Transatlantic Tow 2006, Day 8

Friday, June 30th, 2006

Ahoy again, friends and rellies!

Fog, fog, fog, then one sunshine-y day, rain yesterday and now today more fog. Sigh.

We're supposed to be within sight of land tomorrow, so the rumour mill goes. Everyone is pretty eager to hurry up and get there, and see what that part of this odyssey is all about. (Gee, I just used spellcheck, and I spelled "odyssey" right! Not bad!!)

I've been waiting on a gas tester person to take me outside so I could get some photos, but that wasn't working for me, so instead, I decided to take the gas monitor course myself, so I wouldn't have to rely on anyone. Unfortunately, the person who's too busy to come out and around with me is the SAME person who's too busy to correct my test, so I'm STILL stuck. I know all about gas testing and monitoring, though, but I can't do anything about it yet. Aaaarrrrgggghhhh!!!

We moved ahead another hour this afternoon, so we are now four hours later here than in Newfoundland. We have one more change to make, a half-hour on Sunday, and then we're done with that.

We will be issued with calling cards once we get there, so we can call home for free. Pretty decent of them.

Here is the link to the resort where we'll be staying.

http://www.cittaromana.com/en/

A question arose today whether I will be staying at this resort or in the hotel where "management" types are staying. I have no strong feelings one way or the other. All my buddies will be staying at the resort, but I'd prefer the convenience of a hotel - my own potty, and not having to share a 3-bedroom villa with God-knows-who. I'm just going to go with the flow on that one.

 



This is the thatched-roofed villa at the resort where I ultimately ended up staying.

I shared with with two other female crewmembers.

 

The bike I bought for about €20, to ride around the resort.

You CAN'T spend time in Holland without having a bike!

 

Well, that's all of today's news. Gripping, huh? I do what I can!

I'll be in touch tomorrow. Don't count on pictures!

Love and kisses,

Margaret

PS - Oh yes, one more salient point... that "oily water discharge" of which I spoke yesterday? It was actually a "loss of containment". I was apparently blowing it all out of proportion by calling it an "oily water discharge", silly hysterical me. Gotta get the jargon right...!

 

 

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Transatlantic Tow 2006, Day 7

Thursday, June 29th, 2006

Hello again!

Not much to write about today.

We've gone past the half-way mark now. Not too much longer. We will be tying up in Rotterdam by July 5th.

We've been changing our time zones hour by hour, every other day. It sounds like it wouldn't be noticeable, but it really is. The boat-lag is dragging on and on and on! I'm sure it would have been easier to just get it all over with in one big switch. When I wake up at 2.30 Nfld time / 5.30 local time to go to work, I can TELL it's 2.30! I am not rolling with the punches like I used to! We have to go ahead another hour tomorrow afternoon, then a half-hour sometime on Sunday, and then we're done.

Cloudy and a few raindrops today.

We had a little spill today. No, I misspoke... not a "spill", an "oily water discharge". We don't do oil spills. Anyway, it's all interesting, seeing as how we don't have any oil on board anymore. Must be motor oil or something.

Anyway, I'm not writing much today because I'm dragging my keester around, and I want to go get some supper and head for bed. Hopefully I'll be more bright-eyed and charming tomorrow. HA! 

Here's today's map. Talk to you soon!

Love and kisses,

Margaret

 

 

 

PS - Hi again!!

I have two 'sources' for these maps, and I thought one source hadn't done his today, but it's only that he sent it later than usual. I like this one better, because it shows Rotterdam and the coordinates, and the track of the past few days. So, anyway, I thought I'd send it along too. I just know your afternoons wouldn't be complete without both!!

Talk to y'all soon!

 

 

 

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Transatlantic Tow 2006, Day 6

Wednesday, June 28th, 2006

Sailing, sailing, over the bounding main...

Well, things are not so problem-free today, I fear. Something broke earlier, which slowed our progress down from 8 knots / hour to 4 knots / hour. Some kind of a generator or something went kaput. This does not concern me. As long as the boat can float, the rest are mere details. And she's floating fine, thank you!

I was just told that whatever broke is now fixed, so we're back up to 8 knots, cruising along. Not quite water-skiing speed, but it's getting us where we want to go!

We had a General Platform Alarm last night around 7 p.m. Fortunately it was a false alarm, as most of them are. My first thought was that someone was hurt, but fortunately, all was well. It certainly got people thinking about how far from land we are, and they'd better be working safely.

Today is the best day weather-wise so far, and it is a good one! Beautiful warm breeze, not stifling hot, but somewhere around mid-70's I think. I went out for a long walk this afternoon. Well, it wasn't long in a straight line, or I'd be very wet! It was long in a zig-zag, back-and-forth, front-to-back-to-front kind of way! Hehehe...

