Illusion Plus

Having signed on Illusion Plus, as she was named, we had to go on seatrials straight away. The trials were wholly programmed and coordinated by the CIMC yard personnel. There was number of expats in the team but general manager was Mr Shao and under him there was a number of other Chinese staff. The organisation was quite huge taking space for a whole floor in the building that incorporated the build shed. When I arived ot the yard the vessel was not anymore in the shed but floating alongside under a gigantic crane that could lift tops off drilling rigs. The 89m Illusion Plus looked minuscule in comparison below it.

Illusion Plus

Illusion Plus

CIMC yard view

CIMC yard view with the massive crane

As we entered the yard and the office floor there was a big billboard in the lobby with the number 86 or something signifying the days left until our departure. After having seen the condition of the yacht I thought to myself that that date will never stick. Subsequently I had a meeting with the Manager that told me that I have to find the crew for the yacht. Oh well, I better get cracking because time was very short and I only had a chief stew so far as far as crew was concerned.

Illusion Plus

We went for trials but having done one recently on other newbuilds I thought they didn't know what they were doing. E.g. the diesel electric powerplant wasn't pushed to the max in order to ascertain performance. We had in ER a Rolls-Royce package that comprised of 2 medium speed Norwegian Bergen gensets coupled with 2 fastspeed Caterpillars, in essence they divided the propulsion between port genset and propulsion genset. Bit different from ABB setup where you have many same size generators and everyone is identical, one just puts more online when one needs more power. The Bergens sounded cool though when running, not the usual high-pitched scream as from Caterpillars. Other than that I thought the seatrials were badly organised I also didn't get to put my hand on anything let alone try a bit of maneuvering. It was almost as like they were afraid to use the yacht to the max.

CIMC workplace safety, useful advice even in general

The hull design looks great and she's very spacious with a +3000GT, this makes her unviable for the yachtie cowboys with their 3000GT tickets. The propulsion is a Rolls-Royce azipull solution that makes her very maneuverable. She's also equipped with a decent bowthruster so with this one should be able to park her anywhere without any assistance. The yacht also features special design features like a corridor between the main engines with viewing windows and a 2 floor atrium in the aft. When we operated the hydraulic gear that was a product from Taiwan it became pretty quickly clear that that it was the weakest link in operation of the vessel, e.g. there are no steps to the swim platform where the mooring gear is and if one can't open the lazarette it is difficult to come alongside without any tarzanesque gymnastics in the aft.

Illusion Plus one foggy morning

The guest areas are very spacious with only 6 guest staterooms and principal suite. The design is by Sinot and maybe not everyone's cup of tea. The crew cabins are quite spacious considering other yachts. Also all technical areas are finished to good standard. She's also equipped with state of the art "yacht standard" gear, like Heinen & Hopman A/C etc, the unfortunate thing is the installation of these equipment that have some shortcuts which already gave indications of future issues. Operation wise it was weird that there was no pantry on the same deck as the dining area, the distance from galley to dining area is a bit far as well.

Foggy morning

Yard bridge crew during seatrials

Seatrial yard crew on bridge

Sunset after seatrials

Next in my to-do list was the crew. I had no time starting haggling over a cheap Filipino crew as getting crew out from there would take weeks if not months. Summer was fast approaching and Chinese embassies were getting long queues for visas. So with help from Burgess we nailed down the safe manning crew and the scales and I sent off mails to ex crew I knew looking for work that would get the job done and the show on the road even if not very well paid, it was an adventure and the off chance that the yacht would sell and things could then improve. As I got my core crew established they brought more candidates to the table and fairly quickly I had a crew assembled. I think I was a bit surprised myself how quickly it happened.

Anchor winch solution

Stern swim platform

CIMC client, oil rig

Having got the crew we started digging in to get the vessel seaworthy and started compiling lists for LSA/ FFA and whatnot needed for the safety survey (and our safety). C/E had the biggest headache convincing the yard he needed a bit more than a rusty shifter to cross the ocean, nevermind spare filters etc. among things. They did not want to put any tools onboard. During day we kept patrols onboard to see whats going on and whats happening. After the seatrials they lifted the vessel up on the hard as they needed to do some underwater works that they had discovered pending (or leaking). Unfortunately we still had full bunkers on from the seatrial, the yard had wanted the vessel to be as close as possible to full condition (lot of weight was missing as she was not completed yet) so they resorted to fill her up. After the seatrial an inclination experiment was carried out.

Paint repairs after hull has lived a bit

Fire locker before wall panels installed

Propaganda out in Yantai

Corridor between main engines

Tenderbay

Meanwhile getting the plans for getting her ready the big billboard in the lobby kept ticking down and I compiled the passage plan which went as follows: departure Yantai, visit to Shenzen for public relations at head quarters of CIMC, then onwards to Galle, Sri Lanka to pick up security and provisions + bunkers, then bunker again at Al Salalah, Oman, continue to Suez Canal, then bunkers at Bizerte, Tunisia, enter EU in Antibes, France, attend Monaco yacht show. As I presented it to the yard manager I got questioned of emergency ports etc. I was a bit perplexed and asked them to tell me of a better route because once in the Indian Ocean there are not many friendly places until you reach Mediterranean so you better gotta have working systems and all spares at hand, as simple as that. Should you try any zig -zags you won't end up in the Med, but you might end up attacked by pirates on the African coast or shot by the Iranians on the Asian coast so go figure, better go straight as the others do. 

