Seafaring Experience

[This post was posted by my guest blogger]

Introduction

This short article describes my seafaring experience working offshore as a surveyor. It has been an adventurous and memorable trip with many new experiences for me to treasure and remember.

My journey started as I left KLIA on a bright sunny afternoon. To my surprise, I was put on Business Class from KLIA to my next destination. It was a short trip and I slept all the way (my daughter said it was a waste as I should have enjoyed the facilities, instead of sleeping). Once landed, I walked out of the airport looking for the agent. I spotted a man holding a sign with my name on it. I introduced myself, and we were both happy that we got one another.

The first news is that is my transfer to the Survey Vessel by boat which is scheduled that night had been postponed till the weather improves. Due to strong winds and high waves, we have been advised by the metrological department not to travel offshore.

I was put into a small hotel by the agent. The instruction from the agent is “on your hand phone and do not stray too far “. I was left alone for the next 48 hours.

This gives me plenty of time to explore this small town. I spent my time walking around every street in the immediate vicinity. Like a tourist, I wander around with a small map. I visited a “WORLD WAR II” museum. As expected the place is deserted and I believe I am the only visitor for the past many days. The attendant said the entrance fee is RM1 which I gladly paid. I walked around the museum and was given full attention by the three attendants. I am sure this visit will score 100% on a Cost Benefit Analysis.

After two days of living as a carefree tourist, wandering around like a headless chicken, I received a phone call from my agent. The weather had improved and the crew boat is leaving few hours later.

I was taken on a van for a short trip to a jetty. I was put among another 35 guys on a crew boat (tug boat) to begin my first trip offshore

From Jetty to Vessel

Since my much, much younger days as a fearless surveyor, I have known to respect the sea as I easily suffer from sea sickness.

My first hour of the trip was a rather pleasant one, as we cruised along the river and move slowly towards the open sea. Once we are in the open sea, the wind started to pick up and the waves get stronger. Our boat rocks from left to right and tilts from front to back. We are all thrown up, down, left and right. All the things in my view moves and swings like crazy. I feel my stomach rolling inside. My whole body rocks. I sweated, feel nausea and had a headache. It was unbearable.

I closed my eyes and try to sleep. But it is not working. My head began to spin and I rushed to the toilet but found that both of them were occupied. I rushed out to the deck and starting vomiting. I did not throw out food as I was on empty stomach but I threw out the acid in my stomach.

I did not go back to the cabin but instead lied down on the deck which is hard and cold. I look up to the moon and stars. They were doing the disco dance, even after I thought disco had died. The whole sky was moving. The cool breeze helped and I felt slightly better.

One seaman takes pity on me and he passes me a life jacket which I used as a pillow. Half an hour later, I started vomiting again. My mouth is dry and my body is weak. I am afraid that I am going to die. There is a joke about sea sickness “First you get so sick that you afraid you are going to die. Then you are sure you are going to die. Then you are afraid you are NOT going to die”

After few hours the vomiting stopped and I fell asleep. The deck is hard and cool but I still sleep like a baby, totally exhausted.

I was woken up by the seaman as we arrived at the Survey vessel. I look at my watch. It was 4am in the morning. I had survived this dreadful 11 hours boat ride. I was lifted up in a basket to the Survey Vessel (kind of like delivering eggs in a basket). It was a definite relief. This vessel measure 150m X 50m. It is a big ship, like a cruise.

Life on board

On the bow of the vessel is a five storey living quarters. My office is on the Navigation Bridge located at the top floor. My room is on the first floor which I shared with 3 others surveyors. We had attached bathroom, a phone and TV but without window. On board we have gym, laundry, dining mess and telephone room. The whole five storey living quarters is fully air conditioned. We have hotel-like food for all our meals. The living condition here is excellent except that alcohols and drugs are strictly prohibited.

The survey vessel is on 24 hours operation. My shift starts 12 noon and ends 12 midnight. For entertainment, I go to the gym for an hour daily (desperate to shed those pounds). We have computer for us to surf on the Internet. We have free phone calls but limited to five minutes per call

Construction Offshore

On board we have about 250 people of different nationality. The Marine Captain and sea man are mostly Dutch, British, French and Filipino. The Divers and ROV (Remote Operated Vehicle) operators are whites and the welders and riggers are mostly Malaysian. The IT guy and few engineers are Indian. The cook and the cleaners are of all different nationality.

We are here to install a platform for the Oil & Gas Industry. The construction method is very much like on land expect for the environment and the deep blue sea around us.

