Another lockdown… another commute

[katie23]

Re: smileys, I've memorized and and of course and

Still a good thread, Mendy. Have a doner kebab for me when you dock in Istanbul.

[Joe 90]

A proper Turkish kebab!!!
Hmmm, dont post a pic you lucky bastard

[Mendip]

Lots of questions today...

Mendip
I see you said the project is expected to last 8 weeks but you are planning on leaving the boat after 6 weeks... does that mean someone else takes over from you mid project?
Were you at all tempted to stay for the full duration of the project or is the timing all wrong for you to get home for Christmas?
One last question, do you wear a life vest when you hang over the front (bow) of the boat to take those pictures? If you don't then you are crazier than I originally thought.

Yes, someone will replace me. There will be four geos/inspection engineers on for the next project and there will be a lot of change-outs over the eight weeks. I was originally planning to stay for the entire project, but as much as I'd like to, I think another eight weeks will be too much. Another six weeks is too much to be honest. Supposing the project goes faster than anticipated and there's just a few days left after the November 20th crew change then I'll stay no problem. But there is also the follow on job in the Adriatic that will add another week or so... and maybe they get the Greenstream work that will keep the boat down here until the end of the year. You've gotta say 'enough' at some point.

I did promise my daughter I'd be home for Christmas so have mentally planned to stop work by late November, although if ASQ stops being an issue I guess I could work a little longer, so long as my head holds out.

No Ootai, I don't wear a life vest. I have an admission to make... I don't really hang over the bow of the boat to take the dolphin pictures, I said that to make the thread more exciting. I just hold my phone over the side.

Do pods of dolphins usually stay around their own patch of sea, or do they roam around all over the shop as they see fit? country to country blowholing it up.

Is there like a head dolphin, like in a troop of monkeys, that dictates where they go to?

Do pods intermingle round the water cooler, or are there dolphin pod wars?

I appreciate I'm possibly asking the wrong person, a geologist, and not one of the Scandi forum members that clubs and hacks them to death for shits and giggles.

As you say, I'm a geologist, not an expert in cetacean behaviour, but I can try to answer your questions.

I would say that dolphins probably hang around 'their own patch of sea', but maybe they do roam around all over. To be honest it's very hard to tell as they all look the same.

Most social animals tend to have a leader and I guess that dolphins are no different and probably have a 'head dolphin', but maybe not, maybe they're a bit more communist like the Chinese. But again, they all look the same so it would be very hard to tell which one's the boss.

What is this 'water cooler' you speak of? We have one in the mess that also makes ice but I've never seen any dolphins on board.

Anyway, the video I took yesterday finally uploaded and here are a few more for you.

type : kma : or: tosser1 : without the spaces

I can't help but feel that you're setting me up... but when I'm allowed to send you another green I'll try this out.

Well God Bless you Mendy and your new sandals.... it's the thought that counts....

Not only a thought mate, I was still up yesterday afternoon when we passed through the Malta Channel which brought us into closer proximity to Sicily...



And there it is... the faintest outline of land on the horizon, off to the port.

This may well have been the same view your forefathers had when they first glimpsed Europe as they crossed the Med.



This was interesting as they say that the horizon at sea is around 12 nautical miles away due to the geometry of the curvature of the earth. We were just under 19 nautical miles from the Sicilian coast but could see the mountains.



See how there's a tuft of clouds clutching to the land... that's always a good indicator.

[Edmond]

I was watching a video yesterday about the Straight of Hormuz.

This video, to be precise.



And how controlling it pretty much controls the global economy. Which is quite something for a 21Nm stretch of water.

Strait of Hormuz - Wikipedia

Did you ever work on the ships or rigs there?

[Topper]

This is simply the best thread I've read here. Thanks, Mendip. When you get home, the SPAM is on me.

[Saint Willy]

When you get home, the SPAM is on me.

For a month? for a year? for a lifetime?