Some of the people and things I saw that day...

 

 Brian Mulcahy - Steward Extraordinare, and die-hard Bruins fan

 

 Starboard lifeboat - thankfully I only ever saw the inside of it during drills.

The "laydown" area. Not to be confused with somewhere you'd go to nap.

See the two orange people right in the center??

 

...here they are up close, taken from the helideck looking down.

I had to do some screaming for them to hear me!

The guy on the left is a visitor whose name escapes me. The other guy is Junior Barnes.

 

The starboard crane 

The offloading reel, the means by which our oil would be

transferred to tankers, to go on its way for refining.

I could notice a real "ship" smell today too, which for some reason we rarely ever get... that mixture of diesel plus kelp plus fishieness. T'was cool!

I went as far back aft as I could go, and watched the "prop wash" trail out behind us. (That's the turbulence from the propellers, for those of you who are seriously non-nautical.) Being in one place for the past five years, that's not something we often get to see. I wanted to take some pictures really badly, but the ship has not been certified "gas-free" yet, so I'd have to have a certified gas tester person with me if I want to use electronic equipment outside the accommodations, and those that I would ask were busy... Maybe tomorrow if it's nice again.

Photos of the prop wash that were taken a few days later.

 

I've resisted the urge to go the the bow and do an "I'm the queen of the world" pose. But I've thought about it!

If I were going to imitate Kate (without Leo), this would have been the spot!

 

Anyway, that's the latest from here today. We're about 800 nautical miles from the English Channel now. We're getting there... The image and coordinates are where we were as of 1 pm Nfld time today.

 

 

Stay tuned for the next installment!! (I hope I'm not boring the heck out of y'all!!)

Love and kisses to all,

Margaret

 

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Transatlantic Tow 2006, Day 5

Tuesday, June 27th, 2006

Avast ye hearties!

Well, not much to report today, although we are finally out of the fog. It's overcast and very humid. They say it's easy to tell we're in the Gulf Stream and away from the Labrador Current.

Everyone is behaving themselves from a health & safety perspective, knock on wood. I'm still kept busy, but mainly with minor aches and pains and sore throats, that sort of thing. They're men. It's to be expected.

;-)

We're just about halfway 'across the pond' at this point. Still a ways to go once we get to the English Channel, but at least there will be ships and land and other things to see. Fog and ocean are not much of a novelty for us.

We're two hours later here now than at home, so that makes it my suppertime!
 

Bacon butties -

a coffee break treat and just a small sample of the awesomeness of the food.

 

 

I'll be in touch again soon!

Love and kisses,

Margaret

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Transatlantic Tow 2006, Day 4

Monday, June 26th, 2006

Ahoy landlubbers!

Here are two illustrations of our location as of 3 pm Nfld time today. One gives nautical miles gone and left to go, the other gives a better idea of where Rotterdam is.

 A new map, courtesy of our Instrumentation Tech.

I've got a bunch of photos taken, but they're mostly of people you won't know, so I'll whittle out a few of interest and send them on later.

It's still foggy, but there are occasional glimpses available of the supply ship towing us. Apparently, we are contributing to the effort more than I thought... we're providing 180 tons of push and the supply ship is giving 80 tons of pull. That's how *I* understand it, anyway. :-)

We're about a third of the way there. When we get near France, a pilot boat from Rotterdam will come alongside and a pilot will board, who will take us for the last two days into the shipyard. From what I understand, tugs from Rotterdam will be providing the push / pull at that point, and the supply ship will sail away into the "spot market" to do work here and there in the North Sea while we are getting our facelift.

We did our second time change today, so now it's two hours later here on board than it is in St. John's. We had to do this time change in the afternoon, because some of the natives got restless about the night people getting the 11-hour-shift benefit all the time, and not us poor slaving day people. Geez!

We are now out of helicopter range, which makes my existence here a tad more exciting and sleepless. My hands are cramped from keeping my fingers crossed, hoping no one gets seriously hurt or ill. An Ave or two along those lines would be much appreciated!!

Well, that's it for the Day Four Report!! I'll be in touch again soon.

Love and kisses to all!

Margaret

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Transatlantic Tow 2006, Day 3

NOTE - Throughout the time period of the first few emails, I was not allowed to take photos outside. Just to clarify, (for you as well as for myself when I'm 90), I have added photos here that were taken a few days later. These were not sent with the original emails. All the maps were sent on the day, though. That's what got the whole email newsletter thing started in the first place!

MRH

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Sunday, June 25th, 2006

Ahoy!

Here is today's map of our progress.

 

 

It's pretty quiet so far. We're cruising along steadily, can hardly tell we're moving it's so smooth. The fog eased up for brief periods today, we could actually see the ship towing us once or twice.

