The first 5 days...

Sunday, 15. October 2017

Off to Hamburt, or maybe not?
Finally the time has come. A last breakfast at home and then off to catch the train from Karlsruhe to Hamburg. It's strange, this whole affair doesn't really excite me, at least not more than other trips.
A quick good by to my mom and then my father is driving me to the train station. My mom is staying at home as my uncle and aunt are dropping by for a spontanius visit.

Finally, we're at the train station and I grab my backpack and my jacket, er, the  jacket... Aaaaaaaarrrrrrrggggg f... s...!!! Hey pa, funny thing, er... We've got to go back home. My jacket is still there with all the papers. That way I can also look for a new train connection right away.
Ok, let's look at the bright side. This way I get to see my uncle and aunt who I haven't seen in a long time. I didn't plan for my trip to Hamburg a day ahead of my embarkment. So there's only a quick pang of pain as I book a new train and arrive in Hamburg 5h later than planned.
There, as a grand start to my trip, I booked a room in the Elbphilharmonie, wow. And for only €50 more I could have had a room with a phantastic view. What can I say, it wasn't worth that much to me after all. I was content with the visitors platform on the 8th floor. That was already great enough😊

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Monday, 16. October 2017

Today is the day, the embarkment. After a yummy breakfast I took a cab to the Container Terminal Altenwerder (CTA) where I was expected around 10 a.m. I had no clue as to the size of the Hamburg harbour!!! The ride to the terminal took about 30min and I had a pleasant talk with the taxi driver who had been going to sea as well. Now, as a pensioneer, he was biding his time as a taxi driver until his wife would become a pensioneer as well.
After I arrived at the CTA a security shuttle brought me to the ship. What a huge vesel. And there it is, the Gangway...

If you're expecting a red carpet, well, tough luck. Also the steps are made for an angle of 45 degrees and not for the estimated 30 degrees it currently has. If your not taking two steps at a time your almost certainly going to land your nose.
Also I have no clue as to why the heck they wanted me to be here at 10 a.m. only to show me to my cabine without much further adoe. Well, there is one positive point worth mentioning. I've been assigned the pilot cabin which, is two decks higher up on the G-deck 😊
For lunch we had pea stew with saussages prepared by our chef from the Philipines. For dinner we had Chili Con Carne. So  you could say that this is really an international affair 😉

I'm curious as to when we depart... They've not been very forthcomming with information so far. Let's have a look out the window... er, we've already left the kay? Wow, I didn't notice anything at all. Too bad I've got no view from down here. I'll simply go up to the outriggers next to the bridge and if they don't like it they can tell me so.
It's a shame that we didn't leave Hamburg when it was still light. In that case I would have had a good view of the Elbe. Well, it has its charmes by night as well.
Okay, now for som Flash Gordon, the original from 1936, to pass the time and then I'll see how I'll sleep on this hard as a plank matrace.

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Tuesday, 17. October 2017

Okay, that was a rather restless night. Not because it was loud or that the ship was rolling too much. No, simply because I've got a light sleep and have to get used to it. Also to this damn hard matrace... Well, I can still sleep on the couche 😊
Today was the safety instruction by the 3rd mate (Brad from Scotland) who's responsible for the safety on board. In case of an emergency if have to go to the bridge including my survival suit and life jacket. Then in the worst case back to A deck, starboard side to get into the rescue boat. They tested it on Monday and everything looked fine.
Generally I may move around the ship freely, even on the bridge, except if a Pilot is on board. Brad also told me that an English passenger would come aboard tomorrow. Then he'll show us the whole ship. This is going to be sooooo cooool 😊
Also I've been told that we'd be between half a day and two days in each harbor. I really should use the chance to have a look at the cities. Maybe I can hitch a ride along.
Today we're in the middle of the North Sea and have some waves. Appears not to be too bad the ship only vibrates a little. I'll go outside and have a look... Ah, a smaller ship. Ooops, that one goes up and down quite a bit, at least 10 feet. He probably has a hard time trinking his coffee. This huge ship simply rolles over the waves and not the other way around. That would take quite a storm to give us hard time drinking coffee...
As for the gym, it was relocated to the deck above mine and is well equipped. As for the pool, it is filled with seawater if desired and the temperature is accordingly. So I have to wait for my warm bathing day until we're further south 😃
The impression I got of the captain on my first day was confirmed today. I think he really is annoyed by passengers... Who cares, Brad makes up for it plenty.
Also there seems to be an Internet connection, if a slow one. Let's see if can upload a few lines.
And now I'll check which of the 200 or so videos I'm going to watch. I'm already done with Svens' book and have donated it the ships library.

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Wednesday, 18. October 2017

Today we were in Antwerp the whole day to on- and off-load cargo. Didn't think that it would take so long. Also, the terminal in Antwerp doesn't seem to be as modern and highly automated as the one in Hamburg.
I could have gone on shore but didn't feel like it. The harbour is quite far away from the city and the cab fare would have cost me a fortune. Instead I tested the gym, well briefly anyhow...
I'm also making a time lapse video of my cruise, at least parts of it, looks really nice 😊

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Thursday, 19. October 2017

After lunch we had our tour through the ship. First we went to the bow. The lines and anchor chains are massive! The ship has two anchors, each with 11 whatchamacallits anchor chain attached to it. One whatchamacallit (Shekel???) equals 27.5 (~90.16 feet)!!! That's a total of 2 x 302,5 m anchor chain!!!

Afterwards we went below deck to the "Bitter End" 😃 It really exists, I've seen it. That's what they call the bolds which secure the anchor chains. If they are unable to retrieve an anchor they pull the "Bitter End" and the anchor including the chain will vanish in the ocean.

Then we continued along the hull. The 3rd mate told us that in a storm you can see the ship twisting down here. From there we had a look at the cargo holds below deck.

There are 8 containers stacked or cargo which doesn't fit into containers for example 4 diesel generators 80t-100t each. Where the cooling containers (Reefers) are they have ventilators running to get rid of the excess heat. I had been wondering what cargo would be transported on the southbound trip. The answer is dangerous good and machinery for the industry. On the trip back goods that need cooling and other stuff. The ship can hold 11503 TEU (20 foot equivalent unit, so that's the small containers) in total, of that a max. of 2100 may be Reefers. Afterwards we went to the stern of the ship to have a look at the "power steering", what a monster. Then we went on to the CO2 storage for the fire exctinction systems. If I counted right there are more than 400 50l bottles of CO2. The tour of the machine room will be done by the 1. Machinist when we're crossing the Atlantic. Before that we have to stop in Le Havre and than in Spain, a new stop on this route.
Well, here a storm has come about and the ship has started to vibrate again. Also now that I've written this whole text a second time I've earned some Flash Gordon 😃

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Friday, 20. October 2017

Actually we were supposed to be in Le Havre around 5 a.m. Instead we satt off the coast of France until noon because our neighors were once strike, again. Now my mate Julien, a guy from England, and I are sitting in the seamans mission in Le Havre to use their Internet access to keep you posted 😊

I'll be back!!!