PP: 5th May 2009: Having left Jakarta (finally) at about 2 AM on the 4th May, we had an uneventful cruise northwards through the Java Sea between Sumatra and Borneo, clipped the South China Sea and to Jurong Port in Singapore from the east this time in. Again the "Captain for fine weather" scored well - the only rain was at night. Smooth conditions all the way. We arrived at the dock at 1430 hrs (same dock position as the last time, four and a half months ago) and waited two and a half hours for Immigration to clear us (tookthem [View Full Entry]

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PP: 3rd May 2009: From entering the Sunda Straits (between Sumatra and Java) we entered into a security area again - for piracy, but not the hi-jacking kind. Here they sneak aboard to steal what they can, then depart hastily (I’m told). So I can’t do any deck circuits until after we leave Jakarta. Once we arrived at the dock area, we had to wait outside at anchor until our space became available - just a bit over half a day. We docked at 3 AM this morning. About ten o’clock we had shore passes, so I went with the lady [View Full Entry]

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PP: 20th April: Well, we didn’t really see any sewers, it actually seemed quite clean. The second half of the canal run was quite interesting, and fairly close to the Bitter Lake there was an airfield that looked very military, long runways, no aircraft movements, but plenty of sand covered mounds (bunkers and hangars) with big doors onto taxyways. There was then a very interesting visual phenomenon where the early ships in the convoy going south (we were about halfway in the convoy) were around corners and therefore over the sand from us. This looked for all the world as though [View Full Entry]

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PP: 24th April 2009: Nothing much to see yesterday or the day before, apart from when we passed through the strait between Yemen and Djibouti. We could see both sides, but fairly barren. Then we entered the Gulf of Aden and ship security was upgraded. From there until past the island of Socatra (off the “horn” of Somalia) we are not allowed outside on deck, no lights showing outside at night (apart from minimum navigation lights) and regular reports to task force warship HQ. All eastbound and westbound ships are timed to be in various bunches within this area at similar [View Full Entry]

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PP: 16th April 2009: As most of our friends will know by now CS reluctantly jumped ship in Italy in order to return to work commitments back home so I have been a lonesome traveller for this leg. At least it meant the pirates were spared the risk of running into CS in a bad mood.... ........There was some tricky loading of extra large gas tanks onto the deck before departure today, and we managed a quick lunch in the cafe at the gate. It had rained during that loading and we departed into fairly steady rain. Headed southerly, but west [View Full Entry]

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PP: Tuesday 14th April: Arrived in Livorno yesterday morning, as the sun was rising through haze and mist - beautiful sunrise. The port area is quite tidy and clean, and it is quite busy but not as big as some we've been to. We were a bit slow starting to explore because the new Chief Mate (Michael) was a bit offhand about letting us know when er were cleared by immigration. I chased the Captain and he confirmed everything was okay. So about lunchtime we went to the city centre. Some nice Italian dock people with not much English drove us [View Full Entry]

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CS: Sat 4 April: Heavy fog outside all around the ship, visibility is likely to remain poor; we are in the North Sea! I found a German FM radio station playing easy listening music which maintained reception for a while. I’ve actually had very little joy from the short wave facility. The passage from Antwerp to the river mouth was short but completely hidden behind the grey fog and steely sea. We were on the Bridge as the pilot came on board from the (unusually) dual hull pilot vessel, which emerged suddenly from the gloom. PP estimated visibility as a mere [View Full Entry]

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CS: Tues 7 April: Shore leave finished at 10am; expecting to leave this afternoon. We got underway about 2pm; we had a wonderful view of the docks, the river and Hamburg as we sailed into the Elbe and out to sea. It seems Craig’s jinx (which operated to ensure that everything interesting happens in the dark) has indeed been allayed. The weather was still bright so we could see clearly the city skyline and the lovely settlements along the length of the river. There were strips of beach at some points along the shore not far from the city and numerous [View Full Entry]

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CS: Saturday 11th April (darktime): We had expected to make the Strait of Gibraltar about 8pm so see it in daylight since it has been light till after 9pm in our area lately. However things changed during the day because we are ahead of schedule and with Easter on there is no advantage in getting to Livorno on 13th so the Captain wants to kill about 12 hours. He stopped the ship about 10am but we wallowed so badly in the swell that we soon got under way again. Not for long, in the early afternoon we stopped again, rolled a [View Full Entry]

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CS: Sunday 12 April: We continued to enjoy good weather throughout the afternoon, and had a wonderful view of the Spanish coastline all the way from Almeria to Cartagena and beyond. We were called over the loudspeaker to attend the party at 5.30. I presented the picture of cranes which I had completed to the Captain; it is dedicated with a label: ‘SHIP SHAPES at SUNSET’ Everything interesting happens after dark To the Captain and crew of Rickmer Seoul in appreciation of a truly enjoyable adventure. He seemed pleased with the gesture and said he would hang it in the ship&rs [View Full Entry]

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