Taking a break

Our open tenderboat

Illusion Plus on the hard

Illusion Plus on the hard

Crew dinner outside

Crew dinner outside

Monument in Yantai

Engine room, Bergen in front, CAT behind

Illusion Plus

Illusion Plus

Illusion Plus

I also pointed out that in Suez we may get compelled to get a tug (extra cost abt 50.000USD) to follow us as we don't have an open boat with inboard engine as per their canal rules. For this the yard bought a small open rescue boat for few thousand, very cute and nice, working on diesel. Then as the days were ticking it became obvious that the carpentry wouldn't be completed by the time it came down to zero plans were made to put on materials onboard as well as carpenters, had to look at our LSA and number of berths for that too as ideas starting flying for having ppl on mattresses and using bathrooms communally. No, not a good idea, luckily I got the yard to see sense in this idea.

The small rescue boat, Suez cost saver

Crew dinner out on town

Then one morning the Cook approached me and said he could not take it anymore and wanted to bail and go home. Maybe the cultural shock had been too much for him. He had been taken by one of the secretaries to a local open market where animals were slaughtered and lay on display all day fr the flies to feast on. I've never seen a cook so shocked after he came back from that excursion and managed again to persuade the yard to provision from a wholesaler like Makro. Despite getting this confirmed the cook still wanted to go home and so he went. 

CIMC yard team

Our (my) problem was now from where to find a cook. I don't recall how but a candidate was found in Sri Lanka but problem was that there was no visa available so he could only join when we called Galle as planned. Meanwhile, who would cook? I recall it was Friday and as we traveled back to our lodgings at the expat hotel with Yantai's only expat bar (Chris's) my C/O suggested we have a few pints and think about it. As we sat there and grumbled of the quandary we were in we sat down to talk to 2 local ladies, or so we thought. It turned out they had come to Yantai to look for work and one of them was a cook. Well then, there was our answer and we asked Lala, the cook, if she would be interested to cook for a bunch of foreigners, whatever she could do. She was. Next day at the yard I asked the crew if they had anything against Chinese cuisine for the trip as that was the only option on offer and everyone was for it.

Cause for celebration

Last hurdle was to get the yard manager convinced and he actually was happy about it, we had also employed a Chinese stewardess to help our Ch Stew and our NZ stew. There was a lot of cleaning to do after the yard had removed the protection and works were going at the same time so it was an ongoing chaos keeping the clean areas clean and apart from the worked on areas.

Cannons for salute

Undersigned and Arwen from build team

Then the yard manager was asking when we were gong to move onboard and I told him when it was safe. We drew up a list of safety items we needed working before it was safe to move in. Like fire detection, fire fighting gear, sprinkler system, ventilation, freshwater etc. The basic things to control an accident and be able to evacuate safely. At first it was like they didn't understand but as we didn't move in they got going as the bill at the hotel was piling up day by day. When I was satisfied that everything was in order I got the crew to move onboard. As we had moved onboard the C/E noticed that yard personnel kept switching off critical equipment as they finished for the day and we still stayed onboard leaving us sort of unprotected, of course we switched the equipment back on and raised the issue that systems have to be kept on 24/7. It was another hard pill for the yard to swallow but swallow they did.

Tenderbay with building materials

Art

Work going on

The billboard counter in the reception got down to zero, we didn't depart. The yard managers office was dark. Issues were with flag and class to get us certified. The next day the counter stayed still at zero, it didn't go -1 but we kept counting. Every weekend when there was time on Sunday (we had been told by the manager to take off) we went somewhere close by to look at local sights. Below is a temple we visited that was a few hours drive away from Yantai.

Chinese temple

Chinese temple

Chinese temple

Chinese temple

CIMC yard team

Then finally, about 2 weeks after D-day we got to depart, the day before there was big festivities of our departure with an orchestra playing music, cannons firing salvoes of salute, sparkling wine spilled on the stern and speeches were held. Clearly this was a big achievement but we departed as a private yacht under Marshall Island flag so there was still more to be done. We cast off and departed for Shenzen where public relations events were going to be held. I was a bit worried as the time was growing short for us to reach Monaco in time.

Festivities

Champers for good fortune

CIMC yard team

As we left all was good, we headed out to sea and also had 2 yard workers onboard. As soon as we started moving a bit the yard workers went down below in seasickness. Our stabilisers were put on but the other was stopped immediately as C/E found water in the system, so we worked on one only. I needed to get south fast as I was juggling between 3 typhoons in the area, big swells were rolling in from the Pacific. Then as to not make things too easy the C/E reported that they're using filters at an alarming rate, the purifiers were blocked and he could not get fuel sucked out from storage. I asked how long do I have fuel to steam and he replied 24h. 

Hong Kong cargo handling by barge

I reported to yard and told them I'm heading for Shanghai where the problem can be looked into. C/E got into communication with yard and they started bombarding him with ways to get fuel pumped into the day tanks. It looked like we had gotten the fuel bug. Not surprising as we had been fully bunkered on the hard for 6 weeks during Chinese hot summer so pretty sure the bacteria had grown well in these conditions. We kept going towards Shanghai and C/E kept trying ideas with the yard. About midnight we arrived to the Shanghai bar and anchored, I had just heaved to and we were rolling like pigs in the swell from the open sea as the C/E came up on bridge and told us to continue, they had managed to find a way to pump fuel to the engines. I didn't need telling twice, up the anchor came and off we went, away from the typhoon.

Shenzen pilot "boat"

After Shanghai and Taiwan the trip went pretty smoothly, we almost entered Hong Kong waters as we were approaching Pearl river pilot station. The pilot boat was a massive tugboat and we steamed up the river to Shenzen and moored at the CIMC facilities. There we were few days cleaning up with caterers and areas still under construction was fenced off to not show the dignitaries that came to visit us. Big shots came every day, we were not involved as crew, only our Ch Stew gave a hand keeping the show going on. We could not do any tank cleaning where we were so obviously the showing off was more important than fixing things. We did however achieve the commercial yacht class from Marshall islands. 

