Thought I’d crack open Microsoft Word for this update since my satellite internet sucks ass when we are at sea and I don’t want to risk losing my post timing out.
I caught a new ship in late August, and flew out to Singapore to settle in for a 120 day rotation. Not exactly thrilled about working 4 months in a row, but the contract is much better paying than my previous one, and this particular vessel is what is known as a ‘tramp’ ship. Meaning that we never know what port we are going to visit. The schedule is constantly changing.
I’m grossing just over $15,000 a month here, so I’m probably going to just suck it up and power out my rotation and then chill for 4 or 5 months. Maybe go back to Mexico to grind Stars. Not really sure yet. I may cut it a month short and get off in late November because I was thinking about playing the WSOP Circuit Main Event at the Bike in early December.
I almost didn’t catch this ship because our unions medical department was giving me shit about an elevated (LDL) cholesterol level, plus the fact I couldn’t pass this stupid blow test which basically measures lung capacity.
Initially, the test wasn’t administered properly by the doctor conducting my physical, and the first ruling was that I had the ‘lungs of a 90 year old man’
I was like WTF because I sailed through the fitness aspect of the physical and my lungs are just fine. But I was pretty pissed off because the results of the blow test were the only thing holding me back from securing my contract, and I unloaded on the fucking idiots at the medical department…which I imagine most likely red flagged me.
I went back to the doctor’s office and they had the manufacturer’s rep there to ‘coach’ me through the blow test again…and of course, the new results were normal. The doctor emails over the new results to my unions medical department, but they still refused to declare me ‘fit for duty’ so I went off on them big time for being clueless desk riders with the heads up their asses.
I had to meet my ship in Singapore in less than 48 hours, and ended up pleading with my port agent and the hiring manager at the company to ship me out anyway, and with a little bit of smooth talking, managed to convince the company to sign off…essentially giving me a waiver for the not fit ruling. So here we are.
As I write this, it’s 3:30 AM and our vessel is roughly 150 miles south of Sri Lanka, en route to the Suez Canal in the Arabian Sea. We are due to hit Piraeus, Greece next week…followed by Italy, England, Belgium, and the Netherlands. After that, nobody knows, but I have a hunch we are heading back to the United States.
We are carrying a shitload of Apache helicopters, Blackhawks, and a few hundred heavy duty Humvee’s intended for Army use in Europe. Once we offload the military cargo in Greece and Italy, we are loading roughly 2000 Ferrari’s, BMW’s, Bentleys, and Maserati’s to deliver probably in the U.S.
This morning we picked up 3 private security contractors since we’re traversing arguably the most dangerous waters in the world with a high risk of piracy. Our present course puts us only 300 miles off the coast of Somalia (the exact same waters that ‘Captain Phillips’ got the Maersk Alabama hijacked in)
These guys are Army Rangers and ex Special Forces vets with multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Needless to say they are fucking bad asses. Their role here is to escort us through these waters before getting off the ship in about a week when we hit Egypt. They brought an arsenal of weapons, and patrol the decks locked and loaded with semi and fully automatic rifles. I have to admit its kind of cool having them on board.
I guess that’s about it for an update. My routine is basically wake up…power out breakfast, then pretty much chill out the rest of the day letting my crew do most of the work. I supervise a crew of 5 guys, and aside from breakfast, most of my job is more less administrative.
I just took on a $30,000 dollar provision order in Singapore, and my reefer and freezers are packed about 6 feet high. My job is essentially menu planning, delegating overtime, and supervising galley operations. For the most part it’s pretty kick back. The best part is that my only boss is the captain, and he pretty much leaves me alone.
Many of the Chief Stewards in my union do the bare minimum, and just slap together a blue collar, run of the mill, generic menu. But personally, I like to throw my Chief Cook curve balls, and push the envelope. It’s just too easy to just offer a menu like grilled ham and cheese sandwiches or chicken nuggets, so I’m constantly looking for ways to challenge him and make him earn his money.
Plus ultimately, I’m responsibly for the quality of food, and if it sucks, then the crew gets pissed. So despite the fact my Chief Cook probably thinks I’m an asshole for writing menus that require a lot of prep work, he can fucking blow me. I demand good food and so does everybody else, so that’s the way it’s gonna be. Tough shit motherfucker. You don’t like it, get off the ship in the next port. Bon voyage’
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I’ll definitely post some pics after we hit Athens, Greece. Taking the day off to visit the Parthenon, the Acropolis, and temple of Zeus.
If anyone here has been to Athens before, I’d love some tips or suggestions of where to go. We will only have a short amount of time in port, so I want to make the most of it.
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Oh and FTR, I haven’t had a drop of alcohol for almost a month now. This is by far the longest I’ve been sober for the last 10 years…and I hate to admit it, but I feel pretty damn good. But that’s not to suggest that I won’t be getting totally hammered at the first opportunity
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Peace out bitches
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Originally Posted by duped_samaritan
