DAY 212 TUESDAY OCTOBER 23 FIJI

All the preparation the crew did yesterday could have been done today. We woke at 6am in time to see the pilot heading back to shore after guiding the ship through the reef.  We were anchored in the harbour and were flying a Fiji flag.

  Three Quarantine inspectors came on board to check that the ship was "clean". After they had eaten breakfast at the captain's table and accepted a gift of a bottle of whisky each they were taken back to shore. Then three more officials came on board, one of whom was the ship's local agent.

They left at 9am.  There were three ships ahead of us and the loading is done with slow cranes so we were told we would not come into dock till 6am tomorrow.
We went to the foc'sle and saw a snake swimming around the ship.

There were two ships waiting in front of ours.

We looked at Suva from the bridge.

We wondered who lived in this mansion. Is it Frank Banimarama?

The engineers spent the day catching up with maintenance then after dinner Marian the Romanian second engineer invited us to view the engines.  We went up and down 5 floors below deck of motors, pumps and control boards.  Just amazing.  But very hot and noisy.

It is all controlled in this airconditioned room:

We took many more photos but will never remember what they all were.

DAY 211 MONDAY OCTOBER 22 THE ROPES

As we are due to arrive in Fiji tomorrow the crew were busy preparing the ship for port.  We went to the bow as usual to watch the flying fish .  Soon after a group of 4 crew arrived and opened a storage hatch.  They proceeded to haul out long lengths of mooring rope using the electric winch and the capstans and wound them carefully around on top of a pallet.  Eventually they had three neat, solid piles of rope that would unwind easily when they were to be drawn out onto the dock. They did the same at the stern, then prepared the gangway ready to be lowered.  That kept us entertained for an hour or so, learning the ropes as the saying goes.

DAY 210 SUNDAY OCTOBER 21 REST DAY

Everyday is Sunday for us but the crew only get one day per month.  This one gives them a chance to recover from the BBQ last night.
The seas have been calm for a few days now but as we move away from the equator there is more movement.  We saw more flying fish and a few brown birds, suggesting we are closer to land.

DAY 206 WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 17 BACK TO NORMAL

Calm seas, a little rain. On the bridge.

 Followed our routine: walk around the ship, look for fish, do a crossword, watch a video and get the captain telling stories of Russia and his adventures on the ocean. Stories like this one:
Big ship, motor stalls, no power, ship 5 minutes from land, darkness, smoke coming from the engine room, first officer in a panic and not responding to orders.  Captain had to stay on the bridge to avoid running aground. What to do?
"Simple solution" he said.  Tell the mate to act as if this was just a drill which he had done every month. Order the crew to release the brakes on the anchors and let them slip into the water by gravity. Get the mate to supervise the crew in a "fire drill" and go into the engine room to put out the fire.
Outcome:  They found the main connection to the drive shaft had come adrift and the rubber housing was being ground up and sending smoke everywhere.  The motor was OK so they just had to get repairs done to the shaft.  The ship was safely anchored 2 minutes before they ran aground.

DAY 209 SATURDAY OCTOBER 20 DRILLS

Today was a "testing" day. This morning the electricians set off the smoke alarms as a regular testing procedure. They are louder than domestic ones.
At 1pm there was a monthly safety drill.  The evacuation signal was seven short and one long blasts on the siren. We took a life jacket and a helmet down to the designated assembly area on the poop deck at the stern. The crew were all there in boots and overalls wearing helmets and jackets.  They must have started before the bell. The second mate announced that there was a fire in the engine room. Two large water hoses were unrolled and connected then squirted over the back rail into the wake of the ship. A crew member climbed into a silver fire suit and a breathing apparatus was strapped to his back.  He was followed by several crew to an engine room on the main deck and used an extinguisher on the pretend fire. The second mate declared drill over.
Then the evacuation siren went off again and the mate announced abandon ship. Life jackets were donned again and some of the crew boarded the life boat. The drill was declared over and all climbed out again without launching.
Everyone except us then went up to the bridge for a safety lecture. Good to see they take safety very seriously. It is always on their minds.
At 5pm all except an officer on the bridge and another in the engine room came to the muster station on the poop deck again for a BBQ which was postponed from last Saturday because of the weather.  Pork chops and prawns followed by Karaoke. The crew were in good spirits.

