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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 6, 2022 14:30:58 GMT
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 6, 2022 17:53:20 GMT
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 6, 2022 18:46:46 GMT
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Post by htmb on Sept 6, 2022 21:20:52 GMT
This report is really wonderful. So interesting!
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 7, 2022 2:36:31 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 7, 2022 2:44:31 GMT
I am enjoying this because it's innately interesting and also very well presented. But I'm also enjoying it because the presentation means that I don't have to actually be on a boat to see all of this. The last shot of Hanko, with the little lighthouse (still in service?) shows what appears to be the remnants of a fort. Whatever it is, it's now as much of a mystery as the missing dill. I really like the morning shots of Rauma. Were the crew friendly to you & Herman, or politely indifferent? re: deck swabbing ~ deck hands are kept busy all the time, not just for aesthetic maintenance, but for ensuring there is nothing in need of repair or that would constitute a trip hazard, for instance. Looking at all the pictures of containers being loaded and off-loaded, I keep wondering if mossie has seen this report yet. !!! Edited to add that I didn't know tons of stuff was being added to the report as I typed this post.
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 7, 2022 2:45:16 GMT
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 7, 2022 3:12:23 GMT
We took Herman's car to the police office, and I finally learned what Herman does for a living. He had remained extremely discreet about any personal details during the entire trip. I told various anecdotes over the days, but he never said a single thing that he ever did besides skydiving and also that he had been to Bonnaire, Curaçao, Sint Maarten and Indonesia, plus a number of other points around the world, mostly for work. (He also said that our trip was not long enough and that he was ready to take another cargo trip as soon as possible.) Anyway, it was when he was chatting (in Dutch of course) with the very chatty duty officer at the police station that I was finally able to learn (and saw his card) that Herman is a high ranking police officer, perhaps even a top chief. When it was my turn to talk to the agent, he spoke perfect French to me and said that he spent absolutely all of his holidays in France, five or six times a year, and had a residence in the south. He also said that he had suffered through all of the days at 40° this summer and had never seen the sunflowers and the corn so small. (And I saw that Herman understood every word of our discussion even though we had never spoken French together.) When we left, I asked Herman if he found the Flemish accent atrocious or funny, which are two of the qualifying terms that I have heard from Dutch people in the past. "I think it's charming," he said. "I like it a lot." He drove me very efficiently to Antwerpen-Centraal and we bid each other farewell. He still had to drive 4 hours to get home to the northern Netherlands. As for me, I was back in Paris before noon and was very happy to have made this trip.
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 7, 2022 3:37:06 GMT
Were the crew friendly to you & Herman, or politely indifferent? The Filipino crew seemed happy to see new faces, even if they didn't have time to chat (and had trouble with English). The European crew were very "professionally polite." I finally got to see the entire crew on the last morning because we actually had an authentic general alarm (eight VERY LOUD bells). That means the entire crew has to go up to the bridge, so there we all were. I was near the captain, so I saw him investigating the entire cargo hold on screen. Those cameras work just as well as on the TV crime series -- he panned around and zoomed and checked every corner. False alarm. About half of the crew had still been in bed asleep and didn't seem happy, even though everybody was happy that it was a false alarm.
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 7, 2022 5:21:17 GMT
I wonder if the general alarm was because a stowaway was suspected or (more likely) because something shifted in the hold & the captain wanted to make sure everything was secure. Somehow I missed the fact that there was a 2nd page when I wrote my last post, so I'm only now seeing a bunch of stuff. The opening photo on this page is a beauty, as is the one below the caption "We chugged along at a lower speed ..." Another picture caused me to doubt you for a moment, thinking perhaps that bathroom picture was a shot left over from the Cuba trip. re: une mer d'huile -- When I read this, I immediately wondered if it was in any way related to the English expression about pouring oil on troubled waters. Indeed it is! More information here. I also looked up the little lighthouses in the water & found that they are usual in harbors and entrances to shipping channels & generally built on submerged rocky outcrops or reefs. That would seem to indicate they're still being used, but maybe not. Seeing all the windmills in the ocean was a surprise, although I think I saw some before, off the coast of the Netherlands. It's pretty amazing and futuristic. This was a most enjoyable and quite different report. Are you like Herman, and ready to go again, or ready to be back on dry land?
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 7, 2022 5:47:25 GMT
I could be tempted in a different part of the world. Not immediately, though. Then again, there is an age limit for most of these trips, clearly related to all of the stairs.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Sept 7, 2022 6:54:33 GMT
I've really enjoyed your report and splendid images Kerouac. I've been on 2 cruises and wish that we'd had more 'at sea' days! I could sit watching the sea all day without getting bored .
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Post by bjd on Sept 7, 2022 7:13:29 GMT
I am envious of your trip. I love ships and boats and even being on a freighter would be great. Thanks for all this.
