraffic)

Montenegro

Maiden voyage with Maryah from Elefsina, Greece to Tivat, Montenegro to change registry from SOLAS passenger vessel to Private yacht (36p).

Rome

Pictures from my trip to Rome, pretty amazing city...

Marathon

Running, running and more running. Week in, week out. 5x per week running. The program that I was following was advised to by my running friend Alethea, see http://www.halhigdon.com/  . I started a bit late training so I had to cut off 3-4 weeks in the start so I literally hit the ground running. Wore out a pair trainers while training and managed to get a pair of new ones some weeks before the marathon day.

On the finishing

Marathon half-marathon

It has been a long time since I took up the proverbial "pencil" to put down some thoughts of mine. I guess the routine of doing the "captain's blog" after the many years on Kalizma sort of put me off blogging for awhile. It also did not help that I changed jobs and work on a confidential project, there is not much you can write about something that is confidential except that it is confidential.

Start of the race, picture compliments of the organizers

Kalizma

28.07.2023 - 24.08.2023

06.07.2012 - 20.08.2012
15.02.2012 - 14.03.2012
03.05.2011 - 29.05.2011
17.07.2010 - 19.12.2010
19.08.2009 - 29.05.2010
30.07.2009 - 07.08.2009
01.05.2008 - 28.06.2009
Captain
m/y Kalizma (ex. Minona, Cortynia, Odysseia)

Kalizma in Kuah Royal Langkawi yacht marina in 2008

Captain's blog July/ August 2012

So, my vacation was once again coming to an end. Unfortunately, this year the summer in Finland had yet to materialize so I had not enjoyed much of any warm weather although I had met a lot of old friends and a few new ones. Anyway, it was time to pack the 'ol trunk and get my arse to Helsinki to fly via Mumbai to Colombo.

Monitor lizard at Galle seafront

Indian Empress

16.03.2012 - 18.05.2012 Captain

20.09.2011 - 17.01.2012 Captain

29.05.2011 - 07.09.2011 Ch Mate
20.12.2010 - 16.03.2011 Ch Mate
m/y Indian Empress (ex Al Mirqab, today H3)

Indian Empress (courtesy Charterworld)

Captain's Blog Feb/ Mar 2012

My vacation had been spent and I was instructed to go to Maldives and relieve Saini for vacation before returning back to Indian Empress. Kalizma was sitting at anchorage in Hulhumale' together with m/y Linse and there was a skeleton crew maintaining both boats.

Chartlet of Maldives courtesy of worldatlas.com

Diving South of Banana reef

This was my last dive for this tour in Maldives as I'm flying to Abu Dhabi to take over as Master on Indian Empress so I need some surface time to be able to fly. To make it special I decided to do a night dive. Had all gear in the boat by sunset and off we went to check out Banana reef. The rising tide was still several knots too strong to do the dive at this location so we decided to go back a step down south and do it the next reef. At least there it looked to be no current.

BA chart 3323

Diving Club Med corner

This morning we saw there was a strong ingoing tide on Kudakalhi Channel so we decided to do a drift dive from the corner into the atoll as we had not yet dived this particular segment of the Club Med corner. We went an ample distance along the Ocean side of the reef to gear up and once ready we simultaneously jumped in at 10m depth. 

BA chart 3323

Diving Furana South

My diving days are soon over for awhile as I'm due to return back to Indian Empress in a few days. This morning decided to revisit the Furana south site and we started well inside the Kudakalhi Channel as the current was slightly outflowing. Earlier diveboats had tied a white canister to the reef as a marker so we tied up there and geared up. Down we went just South of the Full Moon Maldives resorts lagoon and started heading East.

BA chart 3323

Diving reef West of Aarah Island

For this mornings dive we chose to go to an unnamed reef West of the Aarah Island. There are 2 reefs next to each other and in between there is a narrow channel. Once you get there on the spot you realize the channel is not so narrow, it is rather several hundred meters wide.