DAY 208 FRIDAY OCTOBER 19 FISH

Anoher sunny day with calm seas and we follow our routine. We see some flying fish, including a group of eight. We are very relaxed. The wake:

DAY 207 THURSDAY OCTOBER 18 EQUATOR

The sea is very calm and the sun is shining. We went for our daily walk then up to the bridge at 10.20 . We were told that the ship was about to cross the equator, so we waited and took a photoof the GPS latitude at 00 00 00.

Is it all down hill from here?At 6pm we went onto our balcony and watched our first lovely sunset of this trip.

 The equatorial weather at sea is pleasant.  Warm but not uncomfortably hot.

DAY 205 TUESDAY OCTOBER 16 BALLAST WATER

Another bright, sunny, smooth sea day. We did our usual walk around the narrow passage on the main deck and looked over the bow.  We finally got to see a couple of individual flying fish. Malcolm took a 16 minute video of a tour around the ship.  The third officer was in charge on the bridge as we took the movie.

As we came back along the starboard side we noticed water gushing out of a hole just below the main deck.  Was it pumping out of the hold?  Then we saw there were three holes on each side of the ship disgorging water at a tremendous rate.  When we enquire the officers explained that they needed to change over the ballast water that is used to balance the ship.  They discharge it back near the same area where they take it on board to avoid contamination.  It has to be recycled to prevent it going stale.
We watched our DVD  "The Last Emperor of China"  which was very meaningful because we had visited the Forbidden City where much of it was filmed.  It filled in a lot of gaps in our understanding of China in the Twentieth Century.

DAY 204 MONDAY OCTOBER 15 NICE DAY AT LAST

We woke to a beautiful sunny day with smooth seas just as the captain promised.  After breakfast we took a walk around the ship.  Even though the ship is quite new there are plenty of rust spots showing and the crew take every opportunity to repair and repaint.  The bosun was hosing the salt off. The focsle was not as big as the Manet and so there was not as much room between the winches and capstans.

We looked over the bow for flying fish but no luck today.  There was a following breeze so it was very quiet and pleasant.

We went up to the bridge to read the seafarer's newspaper and the captain  told us us that the tropical storm had been named "Maria" (another link to Sound of Music).  It went north and we sailed south, so we left it quite suddenly.
We stopped in the middle of the day and the engineers turned off the main motor and replaced the gasket.  The auxiliary motors kept the power, lights, water and A.C. going.

DAY 203 SUNDAY OCTOBER 14 PANIC

Life is never boring for long on a container ship.  We had a fairly calm night .
At 5:45am it started to rain heavily. There had been no weather warning sent to the ship and no sign of it on radar. The ship was rolling again. It was dark outside. We stayed in bed. At 6:10 our smoke alarm started a continuous scream. We dressed hastily and climbed up to the bridge to find the officers busy in the semidark. The captain was madly pushing buttons with one hand and listening to a handheld radio.  We sat in the corner out of the way. We noticed that the fire doors on the stairs had all closed automatically. The ship was still rolling.  The captain was talking to the electricians and seemed reassured but it was difficult to hear over the screaming alarms.  The second officer came over and told us they had checked with the engine room and the kitchen and there was no fire. The electricians reported a short to ground in the alarm system caused by water washing in. We had sat quietly up to that time as the officers needed to deal with the problem speedily. It was only after twenty minutes that the alarm stopped. We went back to our cabin quite relieved but the ship was still rolling. Fortunately our stomachs had adapted now and seasickness was not a problem.
Later the captain told us he was surprised that the heavy rain had not shown on the radar and the cyclone was no longer near us. He showed us the latest report that indicated this was a new tropical storm that developed suddenly. It was very localised and about five miles square but we travelled through it for five hours and the seas stayed rough for a lot longer. He gave us a copy of the report which showed its predicted course towards Japan. The storm only showed on the chart after we had come through it, so it surprised everyone. We hit it where it started on the bottom of this chart.

The engineers had planned to replace a gasket in the main engine today so we were going to stop eight n.miles off the island of Saipan for a couple of hours but the weather was still bad so we sailed straight past. We spent a couple of hours on the bridge today and the captain assured us the seas would be quite calm as we got closer to the equator.