Cooking food in galley

When the PR events were over we finally left and went a few miles more north into the Pearl river delta to another CIMC shipyard, all the contaminated fuel was pumped out, several hundred tons of it and then tanks were opened and cleaned inside. They had teams of 20 women armed with rags put into a tank at the time. Didn't take them long to have everything done, then we got a bunker barge alongside and we fueled up once again. Our concern were the pipes that probably still had the bug and the residue left and what it would do to the engines if it reached that far. The weather was fair and finally we steamed for Sri Lanka minus a stewardess, the Chinese stew could not take the seas so she opted to get off asap. 

Lala cooking food

Propaganda

Meanwhile as the festivities carried on I had the chance to visit the "silicon valley" of China with my C/E. It was big malls full of electronic components, cables and other paraphernalia. Other shops carried products ready for sale. I also visited the "Apple" of China, Mi shops. For those that don't know the DJI quadcopters are manufactured here, didn't get any though. I bought a new mobile for my C/O who needed new comms. As we were driving to and fro (with an all electric taxi) I noticed piles and piles of rental bicycles in many places, they were not there recently but could see rust and decay that they had lain there longer. Seems the rental idea of bicycles had not worked out or the production was so vast that there maybe was no idea to go find any bicycles abandoned by their users in the gutter.

Shenzen electronic market

Port clearance from China

Sri Lankan fisherman

As we left Shenzen we had an easy sail south, then went past Singapore and continued up the Malacca Straits, I saw on the chart all my favorite places I had used to frequent on another yacht. Then as we approached Galle it was a bit swelly but nothing serious, we tied up in good order and also because it was Sunday the bunker barge had invented an excuse why he could not be there on our arrival (although promised), anyway tied up and settled in for waiting. The port was calm apart from some heaving. Suddenly one of our new mooring ropes gave away, it was no problem as our bosun was good in splicing so he made a new eye in no time. Next day we received bunkers, our Chef and our security detail and we departed for Oman. The Chinese stand-in cook Lala continued as help for Interior and Galley as we had loads of stuff to do.

Galle

Apprentice position fixing

Taking visual bearings

Fisherman catching squid

The transit over Indian Ocean from Galle to Al Salalah was pretty easy, weather was relatively good but got progressively worse as came more west. We tied up in Salalah easy, there was hardly any vessels in port, outside was quite a swell going on but inside just a small gentle heave. Here the bunkers came faster as agreed and we didn't tarry long here before we were on our way again. Incidentally we broke a mooring line again that our bosun spliced together.

Al-Salalah port

Al-Salalah port

Cargo ship carrying cranes

Having left Salalah we were venturing into dangerous waters as we sailed by the Yemeni border, through Bab-el-Mandeb and up the Red Sea, our security detail had to earn their money and shortly after the Hanish Islands we veered off North of the Eritrean archipelago and discharged our hardware there to a floating armoury, the security followed us to Suez. Weather favored us somewhat as we could do exercises on the open decks. The Chinese yard engineers had also at some point found their sealegs so they were also a bit lively.

Al Salalah, wooden dhows

Then it was once again time for the Suez passage, the same inspections. Luckily we had the orange rescue boat as the inspector really went into out tender bay hoping he could slap another 50k on our transit fee. Unfortunately he had to approve our small boaty. C/E was already so much in love with it that he wanted to buy it in case yard would want to get rid of it in Europe. The transit went ahead as usual with gifts of cigarettes divvied out over the transit to various individuals, there was no hassles along the way.

Suez Canal, wooden dhow

Suez Canal, victim

Suez Canal pilot

Suez Canal

Suez Canal

Suez Canal, fishermen

Suez Canal, monument

Suez Canal, monument

Suez Canal, monument

Suez Canal, fishermen

After Suez we were a bit low on fuel and not to let cheap opportunities pass by we bunkered again in Bizerte, Tunisia. After clearance they also gently reminded me that clearance is done and the officials would not say no to monetary presents. I kindly explained I don't have any ships cash with me, everything is paid provided for by the Owners office but I could offer a few cartons of cigarettes in case they were smokers. They declined (as both departments of immigration and customs was present) and left in a huff. After 30 minutes one of the guys came back and collected the cartons.

Bizerte

Illusion Plus in Bizerte

Having left Bizerte we steamed on and passed Malta, our Maltese Ch Stew and Bosun were crying on the phone as they talked to their families. Not sure but perhaps they could spot us going by, in any case both crews were happy to have been able to talk to their loved ones on the phone, our satcomm was not that strong to support voice over IP properly.

Passing Valletta, Malta

After Malta we headed for Antibes, France to check into EU and to clean up the yacht after so many weeks. It was really nice to heave to off the marina and let the boys get into washing down her from all the salt and grime from the Red Sea. We eventually got a berth and moved in a bit later. had a few busy days cleaning her up and setting her up for the show. Staff from Yantai turned up and also carried their share of organising. YCO was our sales broker at the time so they also came with bandoleers to hang  and other stuff for the clients visiting us.

Running the small rescue boat in Antibes

Classic yacht Talitha (built 1929) entering Antibes

Then it was time to move to Monaco, we had timings given when we should be there as they filled up the port to the max. No problem there, tied up easy and put out the passarelle and settled in to watch other yachts coming in and tending to matters as they came up. The next day, just before the show was about to start there was blowing a hooghly outside and the sea was heaving inside the marina, as being stern to our ropes started snapping every 30min or so, te bosun spliced as fast a she could and we realized the rope we had been given from Yantai was too weak or defective somehow. I spent the afternoon in my office chasing suppliers for a coil of normal cargo ship mooring-line and eventually I found one and had it delivered onboard. The bosun quickly cut lengths and spliced them up so we could moor the stern properly and avoid any damages to yachts beside us for example.