BA chart 3323

Diving Nassimo thila

This morning we headed North for Nassimo Thila that was awarded four stars by Tim Godfrey back in the day when he wrote the book and is lauded as the best "thila" in North Male' atoll. The weather was a bit choppy and we jumped ourselves to the divesite that is next to Lankanfinolhu Island. The Island houses the swanky "Paradise" resort next to the "Soneva Gili" resort on the Lankanfushi Island (1000+ USD/ night).

BA chart 3323

Diving Kuda Haa

Looking at divesites Tim Godfrey have mapped out in his good book I settled to go to the Kuda Haa "thila" as it was the only one we had not yet visited. It was as far as Lion's Head at Thilafushi but a bit more north inside the atoll, just next to the Giraavaru Island. The reef is actually 8m underwater so finding it without a positioning system is not the easiest task. Actually we found it by seeing fish jumping out of water, it was a bit windy and waves were abt 50cm high so one could see the reef only when you were next to it.

BA chart 3323

Diving Lion's head

BA chart 3323

Diving Club Med corner

My deckhand Pardeep had not been here and we decided to revisit this site. This time though we swam South instead of inside the atoll so we started near the corner. We weren't disappointed, met with Napoleon Wrasse & turtles plus the host of the small fish in the coral garden. I must have seen the biggest grouper ever in my life when I peeked under a rock formation, it sat there for awhile until it noticed it was observed and then it hid better out of sight. I managed to get a picture but it is obscured by the soldierfish, if you look closely you can see the eyes and mouth in the dark background...

BA chart 3323, inset

Diving Hans Hass place

As we had tallied through the closest dive sites we ventured now a bit further afield, not going overboard but staying inside Male' atoll. We headed southwest from our anchorage towards Viligili Island and next to it is a reef named Gulhi Falhu. It is now being reclaimed from the West. In the middle of the reef on the Ocean side is the "Hans Hass" diving spot that is designated as a protected area. When I was in Maldives earlier my local guide told me that this will house the existing industries on Male' and they will be relocated on Gulhi Falhu.

Anyway, we arrived again early morning and found another dive boat there already but there is aplenty at sea so we made ourselves ready and jumped in. The current was against us and a bit heavier than expected but to agree with the diveplan we kept on going West as instructed our surface boat. There was plenty of pelagics, saw also a Napoleon Wrasse in the distance but the most impressive sight was the overhangs, especially the last one that when I looked under it it gave the impression of a cathedral.

BA chart 3323

Diving off Hulhule

As we were running out of dive sites close by we decided to give Hulhule a go even-though Tim Godfrey had awarded the site only one star in his guide book. Off we went a bit NE of the entrance to the atoll and headed south. There was no current to mention about but I could feel the wave surge down to 20m. The surroundings were rocky and I could see a lot of groupers hiding under the formations. We swam along and just about when we were about to ascend as we were down on air to 50bars I saw something in the distance. After a few seconds a school of Humphead parrotfish appeared with some ten fish in the school. These huge fish were very shy and did not come close, I managed to get off a few shots but then we had to go up. Definitely the highlight of the dive.

BA chart 3323, inset

Walking in Male'

Saturday night fever and nothing much to do we decided with Dubey to walk around Male' Island, the Capital of Maldives. Said and done we took the ferry over and from the landing we headed straight South. First we passed some park like area with a communal swimming pool connected to the sea and then we came to a beach called Surfers Paradise. I guess this is the only place where the waves break in order surf properly.  I could see some boys on boards far out catching the waves that rolled in. They broke their surf quite far away from shore and I don't wonder why as the shore was not sandy, it was sharp coral edges galore, not for beginners...

Surfers Paradise

Diving Maldive Victory

As my other deckhand had not experienced the wreck we decided to have another go at it and so we went down south of the airport. This time there was hardly any current so the visibility was much poorer but then again there was much more fish present. Did the same tour as before, down the mast, go fwd, then aft, circle the poop deck, go to the bridge, look into the funnel. As we still got air left we swam at mast height forwards again and back before going up.

BA chart 3323, inset