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 7, 2022 10:01:00 GMT
I've been on 2 cruises and wish that we'd had more 'at sea' days! I could sit watching the sea all day without getting bored . That was my main attraction to a cargo trip. I went on a cruise with my parents in the Caribbean once, and I found it annoying to arrive in a new port every day -- Nassau, Jamaica, Cayman Islands, Cozumel, etc. There was hardly a moment to see anything and no time to watch the ocean. Now I will continue to regret the 21 day cargo trip that I was unable to take due to the covid restrictions.
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Post by mickthecactus on Sept 7, 2022 10:41:00 GMT
That’s the cruise trip we took some 25 years ago but substitute Haiti for Nassau.
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Post by htmb on Sept 7, 2022 16:55:24 GMT
Kerouac, this trip sounds so unique and interesting. I’m sure I’ll have more questions later, but a first one comes to mind in regards to the Baltic Sea. Do you know if there is ever a need for dredging to help keep the shipping lanes open. It seems to me the Baltic is fairly shallow and, being almost landlocked, must create unique problems for large ships.
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 7, 2022 17:05:33 GMT
The two things I learned about the Baltic Sea on this trip:
1. Hanko is the only Baltic port that remains accessible all winter. 2. The Baltic Sea is hardly salty at all compared to other seas (due to ice melt?). Of course, that certainly makes it easier to freeze.
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 7, 2022 19:35:56 GMT
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Post by biddy on Sept 8, 2022 3:25:50 GMT
So good to see different sights of Northern Europe - thank you K2.
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Post by htmb on Sept 8, 2022 4:41:13 GMT
A couple more questions, Kerouac: When you were in rougher seas did you feel much boat motion? Also, it seems you had to visit the port police station at the end of your trip. Was this a required visit? What was the purpose?
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 8, 2022 10:36:17 GMT
This was the calmest ship voyage that I have ever taken. On just two days/nights you could feel the ship sliding back and forth but in a pleasant way, especially in bed. I was actually hoping for a storm but no such luck, not even a drop of rain.
The obligatory police visits before and after the trip obviously serve a purpose, but it is unclear exactly what. Even Herman-the-high-ranking-police-officer found it a bit strange since we were in the Schengen zone and not leaving the Schengen zone at any time. It also seemed as though the administrative officer on the ship could have transmitted all necessary information by email.
This leaves me with a double hypothesis: 1. The Belgian police want to do this to justify their jobs and prevent staff reductions. 2. There are so many hundreds of ships in that port at all times, half or more of them a bit questionable, that it is important to physically check the people boarding or leaving. While my ship was flying the Dutch flag and almost certainly respected all of the rules scrupulously, I doubt that the same can be said for Chinese tramp steamers registered in the Bahamas or Panama.
Nevertheless, I could have left the ship and gone straight home. What would have happened then? I don't know. Would Interpol have come knocking at my door?
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 8, 2022 16:20:03 GMT
I am already nostalgic about my trip (and now understand why Herman said it was just not long enough) so I looked up the Pulpca on vesselfinder.com. It is already on its way back to Antwerp of course and as I write this it is off the coast of Sweden. I hope that the new passengers were treated to fresh dill. www.vesselfinder.com/
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Post by whatagain on Sept 13, 2022 17:31:25 GMT
I think you made us all dream
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Post by mich64 on Sept 25, 2022 22:25:18 GMT
I knew that I would miss this report while I was away, I was so happy to look it up tonight. What an experience you have shown us. Thoroughly enjoyed every post and the questions and comments. Everything I had thought of along the way was asked and answered. Thank you for sharing such a unique travel adventure.
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 27, 2022 18:31:57 GMT
Thanks for the various comments. I may bave been lucky to go when I did because the Nordstream sabotage might change things in the near future. On the French news tonight, they mentioned the big leaks in the "huge" pipes. Okay, the pipes are big, but they don't conform to my personal concept of "huge" as you can see in reply #6 of my Hanko report. Okay, looking at it again maybe you can call it huge.
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Post by bjd on Sept 27, 2022 18:46:39 GMT
When I saw the news tonight, I thought of your trip, Kerouac. Ships are told to avoid the areas where there are those bubbles rising to the surface because it would affect the ship's buoyancy.
It hasn't officially been called "sabotage" yet but the Danish and Swedish seismic monitors have both talked about explosions today.
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Post by lugg on Sept 28, 2022 19:23:35 GMT
Just catching up .. what a fabulous experience for you K2 and for us viewing it with you. So many great photos and such a richness of information.
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Post by tod2 on Oct 30, 2022 17:08:42 GMT
At last I can say I LOVED your sea voyage tale! What a beautiful ship. I liked the fact you had good home-cooked fare and not a huge line of different dishes sporting the same thing over and over. I don't think you mentioned desert at all? Fresh fruit no doubt or ice-cream and chocolate sauce.? I have only ever been on one sea voyage and that was from Cape Town to Durban. Dead boring on an ageing Greek boat. Maybe Italian - not sure now but the boat rolled so much it was unpleasant to walk around.
I do regret somewhat not going to St Helena on one of our little cargo ships. Now that there is an airport I don't know if they still take passengers or even deliver produce by boat.
Thank you for such an interesting trip report on a very unusual holiday!
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