Diary at Sea

Update – More or less back in civilization now, and will add photos to the last few blog posts….

12 October, Port of Xingang, China –

The ship is much smaller than it used to be. With help from two seamen, we wrangle all of our baggage aboard and into our two small rooms. Find out immediately that the ship will be delayed as much as 2-3 days, awaiting delivery of cargo. Would have stayed in Tianjin had we known.

About a third of the crew are familiar to us – the others have all changed since we disembarked the ship in Hamburg around the first of July.

As it turns out, this Rickmers line is being sold to another firm, Seaborn. The ship’s registry and flag will change when we are close to our passage through the Panama Canal, set for on or around 6 November. This news has been met glumly, as scuttlebutt says the new company will pay less for more work.

13 October, still in port –

The ship’s top deck is being loaded with 33 windmill wings, to be transported in addition to other cargo. They look quite graceful, destined for unloading in Corpus Christi, ultimately to populate West Texas wind farms.

We are desperately trying to figure out a way to get back into town. After our first mute and miserable meal with the crew yesterday, we determined that we don’t have nearly enough alcohol to get us through the next 36 days. The challenge is to find reliable transport into – and more importantly, back from – town that won’t rip us off. The captain is unable to get a recommendation from his port agent, and the service that brought us to the ship suggests we should just find a taxi.

But where? The port area is heavily restricted for both security and immigration/customs reasons. This is one of several tragedies for the professional seaman. He may get shore leave when in port, but has few options on where to go. He is not well paid, so a $100 taxi fare is out of his range. He likely does not speak the local language or know where it would be best to go in the port city. He is a target for predators who will take advantage of all of these things to deprive him of what meager assets he has. In some countries, charitable organizations and/or churches have set up Seamen’s clubs where the crew can go to relax, call home and enjoy some time away from the workplace. They even provide free transportation from the dock. And sometimes enterprising businessmen have legitimate stores at or near the port, where goods may be sold duty-free or not, but at reasonable prices.

Sadly, such options do not exist here, so we decide that we must ration what booze we have, to be supplemented by beer from the “slop chest”.
14 October, embarkation –

Ed has lost a leg.

Well, it’s not actually lost – it’s right here, but has somehow become detached from his body. It’s the left rear leg, which has been dragging for a while. Such a delicate limb, and yet it enables him to scale vertical surfaces with ease. He does not seem to be in pain, and has resumed chirping enthusiastically. We’ll get through this. (Ed may not, but we will.)

The New Orleans loads the rest of its cargo, and puts to sea a bit earlier than called for in the revised plan. Xingang is not a very dramatic port, so there are no interesting panoramas to view as we leave – only another city in China with a few skyscrapers towering over multitudes of mid-sized apartment buildings. As we pull away from the wharf, a single gull trails behind us – joined by hundreds more after we pass through the jetty that separates the port area from the sea.

It feels great to be back under way. The wind is fresh and brisk, and the gentle motion of the water is reassuring.

15 October, Yellow Sea –

Lunch was virtually inedible strips of fried beef gristle. A flurry of activity at the confluence of the galley, officer’s and crew mess rooms tips us off that the “slop chest” is open. Only to find that no wine is available, the beer supply scanty, and we are lucky to get on the list for a case of 24 bottles. (Not really much for 2 thirsty people for a month!).

The slop chest is basically a company store – stocking beer, wine, cigarettes, snacks and grooming supplies (toothpaste, shampoo) that can be sold offshore duty-free to the crew for their personal use during the voyage. This cargo ship business is clearly squeezed financially (witness the cheap provisions, including poor-quality food, and the less-than-pristine maintenance of the accommodations). As a cost-neutral proposition, what possible reason could there be to be stingy with the slop chest?

Frozen pizza for dinner, no salad. Apparently the cook gets a little break Sunday nights. He has the nerve to ask how we liked it…. Fishing for a compliment? Not bloody likely!

Update on Ed – with free access to the cabin for a couple of hours, he’s quite active climbing around and snuggling up to his Papa Henry. Falls a couple of times as he learns to compensate for his severed limb.

16 October, East China Sea –

A typhoon near the Philippines sends rough seas north to the East China Sea. We wake to wind, rain, and pitching and rolling that continues through the day. We spend some time on the bridge watching the water break over the front of the ship, contemplate another mostly inedible lunch (fried pork fat), but mostly we nap. (Henry feels a teensy bit queasy and takes a prophylactic dramamine pill; Robbie’s inner ear seems unaffected by the ship’s movement.)

Another indication of the state of the general cargo shipping business – it appears the karaoke machine is on the fritz. The Filipino crew members are reduced to singing gently along to the guitar strumming of one of their shipmates. This sad fact, added to the paucity of available beer, reduces the overall hilarity factor on board rather considerably.

17 October, East China Sea –

I now understand better why so many poor people are fat.

Our bodies crave proper nourishment. When we eat healthful food in appropriate quantities, we tend to be a healthy weight. When, however, we are fed cheap food, our bodies (still seeking needed nutrients) continue to eat whatever is available – and if that is only cheap food, we eat more and more of it, and are still unsatisfied. And the cycle continues until we’ve packed on way too much avoirdupois.

Cheap food includes the usual suspects – potatoes, white rice, white bread, processed items (such as cereal) with lots of sugar, inexpensive cuts of meat (pork fat, stringy and gristly meat), imitation dairy products, sugary beverages.

We desperately need vegetables, fruits, pure dairy, lean protein and whole grains for optimal functioning of our systems…… and satiety.

My erstwhile trainer Edward had many clients who, when introduced to healthful eating, complained that they could not eat all of the (nutrient-dense) food prescribed. But those that did lost weight, improved their health and felt great.

This phenomenon is becoming apparent as we experience the limited range of cheap food that is served here. Our weight gain may be hard to determine as we have overdone a bit on this trip already. But we look forward to regaining control of hunger and eating upon our return home.

18 October, North Pacific Ocean –

The weather has calmed down a bit – blue sky and sun emerge, and the sea quiets. We venture to the bow of the ship, hoping to see dolphins cavorting nearby, but all we see is a flying fish or two, and a frigate bird seeking the same.

We have now passed the tip of Japan and are headed straight across the Pacific Ocean, roughly along the 30 degree latitude line. Originally we were to loop far north near the Aleutian Islands, but the captain changed our course to avoid some bad weather. This adjustment may add as much as 4 days to our passage. (The straight-across path may look shorter on a map, but it does not factor in the curvature of the earth, which makes the loop north the shorter route…..)

We will see how we progress, however, as we trundle along at roughly 12 to 15 miles per hour.

PS….  Ed is still fine, and we scored another case of beer through gentle manipulation of our “honored” status as passengers.  Happy days.