Ya gotta include the T&Cs on these offers.

[Mendip]

^ Exactly. If I'm in for a lifetime's supply of free SPAM I can jump off this damn boat at Istanbul...

How much SPAM Topper?

Did you ever work on the ships or rigs there?

No, never worked in the Middle East, although I'm starting to look at different possibilities for the future.


As I started my shift tonight I found that we are just off the southern tip of Greece, having crossed the Ionian Sea.



We'll soon start threading our way through the Greek islands on our way to the Dardanelles and I hope to get a few nice photos once it gets light.

The next day should bring back a few memories of a Greek island hopping holiday I had many years ago, but without the enjoyable bits.

[katie23]

^^^what kind of SPAM? SPAM lite, less sodium, with turkey, with cheese, with jalapeño, etc.

And what kind of preparation? There's SPAM fried rice, S-burrito, S-spring rolls, S-burger, S-sushi... the list goes on and on...



Edit: Mendip just posted. Good morning, mendy!

Edit2: that map ^ just shows how trafficky it is in that area. Crazy busy (to a landlubber like me).

Btw, mendy, in one of your maps, there was this cluster of circles (green or red?) on the upper right portion. What were those? That was when you were still in Norway. @Edmond also asked about it (I think) and I don't know if it got answered.

[Saint Willy]

^ There seems to be a heck of a lot of shipping heading up to mainland Europe there, is that Durres or Corfu?

[Mendip]

^^ Morning Katie!

The circles or dots are anchored vessels. You can see clusters of them occur around ports.

^ Most of the shipping heading up to the northwest seems to be bypassing Corfu and heading on up into the Adriatic.

We'll be following the main stream of traffic to the northeast heading up to the Dardanelles and on to Istanbul and the Black Sea.

[katie23]

^thanks, question answered.

I've been on overnight ferries here in PH. During the last few hours, most of us passengers were gathered at the deck or windows, just eager to dock. Hard to imagine the case for seafarers (and submariners), staring at the sea for weeks or months on end. I have friends/ colleagues who have seafarers in their family. Respect.

Cheers and have a great day (or night)!

[Edmond]

crossed the Ionian Sea

Sounds electrifying.

[Mendip]

^ I slept through most of it.

And here is the southern tip of mainland Greece... what I have just learnt is the Mani peninsular.



I went up for a chat with Lui, our nightshift cook and noticed that he's got the galley port holes open for some ventilation. This is a sure sign we're into good weather... you'll rarely see this in the North Sea.



And another bit of excitement tonight... the ship's time has been advanced an hour to GMT+3, Turkish time. This is where my genius of staying on night shift pays dividends. A ship's time always changes in the early hours... so if you know the time will go forward, get yerself on night shift and you'll get one shift an hour shorter! If I was to stay onboard for the return transit to Norway I'd get on day shift rapido.

Remember my motto... Transiting east, get on night shift but transiting west, get on day shift. I've picked up a thing or two in 30 years of doing this shit.

And another bonus... I've just checked and Turkey doesn't put the clocks back at the end of the month, there's no daylight saving so I'm good for the rest of the trip.



This also explained a small mystery to me. Earlier I was Whatsapping with the daughter when I realised it was after 8:30am in Korat and she should have been logged on for her online lessons. I gave her a mild bollocking for being late (only mild because I love messaging with her) but she insisted that she still had another 30 minutes to go. Now it's all become clear.


There's been another strange happening. As part of this ridiculous Management of Change that was implemented to allow me to stay on board for a long trip, I was instructed to take a couple of days off. I said yeah sure, but ignored it... I'm here to earn money. But then I read the email again and it said to charge my days off to both projects... the one I'm finishing and the one I'm about to start! Yes... CHARGE! I didn't need telling a third time... so tonight I finished up at a suitable stage, have written a long handover and am backing up my work to a hard drive to be hand carried back to the office in Haugesund by a returning crew member. I am starting to like the HR department after all!