Illusion Plus in Monaco

The show went by in a buzz, I met a many familiar faces that walked by and many unknown faces. Also saw some old bosses and even the Russian buyer from before came by to gloat, I don't know what was said for sure but as the conversation went in Russian every other word was a swear word so I guess they were not impressed. It can be mentioned here that Illusion Plus was a new vessel but still 10years old, the history was a bit odd as the yard ad been owned by a Singaporean chap that wanted to build a yacht for himself and started building Illusion Plus, but at some point the business must have gone sour as he sold the yard and left it lock, stock and barrel. The hull sat there abandoned with engines inside for some time until one yard manager had an interest to revive the project and sell it. After many turns a Russian client turned up and he paid the down payment and signed the contract. Somehow the yard could not reach the deadline and the Owner exercised his right for a return + interest. Yard paid him and then they had a 80% completed yacht, as they were so close they decided to complete the vessel but without the frills that had been planned by previous buyer. I guess at this stage I had come into the plans and came down to China for the delivery to Monaco. Well, here we were and during the show we were the most visited vessel, unfortunately the keen eyes of the connoisseurs saw immediately that she was not completed so this marred the popularity of the yacht and came out as a negative in the media.

Illusion Plus in Monaco

After having concluded the yacht show we headed for airport marina of Genoa to decide where we'd go for long term and what should be done. As crew e had already communicated to yard all short comings and repairs required etc. so it was all in hand, the yard only needed to make up their mind. Unfortunately in Genoa we became victim of a sudden fallwind just hours from arrival and the wind pushed our passarelle onto a pillar and the hydraulic ram was bent into a curve. Luckily our C/E knew a shop just outside the marina that fixed up the ram n no time. 3-4 days later we had a working passarelle again. By that time I had orders to sail for Tarragona in Spain. 

Illusion Plus in Tarragona

Port Tarraco was the traditional base of the Qatari fleet and I think they have some finger in the pie with the ownership too. The marina has tried for years to attract yachts there and I reckon it is a popular marina to prepare for the winter in the Caribbean. Yachts come there to refit and do maintenance and then they're off before Christmas and the marina is empty bar the usual suspects. Hence the marina fees are very economical. We arrived Tarraco in good order and moored stern to beside the royal yachts and others and started cracking on with jobs as we could. The yard was not very fast in approving jobs even with the personnel present at all times onboard. I guess issue was financial as the yard as per hearsay was in dire straits and taken up by the China merchant bank.

Falmouth

Then our last tender was getting ready for seatrials and I was tasked for flying over to inspect and commission the boat. Getting to Falmouth was a bit tricky and I ended up flying to Newquay and renting a car for the remainder of the trip, there was no trains going. I stayed in a room above a pub so it was convenient to get to the yard close by. Funny enough the landlady was from Denmark. Cornwall is also famous for their cider so I got a few pints of local brew to taste in the evening. The yard personnel for Cockwells was extremely friendly and showed me around few places. We took the boat out for seatrials, went a bit out to sea to sea and up the river where one could still see the mooring buoys where ships used to lay up in bad times. Also had a 3rd party naval architect to join me for reviewing the documentation of the build. The last day I had some time to look around so I visited the local maritime museum, very interesting.

Falmouth

Falmouth, low tide

Falmouth

Falmouth, Cockwell tender

Falmouth castle

Then works were going on to finish the build, Carpenters worked every day down in the spa area and others that needed detailing. It became clear the yard was not going to give better working conditions than we already had and the 1st one to leave was our C/E who was a family man with young kids. I made the gravest mistake and employed in his stead a guy that completely went by my radar in the interview event and also had good references. I never seen such a "professional" who had the slightest  regard for ISM procedures and safe working practices, of course the next to follow was our junior engineers who could not work in unsafe conditions. I failed the trial period and yard employed him as "owners rep" the same day so I guess they made their bed. After that I had deckhands and mates resigning for better jobs, I employed other people I knew and accepted the terms, the delivery crew had dispersed and the magic was broken.

Illusion Plus in Tarragona

Illusion Plus in Tarragona

Illusion Plus in Tarragona

Tarragona

Stad of Amsterdam in Tarragona

Then it was time for me to leave because the never-ending recalcitrance and irreconcilable issues between vessel and yard I thought it best to move on and leave for greener pastures. Handed in my resignation and then signed command over to my Chief Officer and disembarked.

Footnote: As of 2023 Illusion Plus sat in Tarragona waiting for somebody to buy her. After I left they changed management to Hill Robinson and reduced the crew down to skeleton. Over the years I've seen her advertised for sale by a multitude of brokers but looks like nobody took the bait, probably due to the high price they kept for her. Eventually at end of 2023 yard seems to have made the decision to bring her back to China for a potential client. She left EU in Sept and reached Yantai in Oct 2023. She was sold to a Chinese client, renamed and sent trading to Indonesia. Time will tell what is in stock for her future, I hope all the best.

Words of wisdom

Joining again

Recently I was staying at my friends pad in Liguria, up in a medieval village of Montalto Ligure as I was doing rounds to the Riviera for various contacts looking for my next challenge. That aside my month was slowly coming to an end and one afternoon I was at the pad when I received an email out of the blue from China.