DAY 202 SATURDAY OCTOBER 13 BEDLAM

At 4.30am we awoke to hear loud crashing and banging and got up to find DVDs, a fan, a desk lamp and pens scattered around on the floor.  We found out later that the ship had leaned at 20 degrees in the big swell.  We straightened things up and left them on the floor so they would not fall again.  The big swell continued for much of the day.  It finally eased in the evening.

DAY 201 FRIDAY OCTOBER 12 ROLLING

The ship was East of the cyclone as it moved towards Tokyo. That meant a big swell was hittng the starboard side and the ship was rolling all day.  We still did not have our sea stomachs and Lyn needed to stay near the bathroom. The cabin was too hot so Tekabwe our steward from Kiribati brought us two fans which pleased Lyn a lot. He is keeping our fridge stocked with milk, fruit and juice. The big grapes are just right for this weather. The wrist bands did not work this time.

This is how you abandon ship nowadays.  Roller coaster ride.

DAY 200 THURSDAY OCTOBER 11 CYCLONE

At 5am we came out of the protection of the Japanese Islands and into the rough seas. We needed to hold on wherever we walked and ate minimal food today. We had worse weather on the Manet in April.  We spent most of the day in the cabin listening to music on the Macbook which now has 900 tracks in it so should get us home. Lying down was the best position today. We got a good look at the bridge.

That is the captain in the white shirt.

DAY 199 WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 10 DEPARTURE

We woke up still in Busan port. We had met Michael, the Captain and the Company Inspector from Germany when we boarded last night. Our cabin was well prepared and we were able to go straight to bed. We looked around the dock from the ship.  It was a huge port with plenty of cranes to spare.

 At 7.30 we went down to the poop deck for breakfast in the Officers Mess. The Captain put us opposite him and told us we were welcome on the bridge any time day or night,"but dont push any buttons."

The ship left at 11am and the Captain warned us that on Thursday and Friday we would be on the edge of a cyclne with winds of 60 knots and 11 meter waves.  He changed our course so that we went SE through the Japanese Islands. We saw many lighthouses and wind generators.

 We watched The Hunchback of Notre Dame with Gina and Anthony on DVD to see the inside that we did not queue for in Paris.

DAY 198 TUESDAY OCTOBER 9 EMBARK

Today marks the start of the final stage (stage 7?) of our world tour.  Heading South for home.  It is all downhill from here.  We walked up to the Busan Tower again this morning and it is very nice up there. It is popular with the tourists and the local retirees but is never really crowded.  We wanted to have a look at the Museum of World Musical Instruments and for $1 each entry fee it was a treat. Amazing collection of everything except some of the modern symphony orchestra stuff.  We could not find any Mongolian instruments, surprisingly, because they are very proud of their musical traditions.  We saw the Korean harp which featured on Day 195 and the Australian traditional instruments: bull roarer  clapping sticks and didjeridoo.

We managed to photo most of the exhibits before a woman wagged her finger and told us "no photos".

We went through the Chimseon exhibition of clothing sewn by hand.

 Here are two more:

Morning tea was at the very nice pagoda cafe for $7.
Back at the hotel we finished packing and checked out at 11.30am.  We offered to pay for phone calls we made, but they waved us away and wished us well.  Very generous.  Checked our luggage in with the porter and sat in the lobby to check on emails and facebook.
Went to the Underground Shopping Centre again but found most of the shops closed for the day.  Don't know why. Kept walking up to the "world famous" fish market which went on for a kilometer of shops. Here are some of the items for sale:

We have seen a number of women carrying trays on their head.

They probably start work early here so we found two more to add to the file of "asleep on the job".
We kept walking along till we got a good view of the bay, but could see no container ships.

On the way back to the hotel we noticed a lot of police moving parked cars along and getting ready for some sort of procession.

 Eventually a couple of police cars escorted this black car along with sirens going.  A VIP of some sort.

Back at the hotel we got a phone call from our driver saying he would now pick us up at 2200 and the ship would dock at 2300, so it will probably be after midnight when we get to our cabin. Going to be a long wait in the hotel lobby.  Lyn found another one asleep on the job.

In the hotel lobby there are three sculptures.  We were led to believe that same sex relationships are frowned upon in Asian countries.  What do you make of these?

Probably no more postings possible for ten days now while we are at sea.