This gives me unlimited time for this thread but mainly for my Christmas shopping... which I will be paid to do! I've already got the daughter another Monopoly board (which I love because every time one of us gets the Chance card, 'Advance to Trafalgar Square' I can drone on to her about Nelson and the HMS Victory. I've also got her a Cribbage set... I used to love playing Cribbage but have had no-one to play with for years. The dogs are hopeless. I'm already really looking forward to teaching her Cribbage down by the pond in the evenings.

[marcusb]

Cribbage will be a great game for the two of you. Good math skills and strategy skills for mini Mendy too.

[Mendip]

^ Yeah, that's what I'm thinking... and it's a pretty short game as well and doesn't take the whole night... unless you get in the zone and have a session of course.

In many ways I don't want the daughter to grow up, but as she gets older she's turning into a good little buddy and makes good company. My years of training her in cutting sarcasm and cynicism are now paying off and she comes out with some really good stuff!

[happynz]

Welcome to GMT+3.

[Headworx]

I'm already really looking forward to teaching her Cribbage down by the pond in the evenings.

10 Baht a point, double that for a Skunk, quadruple that for a double Skunk. Play your cards right and she'll owe you big money

[Mendip]

^ Good thinking HW.

I've also got her a set of dominoes... plenty of opportunity to claw back some of the pocket money she gouges out of me!

[katie23]

^she may become a professional domino artist. This lady has 3.35M subs on YT and the vid has 23M views!

Like many popular youtubers, she has her own merch. Talented young lady - looks like she's Chinese American (or in general, Asian American).

[Mendip]

^ I instantly got 'YT' but 'subs' and 'merch' took a while.

You make me feel ever so old when you write these words, Katie.

I got my daughter the proper dominoes with dots on but maybe I should get her a few of these as well? I'd certainly prefer her to play with dominoes than start playing Connect 4.

Welcome to GMT+3.

Thank you HNZ, it's good to be here!


During the night we rounded the Peloponnese peninsular without incident, and I think by avoiding foundering on the rocks at Cape Maleas, Armstrong's best opportunity of winning the competition has gone.

One thing for sure... travelling by Istanbul by boat rather than flying has been good for my geography.



At first light I looked back at the Peloponnese peninsular.



I walked up to the bows and you can see that we're now heading well north of east.



But a nice sunrise, nonetheless!

[nidhogg]

During the night we rounded the Peloponnese peninsular

Jesus. Some history there. Home of Sparta and Corinth. Site of the Peloponnesian war (basically Athens versus Sparta, plus allies on both sides).

Awesome.

[malmomike77]

I've also got her a Cribbage set.

Love crib too. I was in our local league for 8 years and paired up with the neighbour, a veritable fish where beer was concerned. Always a Thursday night and i had to make sure i was the driver if i had a heavy workload the following day. We came second in the pair knockout league finals in our first year, god knows how as we were pretty merry by the end. Always had sandwiches or hot food provided and you soon developed favourite away pubs. Some right weird teams, some pubs had the feel of "Keep Off The Moors" from American Werewolf in London.

[malmomike77]

oops.

[katie23]

@mendip - I have younger colleagues & hike mates who are millenials - don't worry, I sometimes feel jurassic when I'm with them. The subs (subscribers) and merch (merchandise), I just got those terms from watching YT.

Re: those creative domino sets, I think it's a good thing, but start with a small set to see if she'll like it. I think it's good - it will teach her critical thinking & creative skills, psychomotor skills and patience. Somehow a bit similar to picture puzzles, or even rubix cubes. Computer games also teach strategy (specially those online role playing games, RPG) but they just add to screen time of kids. I have nephews/ nieces (teens) who are more into RPGs and more computer-savvy than me. Such is life.

[ootai]

But a nice sunrise, nonetheless!

Given you have put your clock forward an hour was the sunrise early or late? Or maybe it was on time?