The mail was asking if I could send an updated CV and a valid phone number and a time when I could talk. Said and done I sent the info they requested and five minutes later the phone rang. There was a Chinese gentleman asking if I was available and some other data, we talked for a few minutes and then he asked if I have ever heard of Burgess. Yes of course I had heard, one of the top yacht management companies out here. There was not much more and he said they would be in touch and hung up.

Subsequently I called Burgess asking if they knew anything about a yacht in China as I had read of yachts being built but that was ages ago. Slowly the story unfolded that this indeed was the project I had read about years ago in industry publications.

Then a few days went by and Burgess called me up if I was available on a Skype interview the next day. Yes I was, nothing much else going on in this sleepy village. Next day came and I was standing by the window where is the best signal and waited for the Skype session to start. Then I was being informed that the Chinese yard would also pitch in the interview so that was bit of a surprise.

The interview went well in my own opinion except I was so intent in deciphering their accent so I totally forgot my face expressions and to the end I was asked if I ever smile. Thing to take note of in the future.

Some days went by again and I learned that I was runner up among 3 candidates and that I probably had the best chances of being the chose one. Well that was good news but seeing is believing. Again some time passed and finally I was offered the job to a quite mediocre rate, I decided to accept it as "better some job than no job". The mandate seemed short anyway so it looked more like a temp job than fulltime role. I was told to go to China, commission her for traffic and sail her to be displayed in Monaco yacht show for sale.

Then I flew from Italy to Greece to collect some items and subsequently I flew to Finland to apply visa as one can only apply a visa to China in the country of origin or residency. I was not resident in Greece. Spent a good week in Finland before I could collect the visa and managed to say hello to my family. Then again I flew back to Athens to prepare my luggage for the voyage and I was also informed that my Chief Stewardess will join me on the flight from Muenchen to Beijing and then Yantai.

Then came 12th June and I was on the way. Taxis were conveniently on strike in Athens so I had to manage my luggage by car to the metro line in order to get to Eleftherios Venizelos airport. Check-in and security went relatively smoothly despite it being high season and I was waiting to board my 1st leg to Muenchen.

In Muenchen I met with my Chief Stewardess Leanne, who had come from Malta, and we waited for boarding and dreaded the long-haul flight ahead of us. Incidentally I already knew her from before as I had been introduced to her at Palma yacht show earlier in the year.

Fast forward 12hrs we were landing in Beijing, collecting our luggage and going through the Chinese arrival formalities. Our body temperatures were measured as we ambled along towards Immigration and Customs. Then we had to check in our luggage again and were informed we can only check in 20kg when we had arrived with 40kg seafarers tickets. No point in arguing, they ignored us and said I could take the cabin sized luggage (full with DSLR camera lenses) with me and we would be ok. Said and done so we headed for the security and boy was that fun, had to empty basically everything in the bag in order to pass. At least we were on time to get to our last flight, Beijing -Yantai.

Flight left somewhat on time and 2hrs later we landed in Yantai, Shandong province. Our pickup was there and anticipating that after a solid 24hrs being on the road we would be taken to the hotel first to freshen up, but no, straight to the yard we went. In the yard we were faced again with security but luckily we did not have to check any luggage.

Once inside the yard we were driving towards the offices of the yacht division and we saw a yacht in one corner of the port basin that looked to be in the 40-50m bracket. We came a bit closer and saw the name and realised this is the boat but how did it look so small? Then I realized that the humongous crane almost above the yacht as well as the surrounding monstrous oil-rigs just dwarfed her so she looked like a toy-boat. Moreover the color was rust-red and she looked unpainted. Not sure what to make of it so I said nothing.

Yantai 200.000t mega crane and an oil-rig

Once in office we started meeting lot of new faces of the project and started receiving information left and right. In a few hours our brains were fried twice the size as well as we had managed a tour of the yacht with vice GM Roger. The rusty color proved to be a protective coat that would peel off when it was time. Interior was pretty much a-shambles incomplete with dozens of workers milling around.

I+ alongside

Finally around 6pm we were carted off to Yantai city center some 10km away from the yard. We checked into Asia Hotel downtown. Downstairs in the lobby was an inviting expat bar called Chris bar where I had dinner with Leanne and then we retired to our respective rooms dogtired. My next adventure had begun...

Hellenic day

This Sunday I decided with a few crew go see some hellenistic sites handpicked from the guide book.

Becin castle

Becin Castle is overlooking the town of Milas, the castle itself has lot of ruins in various states of disrepair and there seemed to be an old shepherds hut on top where you could see that the animals had resided below and the shepherd on top. The castle itself was not really hellenistic and had been occupied by all sorts of groups at different epochs. Only sort of preserved structure giving any clue to its use was the old hammam where some of the plaster remained in the steam room and one could recognize the heating compartment. Otherwise the ruins gave a nice backdrop towards the city of Milas and the fig and pomegranate trees gave a nice atmosphere to walk around the fortifications.

Didyma

Didyma (Temple of Apollo)

Next on our stop was Didyma in Didim, this was the largest temple of its time dedicated to Apollo but it was never completed. The temple is massive looking at the small people around the pillars and inside where the spring was used to house the oracle. Both the spring was dry and the oracle gone when I visited.

Miletus theatre

After this we still had some time to motor up to Miletus theatre. A massive stadium that could seat 15.000 persons at best. It still had the tunnels and walkways behind for spectators to get to their seats. Simply stunning construction and when it was still in operation it was next to the sea which now had receded far away. The whole area covers several sq kilometres and other buildings and I think one could spend days here exploring the old ruins. 

Bodrum

Having settled into the Yalikavak marina we finally had a chance to take a few hours off and I decided to go to Bodrum to see the sights as I had never been there before. According to the guidebook the only places that have any value historically is the Bodrum castle and the Mausollus mausoleum.

