Roller Coaster in the South China Sea.

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PP:

2nd January 2009.

We left the dock at Jurong Port at 2200 hours New Years Eve - the crew was therefore too busy to celebrate the arrival of 2009. So there was a celebratory lunch on The Day at 1300 hours. Everybody knows us now, so there was a lot more general chat with officers and crew. Sailed through oil fields during the day - lots of oil drilling rigs and associated support vessels.

Davey Jones decided to send us something different from the smooth seas we had been experiencing - so last night and today we have been pitching up and down into quite a large swell. The ship seems to be trying to dance a little (the “South China Seas Quickstep”?): pitch up (two, three) pitch down (two, three) repeat twice, then a sideways skip (two, three) then two large thumps forward with a jerk (heavy bass here) then repeat - or something like that. We were told to expect the ship to be a little “stiff” in choppy and/or rolling seas, and that is what we are experiencing. The “thumps” are when the timing becomes such that the bow is coming down just as the next big wave arrives - it feels as though the ship is halted momentarily by the wave impact! After that we get into synchronization with the waves again for a few more cycles, then repeat. We are also getting showery to heavy rain here. The South China Sea is one of the more shallow water ways we will be going through, so the low pressure system to our north-east seems to have a large effect on the sea state.

We should arrive in Haiphong Roads early tomorrow morning, and we expect to carry out unloading and loading in the Roads, rather than at a wharf - so we’ll have to hijack a local boat to get ashore! (or maybe just hire one).

3rd January.

Just a short addition: during the night the “quickstep” became a heavy metal rock’n’roll with loud cymbals. We added sideways thumps (with heavy roll) to the ensemble and stuff in the cabin began to move to join the dance. This morning the weather improved a little, the motion is slightly smoother, with sideways roll - maybe approaching the “Gulf of Tonkin Waltz”?

Because of the slow down due to heavy weather, we are now expecting to get to Haiphong tomorrow instead of today -morning or afternoon/evening depending on the weather and its effect on our speed.

CS:
PP and my musical tastes are usually similar but this time I query ‘waltz’ etc - there seemed nothing rhythmic about the 24 odd hours of sea mayhem we have just been through. Ho hum, it is over now - for now and not unexpected. Our locking down of loose items was generally efficient except the noise of things moving about inside cupboards and the occasional sliding out of drawers was all distinctly ‘bump’ in the night stuff. My over-indulgence on fine fare at the new year feast stayed put but involved some tummy churning, so my input of solids has been rather limited during the worst of the weather and I got very tired after 3 nights of virtually no sleep, it proved a bit hard to doze off while clutching the edge of the (very comfortably, thankfully) bed to prevent being yet another ‘bump’. It is 10am local time on Sunday 4 Jan and our ever cheery steward Daf has just updated our proposed arrival in Haiphong to about noon. It is fairly grey and bleak weather-wise but the sea is much calmer - we might be being sheltered by Hainan? So the next adventure is to see if and how we can get ashore - we will certainly keep you posted.

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Photos

After a heavy night
Nikko & Gigi checking the lashings.

Comments

[Barbara Brown]

Been there, done that!
Hi guys, My memory of the South China Sea is so similar to yours, except an 8 year old can't wax as lyrical. It was 1955 after all. On our way from Manila to Hongkong we piched and yawed the whole way and meals were skipped or slipped. However, on the way back, we rolled and rolled which allowed us kids to skate from side to side in the smoking room in our socks. Must have had our sea legs by then because we were all fine. Keep it all coming, cheers, Barbara and Bill.