"BON VOYAGE & HAVE A SAFE JOURNEY!"
said the Harbor Master when he made his way down the gangway. That's when my journey began. The journey of a young boy who had mind blowing imaginations of what would life on-board a vessel be like. For my first voyage, I was lucky enough the vessel that i signed on happened to be the only vessel after 11 months to visit ALASKA . Especially for a guy that never left his country for 13 years and lives very close to the Equator. Being able to step foot in Alaska is a huge achievement for me. At that moment i was the happiest person on-board knowing we were headed to Alaska.
This journey from Tianjin,China to Seward,Alaska taught me how little a man needs. just 2 days into the voyage we were caught in the middle of a storm which lasted for 2 and half days. it was a Gale 8 force storm. Non of the crew was allowed to leave the accommodation. The capt ordered to reduce the RPM due to heavy pitching and rolling. we were pushed off-course by the high swells and huge waves.
Some of the swells were so strongly hit the sea spray that resulted from the hit reached over the Bridge all the way from forward. I remember as it was just yesterday, on 13th February 2017 we were crossing the Japan sea heading north, i received a wake up call from my relieving duty AB, only then i realized my cabin was a mess! shampoo bottles, soft drinks, bags, books all of it was on my floor rolling from left to right. once i reached the command center, all the lights was switched on and it was an even bigger mess up there. the moment i stepped in the area the ship rolled nearly 35 degrees to starboard, at that moment i lost my stability and fell on the floor adding icing to the cake i couldn't get a hold of anything nearby me, so when the ship counter back its force from starboard to port i began sliding without control across the floor and i hit my Chief Officer's leg n caused him to fall as i hit the cabinet at the end of the Command center. i was given 9 days of rest as i couldn't stand up n stable myself. Thank god all went well and i was up and ready just 5 days before going alongside in Alaska
But... Even after all those struggles we managed to clear USCG with zero deficiency. Not to mention the happiness we got when we arrived at the port was unimaginable. Just after Pilot was sent of every crew didn't wait a single second and jumped straight into the icy cold snow. We had group pics, snowball fights, even the Capt & Chief officer had a good time with everyone else.
It's Alaska laa ❤
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