Yalikavak marina

Moonlight II in Yalikavak

The city itself is pretty large and the castle is smack in the middle of it. One can straight see the protective capabilities of the fortress in medieval times as there is a bay on each side of it. Entry to the castle was 30TL which gives you access to the whole area. The route has arrows in red and green and it did not make much sense to me but it seemed the red arrows were dead ends. There were a few displays scattered in various spaces but nothing major. Very nice scenery and I got a few nice shots that I will probably post at a later stage but for now you have to make do with these.

Bodrum castle

After having wondered around the fort for some hours we had enough and headed for a coffee and then decided to check out the mausoleum that was supposed to be one the wonders of the world in its time.

Bodrum castle

Entry to the mausoleum was 10TL and all there is a big hole in the ground with the burial chamber and some drainpiping visible as the rest of the mausoleum was apparently used to build the fortress. Lot of rocks were strewn around so it looks mostly like a sad DIY mausoleum now. At least there was a small exhibition center showing how it had looked in its heyday.

Mausollus mausoleum then

Otherwise the whole seaside was littered with restaurants catering for tourists and of course there was the shopping. For anyone having visited Istanbul I can tell you the same wares were peddled here, copy everything. I think the only really good articles are the leather clothes.

Mausollus mausoleum now

Doing a Ferretti

I received a phonecall about 2 weeks ago asking of I was interested to step in as Capt on a 25m Ferretti as the permanent Captain unfortunately had had a heart attack so I thought it would be ok to help out for a few days and said I was available. 

Local boats

Subsequently I was contacted by the Owners office and had to send my requisite paperwork there as well as to go and show my face in person. Luckily it was almost next to where I live so could walk over. After having done the paper exercise my starting date moved quickly fwd as the program changed so almost next day I was back in the office with my luggage to pick up some CtM and directions. 

Local boats

I hopped on the green metro line and trained down to Piraeus and got a speedboat ticket for Poros and off I went. In Poros I had to take taxi to the owners villa to find the boat. I was met by Filipino staff working on the many boats in the private marina and I was showed around by Ray. The setting was excellent, the boat was seemingly alright, systems were tested and showed how they work. Small boat, small systems, Italian design - what could go wrong?

The Orloff fishermens jetty with Ferretti at the end

Next day was departure day, I had a call with the Engineer servicing the MTU engines for the Ferretti and was given a short instruction of how to start the engines as well as the heads up of the easily overheating sb gearbox that was due for service. Pretty straight forward and they started as they were supposed to. The boat was equipped with bow & stern thruster and a colleague of mine had warned me that as fast as you move in the marina is as much you are going to damage the boat so I took it really slowly and was careful with giving engine kicks ahead. The boat was full GRP so any small kick had her surging ahead immediately. Anyway, I cleared the exit channel without incident and soon enough I was heading for Spetses.

Local water barges laid up

In Spetses our berth was already organised in front of the Orloff restaurant and I let go anchors and moored in the Mediterranean stern-to fashion. I had to keep generators running all the time as the jetty did not have power to offer. There was onboard 2 small gensets in soundproofed boxes and they ran very quietly. Usually they were swapped every 12hrs or so in order to keep running hrs equal and to enable service & checks.

Local boats

It appeared that the program was fairly static, young guests were soon embarking accompanied by their father and he gave me and the son instructions to what to do and off he went. The next few days proved that the guests were more like vampires and kept under deck all day long only to emerge when the night clubs started opening. I remember when I used to be young like that. These days I value daylight much more. Luckily I had one Filipino boy helping me out in housekeeping and other small duties so I only needed to wear the Captains and Chief Engineers hat, he could have the Chief Stewards hat.

Local boats

The boat was working well except that the one genset started smoking and after checking it I discovered the oilsump full with oil mixed with diesel. I also checked all incoming water inlets and filters as well as impeller so it only left me the injectors as fault. I informed the office and they sent a technician within days to confirm the same. This left us with only 1 working generator and I was switching it off every day for a few hours to check oil and water levels are ok whilst the guests were ashore.

Local fisherman mending his nets 

Every evening I had the entertainment of watching all the yachts scrambling to port in search of a berth. Some were very good in finding their spots, others were late, fouled their anchors and blamed the boats around them for their own shortcomings and I and the whole port could refresh their vocabulary on Greek cuss-words. One morning some other boat even caught our anchor chain but luckily it did not disturb our anchor.

The misbehaving generator 

Next I discovered that many of the tank level gauges were pretty much not working at all as I had one day flooding in one of the showers but emptying the tank solved this problem. Luckily the boat even after 10yrs of existence had all the manuals intact and this was a great help especially the Ferretti Owners manual. While I was getting acquainted myself with the boat I discovered the irony that the Master suite bed was located on top of the blackwater tank so in essence the principal slept on a pile of sh*t. Not sure if this was done deliberately during construction or no Engineer/ Naval Architect had ever thought the implications in fung shui fashion of how it would affect the harmonies onboard...  

Fishermen clearing their nets

Every day we were eating with the security detail at Orloff restaurant, it may be a 5 star establishment but I soon lost interest in the menu and the daily Greek food fare. Very delicious but the monotony of it got to me eventually. Then came the day of leaving and the patriarch came himself onboard and said he would take the boat back of which I had no objections as it was his to commandeer. 

Orloff at dusk

During the short crossing back to Poros waters we were back in the private marina and I was checking that everything was ship shape and packed my stuff for leaving the next day, my 10 days was up. As it was Friday I stayed the weekend and relaxed at Poros Image before returning to busy Athens. The next week I had to visit the office again to have lunch with the office manager and I gave my observations during my time onboard for what they could be look at doing next winter service period.