We're clear of the Grand Banks now, water depth is about 11,000 feet, if I heard that correctly. A far cry from the 300' we've been in up to now.

Will be in touch again tomorrow!

Love & kisses,

Margaret

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Transatlantic Tow 2006, Day 2

Saturday, June 24th, 2006

Ahoy friends and rellies,

I came back to work on Thursday, and we are now under tow, heading to a shipyard in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Our official time of departure from Conception Bay was 06.48 on Friday morning. This has become a whole lot more fun than I thought! Good atmosphere, everyone is psyched up for the change, all is well.

There is a supply ship towing us. It is more fuel-efficient to do it that way. There's a 1km (0.6 mile) cable connecting her to us. We're averaging about 8 - 9 knots / hour (9.2 - 10.4 mph or 14.8 - 16.7 kph). The trip is expected to take ~ 12 - 14 days.

We can't actually see the supply ship at the moment because of the thickest, most dense fog I have ever seen in my 9 long years in this job. We had to dodge a fishing boat this morning, because it was dead ahead of us and not responding to its radio. They must have just thought we were nothing more than a little blip on their radar. I'm sure they'd have responded - or dropped dead - at the sight of a 3-football-field-long ship bearing down on them out of the fog. Tee hee!! There are a bunch of fishing boats out here, but most are giving us a wide berth.

The Helideck camera, as seen on my TV in the clinic. Fog, fog, fog.

 

I have attached a graphic courtesy of our Radio Operator, showing our location as of 06.00 local time today. I will be getting these daily, and can send them on if you want - or not.

 

A couple of points about the attachment. This graphic ONLY shows supply boats, that's why you don't see one boat following another at our location. All those boats that appear to be piled up over St. John's - those are the supply ships currently in the harbour, and in Conception Bay. The two yellow boats and one green boat just to the southeast of us are the supply ships currently at the Hibernia field, Terra Nova field and White Rose field.

It's all too much fun!

I have my camera here and will send snaps soon!

I am going to go now and swab the decks or trim the mainsail or walk the plank or do something nautical. Maybe dance to the tune of the fog horn. Never a dull moment!!

I'll be in touch soon,

Margaret

 

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Transatlantic Tow, 2006 - A Trip to Remember

Seven years ago, I had the opportunity to do something not everyone gets to do... a transatlantic sail on an oil platform from Newfoundland to Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

This was actually my second transatlantic crossing, but the first one heading east. The previous crossing was on an oil rig back in 2000, from Rotterdam to the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. Not quite a voyage on the QE II, but a happier adventure than the Titanic!

The thing I did on the second crossing, which I am so very happy I did, was to send an email newsletter every day to friends and relatives, with details about the trip that, seven years on, I would never have remembered otherwise.

So, to memorialize that sail, I am posting here on my blog those emails that I sent back in 2006, on the dates that they were sent, as a permanent record of a pretty cool adventure.

I have edited out certain names to protect the innocent - me.

On Thursday, June 22nd, 2006, I flew via helicopter from St. John's Airport to the platform, which was anchored in Conception Bay. Our usual offshore flights took about 1 1/2 hours. The flight to Conception Bay was a treat, only about 5 minutes!

Today, June 23rd, marks the seventh anniversary of the first day of the sail. I did not send an email that day; they started on Day 2, and I will commence posting them tomorrow.

I hope you enjoy the ride as much as I did!

 

 

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A Trolley Named Desire...

I read somewhere the other day that a trolley system was going to be developed for the downtown area. There weren't any more details provided other than this.

 

I took this nugget of info and ran with it, bigtime - right over the wharf.

 

I was THRILLED and DELIGHTED, thinking that city council were well and truly committed to preserving and restoring the historical charms of our city. I jumped right to the belief that we were going to have an actual trolley system, complete with rails, etc, like those seen in many other cities, notably San Francisco, to which St. John's is often compared from an architectural and topographical point-of-view. YIPPEE!!! How cool was this, at all???

 

Alas, I was wrong. Spectacularly wrong. 

 

Here's the article from the CBC website, posted today. 

 

They're jazzing up a bus (or maybe more than one, dunno, don't care), to run a hop-on-hop-off service for the summer, until Labour Day. A decent idea, y'know, but not a GREAT one. 

 

Trolley wannabe

 

Why is it that when we were a lowly, almost-bankrupt colony of Mother England, we had a trolley system, complete with rails and overhead lines, (we also had a fishery, but I digress...) but now that we're a part of the veritable 'land of milk and honey', all we can manage is a painted bus? I am so disappointed. It would have been fantastic!

 

But, it is not to be. ;-(

 

Completely and utterly bummed.

 

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