Change in life style and loneliness

The biggest challenge working offshore is not the work but the change in lifestyle. Here, life is very much restricted. There are no walks in the park or shopping in a mega mall. We all miss our families, friends, and our social life. There are no weekends or holidays as we work around the clock.

The good things here are the peaceful and simple life. I enjoy working out in the gym. I walk around the heli pad in the evening. We have beautiful sunrise and sunset over the horizon.

At night I will go up to the top deck to enjoy the cool sea breeze and gaze into the sky and watch the million of stars and the moon, something you don’t see very often in a big city.

In ancient times, before the Chinese invented the compass, the Arabs used to travel from Oman to India using the stars as their only navigation tools. It is not an easy task to identify a pattern of star among the millions especially when you are suffering from sea sickness. The stars only appear on a cloudless night. So the Arab sailor can only reposition their ship once a few days. The Arabs bring their spices and frankincense to India and exchange for rice, tea and coffee

When the Chinese sail south in search of treasure, after a period in the sea, the sailors will fall sick due to lack of certain vitamins which is contained in fresh vegetables. To overcome this problem, the Chinese preserved fresh vegetable with salt i.e. “salted vegetable” as we all know.

These ancient sailors, even in their wildest dream, will never imagine that we can now sail around in a ship with satellite navigation and communication system. We have clean water, fresh fruits and vegetable every day and our food is fit for their Emperor and Sultan.

Needless to say, because of the poor equipment and lack of knowledge in navigation, many early day sailors had perished in the open sea. For many years until recent times, seafaring is the most dangerous job. There is an Old English saying, “It is a choice between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea”. The English are saying that the Deep Blue Sea is just as evil and dangerous as the Devil. And as I battle my sea sickness, I can’t say I disagree with them.

Seaman at work

On a daily basis, we have a material barge sending building material to us, like pipes, oxy, food and all our daily consumable.

So this material barge is usually towed in by one or two tug boat to be along side our vessel for transfer of goods by crane. The marine captain will direct the barge, while the seaman will tie ropes to secure the barge.

On a good day, when the sea is clam and the waves are gentle the whole operation will be easily carried out. But when the sea is rough it can be a daunting task.

The main vessel will be rocking gently, while the barge next to it will be dancing and rocking vigorously. It is then the captain and the seaman job to “tame” and tie down the barge (try imagining a fierce lion and a circus performer with a whip, and you’ll get the idea). The Captain will be shouting and giving instructions by walkie-talkie, while the seaman will be running, and trying hard to pull the rope.

It can be a rather dangerous job. I was told, once a steel rope broke under extreme tension and “cut across” two seamen and killed both of them.

Once, I heard a Captain (feeling very tense and frustrated) shouting to the sea man “I am speaking to you in English, do you understand?” There was no reply from the seaman so the captain shouted louder the second time, “I am speaking to you in English, do you understand?”

After repeating the same question 7 times with no reply, the captain finally realizes that the seaman does not speak English. It is hilarious. Like yelling Japanese to an African.

Christmas and New Year

All of us were working during Christmas and New Year. Almost all the festivals are associated with family. Since all our families are not with us, so Christmas and New Year are non-events for us poor souls in the middle of the Ocean.

We do have lobster and turkey for Christmas and a delicious meal for New Year Eve (my son was furious when I refused to bring back some of the food, especially turkey). On New Year Day, the Chief Cook offers me a bottle of Sparkling Mineral Water with no Alcohol and he called it “Malaysian Champagne” which I politely rejected. What kind of drink is that??

End of my Seafaring Experience

Coincidentally, this vessel is an all-male vessel. There are no ladies working here. We have a rigger; he is rather small with long hair and a girlish look. Every one here calls him by his nickname “Darling” (I squirm a little every time someone calls him that). The joke here is that “If you start to notice that your fellow seaman has fair skin with pretty eyes, then that means your stay in the sea is over and it is time to go home”

After working on board for 41 days and successfully installed two oil platforms and before I start calling any of the guys here “Darling”, I am glad that I had completed my “Tour of Duty”.

The return trip back on land was a joyous one. I took the crew boat and it is just 3 hours journey back to the nearest port. After 41 days and some bad experience, I am getting better in handling sea sickness.

Now as I am writing the ending of this article and after staying on land for 3 weeks now, I am itching to go back to the sea again. The sea sickness is not something I’m looking forward, unfortunately.

Till then ……………. Bye