Orloff arranged a table for two

Lichadonisia islands

Having heard about the Greek Seychelles I decided to go visit. The group of Islands are located on the NW corner of Evia. You can either drive on the mainland to Kamena Vourla and take a ferry over or drive through Evia and boat over. I decided to do it the hard way and drove through Evia to enjoy the scenery instead of the heavily trafficked boring highway (and tollways) up towards Thessaloniki. 

Lichadonisia

So after having left Athens early morning I arrived at Ag Georgios abt 3.5hrs later having traversed all northern Evia. The village is small and the guest house or hotel (Adamakis Studios) was looking dismal but the room was clean and had a/c, fridge and an ensuite. Only a stone throw away there were several restaurants and continuing towards the center there was more outlets. At a whole everything looked a bit run down like an old prostitute in dire need of a facelift. 

The "new beach"

Next morning we got up and got going for Kavos where at the end of the land is a big camping site (most campervans there looked more or less permanently stationed there) and there were big signs for boats to Lichadonisia. Our 1st day we went to the closest beach on the biggest Island (Monolia) and closest to Evia. The ticket vendor said it was the oldest establishment there (the other was the "new beach"). 

One of the lagoons

Anyway, off we went and there was a small tour around the islets and we were showed a wreck that had sunk at abt 5m depth and also a colony of seals (didn't see any) but they were supposedly there. There were visibly quite a lot of current at places and the coxswain warned us of swimming too far from the beach as the currents could be dangerous. 

The "new beach"

Not to worry, we were quite happy to enjoy the sun on the loungers along with pretty good service from the bar. There was a constant stream of people coming and going and at times PA announcements in Bulgarian/ Russian for what I assume group tours visiting the Island. All in all not a bad place although the limited swimming area due to currents was a bit disappointing, on the other hand one could roam the Island at ones hearts desire and visit the now deserted buildings that used to house the residents up until the 70's when the last ones left. There is no water or power on the Island and the beach organisation ran on portable gensets. Even camping overnight was prohibited.

The "old beach"

 Next day we decided to try out the new beach. This place was visibly fresher looking as it appears it had only been organised a year or so ago. There was knee deep water and one could roam all lagoons in front and back of it. Bottom was soft sand with a few rocks here and there. Service worked well and boats came frequently over from Kamena Vourla. Luckily we came early as shortly after the whole beach was jampacked with people. Personally I liked the new beach better than the 1st original organised beach on Monolia.

The "new beach" on left with surrounding lagoons

Of course the Islands have a place in Greek mythology and it is said to be the pieces of Herakles servant who tried to poison him. 

As the story goes, the hero Herakles won a bride as a battle prize. Her name was Deianira. As she was transported to the mainland by boat the ferryman, a wild centaur named Nessus, attempted to rape her. Herakles was watching from the shore and fired a poison arrow. As the half-man/half-horse lay dying he told Deianira to take some of his blood as a talisman to ensure that Herakles would be always faithful to her. As time passed, Herakles took another woman as his favorite. Deianira remembered what the dying centaur had told her and rubbed some of the centaur’s blood on a cloak which she sent as a ‘gift’ for Herakles with a servant named Lichas. When Herakles put the cloak on, his skin began to burn and he realized that the cloak was poisoned so he threw the servant into the sea. Licha broke into pieces and Poseidon, the sea god, turned him into stones creating the Lichadonisia Islands. (Courtesy from Ruth Kozak's blog)

Road trip

As I signed off Moonlight II in Nice after the open day event and handover to the other Captain, I decided that instead of flying I'd be going to Greece by land. So I disembarked on a calm day and saw classic yachts at the Beaulieu anchorage.

s/s Delphine

I was surprised seeing s/s Delphine (built 1921) as she had been, according to some media sources, been laid up somewhere in Tunisia but obviously now had found a new Owner so she was back in the game. She did not look very shipshape up close but classic yachts always need a lot of TLC in order to get up to standard.

m/y Nero

Next I saw m/y Nero (built 2007) that is not a very old classic but built in China to this design, she looks the part without the age. 

Well in Nice by taxi I checked the timetables and was disappointed to discover there would be no trains east that evening so I booked a ticket to Milan for the next morning. Next I had to find a room and settled to a cheap and cheerful place next to the trainstation. I walked around town in the evening and could not find any appealing places to eat at so I just bought a ready-made sandwich at a 24h supermarket that then refused to sell me a small bottle of wine as it was after a certain hour. In France? Can you imagine. Did not take me long to walk a few blocks around the trainstation to find a hole-in-the-wall shop that sold me the bottle of wine instead.  

Nice train station

Next morning I was up on time and moseyed over to the trainstation, it is not a big affair so finding my train was piece of cake. Last evening I had bought online a continuation to Ancona so I would have a few hours to walk around Milan. Some hours later the train arrived Milan and everything there was huge. Unfortunately it was a holiday so all shops were mostly closed so I was just window shopping and walking around town like any average tourist.

Milan cathedral

Then it was time to head for the train station again and find my train for Ancona which was no biggie and off we went on time. The Italian countryside is not very interesting, lot of fields and country houses with afew cities in between with various factories visible. Coming to the Aegean coast the line was following it to Ancona sometimes almost in the sea.

Ancona

Ancona train station was a very worn out affair and I had to walk abt 1km to the hotel I had booked close to the port in old town. I walked past the quarantine castle and along the coast until I arrived the hotel. Very friendly service and I ended up having dinner there. Next morning I got up early and walked around the old town and palazzos discovering all the things worth seeing, Ancona actually has quite a lot to offer for the odd traveller.

Superfast at Ancona

Later in the afternoon it was time to pick up my luggage and get in the port, the boat was a bit late but eventually it arrived and started discharging it's cargo and until it was empty we had t wait on the jetty and it was scorching hot. After some time we were allowed to embark and I found myself a nice sofa to occupy myself on. It was an overnight trip so I had dinner at the a'la carte restaurant and ordered too much of the Greek food but it was vacation time.

Igoumenitsa

After having slept a few hours on a sofa in the buffet we arrived to the port of Igoumenitsa and I disembarked on the huge open field of tarmac, obviously it was thought the port would be a continuation of the highway or a much larger quantity of cargo was envisaged to move through. By the look of things this has not yet happened. I ended walking up to town and found the bus station to get a ticket for Athens as I did not fancy to stay a night here to explore. I was in luck, the K-tel bus left within the hour and soon enough we were on our way. The trip was quite comfortable and the roads were good, I missed the Rio bridge totally (if we even pased over it), I don't know. Some 5hrs later I arrived Athens and made my way for the metro lines.

s/y A

As we had finished our refit in Greece overhauling all machinery on Moonlight II we were fit for fight for a summer of charters and we set our heading for the French riviera. Our next stop was the open day display in Nice. It's a small event organized by ECPY with ML2 as the largest participant where we went in 1st and then the port was filled up with all other participants coming in size wise, kept 3-4 pilots busy for an afternoon.

s/y A

Anyway, as we arrived South of France we anchored off St Laurent du Var to wait for entry into port, provisioning and to clean up the salt from the passage from Greece. Luckily the weather was good so we were not totally encrusted. As we sat at anchor the widely discussed s/y A sailed past us. 

s/y A

She had just been launched in Germany and, as per the media, enjoyed a few weeks under arrest in Gibraltar. Apparently she had been released as she was sailing past in front of us. There has been many opinions of her design and it is not my place like or dislike her. I do think she is a marvel of man-made engineering and would like to see her actually under sail. I hope the design of the vessel is satisfying to her Owner, Mr. Andrey Melnichenko, as it is he who has decided on it. I wish fair winds and happy wakes to her with plenty of water under the keel.

s/y A

Suez

After having departed Dubai in good order for European summer we had finally arrived Suez, the ditch of decay and depravity in form of bureaucrats descending on you like the proverbial plague in search of bribes and presents. I have had a few unpleasant transits where the rot was so bad I have no words for it.

Some of the old wrecks trafficking these waters

This time I was using as Agents Meesa Egypt and having used them once before I trusted them to come through well again. True enough shortly after letting go at the outer anchorage the officials started coming and it was cigarettes galore left and right, the worst were the health officials that demanded 8 cartons of cigarettes and to sign a paper that no presents or bribes had been given (sic!) on their visit.

Anchoring at outer anchorage

After the first round we we shifted to the inner anchorage & our Agents were allowed to board as per the rules and we started stamping all papers for the various instances. I have always wondered where these papers end up and who ever reads them? I remember in India it was the same and the forms where copies of copies that were next to illegible, it only mattered that the file had the right header and that at the end there was a ships stamp and Captains signature on it. Once this was cleared we disembarked our security detail and then were left in peace. Shortly thereafter we were hailed on the VHF and assigned a number on the next convoy. It was going to be a non-stop transit.

Bulker

Our transit started on time in the wee-hours and the electricians and linesmen came first and settled in. There was some deliberations of the area they were allowed to use but our Agent soon put an end to it. Of course the customary shop was setup on our aft deck and crew had a look at the trinkets that was on offer to horrendous starting prices. We offered them food and drink as the trip progressed.

Gas carrier

Pilot came last and soon enough we were on the way. The tenderboats were of course hollering for cigarettes & coke and our boys threw them some packets and cans in order not to aggravate them to damage our paint work.

Tanker

Well on the way we soon enough reached Great Bitter Lake and it didn't take long when we changed pilots midway and we were almost through. Some miles before entering the Mediterranean the Agents took his leave and few minutes after the pilots gave his last instructions out and made his way to the pilot ladder.

Happy guys going home

I must commend both pilots I had did not even ask for a present so I volunteered a carton of cigarettes for their admirable behavior. I think even one of them declined the carton altogether.

Maybe there is hope after all for the Canal personnel & authorities to be cleaning up their act?

Signing on p/v Moonlight II

After looking for my next gig after the temp on Lady S I was approached by Owners of Moonlight II to come and put together a dream team and get the boat charter ready for the summer things started moving very fast and on 1st March I was on a plane to London to get indoctrinated in the Burgess office.

Cunard house

I already knew a bit abt the Burgess organisation as Lady S was also managed by them and now I got to meet everyone face to face, always nice to put a face to a name you have been emailing for weeks, sometimes months, without meeting. 

I got to London early morning and after a quick check in to my hotel I moseyed over to Cunard house. After a long day at office meeting managers left and right trying to keep memory of what is being said I was going back to the hotel for the evening so I could catch my outward flight to Dubai early next morning.

I arrived Dubai 2nd March evening and was late after dark onboard and got to installed to a guest cabin and short introductions before hitting the sack. 

Dubai by night of Barasti beach

Next day went quickly as usual when you start with the usual paperwork, then how the boat operates, we actually did a sea trial as well, meeting new faces...

p/v Moonlight II

Next thing you know it's way past dinner time and time to go to bed...   

Dubai anchorage with m/y A

As a footnote to Moonlight II, she was originally built in Syros, Greece as Alysia and owned by the famous businessman Andreas Liveras who got shot in the Mumbai terrorist attack back in 2008. She has a sistership Delma that is named Lady Miri today and is mostly trading in the Far East these days.