[deky]

Originally Posted by krish3

Wonderful writing till now.

A query- Do you write scripts for serials? Asking this because of the way you end the posts... it just grabs our attention and keep us waiting impatiently for more.

Haha!! No, I can write real stories, but I have never tried fiction and Saas Bahu Drama'z, No way!!

Originally Posted by khoj

Deky,

I am actually reading two of your stories at the same time, for me it is
"Jaana tha Japan pahoonch gaaye cheen with the Norwegian fjords in between"
Waiting for the drama to unfold in Mehico.

Originally Posted by sachinj12

Aww Deky, you always build suspense and then leave us hanging!!

Not fair man !!

Hmmmm...I had planned to write the rest of the story now but got delayed watching th India-England hockey match. So the rest tomorrow. Sorry!

Originally Posted by sudev

Decky strikes again with his mid narration stop.....Very interesting and detailed narrative. Life on ship as a deck hand must be very tough with the hours you had to keep.

Sir, Deck hands are different and my job was different. I was on a cruise liner and working in the restaurant side. But yes the timings were really really long, but the excitement of seeing new places everyday kept me going for 6 yrs on cruises

[anekho]

Deky seriously man, awesome cliff hangers!!!! You know how to capture an audience that's for sure!

Keep writing!

[sudev]

@deky: Thanks for clarification on the term deckhand. I used it loosely to describe all the crew of the ship. And where is the next part?

[ptushar]

If you ever want to change jobs then all you need to do is approach Ekta Kapoor; and don't carry any resume, just carry a print of this travelougue. She will read it and recruit you, no questions asked.

Come on buddy. What was on the other side of the railing?

Originally Posted by deky

That would be an amazing coincidence

Small world. I wasnt on it, I was involved post the incident. Let your story continue. My memory is sketchy now. Been a decade

[deky]

Originally Posted by BaldOwl

Small world. I wasnt on it, I was involved post the incident. Let your story continue. My memory is sketchy now. Been a decade

Yeah, this happened in February 2000, so just over a decade. But I am genuinely interested to know how were you involved post the incident!! Thanks

ARRESTED IN MEXICO- Contd

The water around the ship was black and the ship was surrounded with around 5 Mexican coast guard vessels. Most probably our ship had spilled oil and the blackness of the oil could be easily seen against the normally blue Caribbean waters. Few life boats from our ship were also in the water trying to put a boom net around the spill and the crew was trying to contain the spill by putting detergent. But it didn’t seem to be working, the spill was spreading.

Slowly the news had spread about what had happened. The previous night while maneuvering the ship out of the port of Cancun, the Captain/ Pilot had mis-judged the speed of the ship and the velocity of the wind and reversed the ship straight into the natural reef. As a result of this, the propeller of the ship broke and also the bulk head of the ship got a hole from where the oil had started to leak. So now I understood that my falling of the bed last night was not actually a dream. It had really happened due to the jerk when the ship got grounded as my room was right above the propeller shaft.

Normally these Caribbean countries are very particular about their coastline. As it is their coast with plenty of sunshine, white sandy beaches, natural corals and plethora of sea life attracts the tourists. Tourism is the biggest industry in these areas and lots of other businesses also survive just because of tourism. Spoiling of beaches and the sea does not only create ecological damage but also puts their tourism industry back by a few years. Maritime laws are so strict that dumping of any non biodegradable stuff is anyways not allowed into the sea; even throwing a cigarette butt over the railing is a punishable offence. Food waste or biological waste has to be treated and discharged only 12 miles away from the nearest shore, provided they are not classified as eco-sensitive areas. Those vessels which do not follow these laws are liable to get arrested and also liable to pay heavy fines.

After the ship got grounded last night the Captain must have somehow managed to come out of the Cancun bay using the tug boats and the other propeller. In the dark of the night no one must have noticed the oil spillage. But this morning the spill was visible very clearly. The coast guard vessels around the ship made sure that no one could embark or disembark the ship. This was to ensure that no one involved in the accident could run away. The ship was arrested.
The ship could not have sailed with a broken propeller and that meant that for most of the passengers the cruise had finished before it could even start. The priority was to disembark the passengers now, but leaking oil the ship wasn’t allowed even close to any port. The disembarkation was done at sea using life boats from the ship and other ferries from Cozumel.

Check out the video of the side of the ship, where the oil stains are visible

YouTube - oil leak-cozumel.wmv

The ship was imposed with heavy fines for the mishap. It took 4 days for the Mexican authorities to finally clear the ship. In those 4 days divers managed to plug in the leak, but still about 50 tonnes of oil managed to spill. The onus of the accident was put on the pilot present at the moment on the ship. As when the pilot is present the ship is under his control.

Here is a press release of the incident.

After the ship was cleared, we proceeded to Alabama, USA in a dry dock to get the propeller repaired. Sailing on one propeller was not an easy job. The journey that usually takes 2 days to cover took us 4 days.

The ship was so jinxed that even while entering the dry dock, it managed to hit the pier but luckily without much of damage. At the dry dock we realized that the impact of the hit in Cozumel was so bad that it was not just the propeller that broke, but even the propeller shaft got a bend. The shaft had to be shipped from Norway where the ship was built. Finally it took them 5 weeks in dry dock to get the vessel in running shape.

Whenever you get the time, you guys must watch the following video regarding dry dock.

YouTube - alabama-drydock.wmv

[traveloholic]

One of the most amazing travelogue's i've come across.Waiting for more Deky. I was crusing through First page till the last page to read your adventures.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

deky, the propeller shaft - is it a standard size? Iguess it is not, and has to be tailor made.

Edit - and I guess it is the ship whcih was arrested, and not you.

Funny, how they arrest ships.

[ariesonu]

BSD: An arrest letter is issued in the name of ship by the Harbour Master & some specific mandatory certificates are confiscated by the authorities. The same are returned on removal of arrest order. The ship is anchored in the vicinity of inner anchorage.
In extreme cases, One or more senior officers can be taken into custody. I myself have been taken into custody in Nigeria once.
It can be a horrendous experience.

deky (nice handle), please continue... I am enjoying this one to the core.

Raab Rakha.

P.S.: Presently am handling a case of kidnapping of ship's crew by Nigerian pirates in the bonny river. Three crew members were taken by pirates on 31st Sept & a ransom of 500,000 USD was asked. It was negotiated to 150,000 USD & the ransom was paid on 13th Oct. Now we await return of the crew members. The crew are OK & we speak to them everyday.
We expect them to be released today. All three are Indians.

[sachinj12]

Originally Posted by ariesonu

P.S.: Presently am handling a case of kidnapping of ship's crew by Nigerian pirates in the bonny river. Three crew members were taken by pirates on 31st Sept & a ransom of 500,000 USD was asked. It was negotiated to 150,000 USD & the ransom was paid on 13th Oct. Now we await return of the crew members. The crew are OK & we speak to them everyday.
We expect them to be released today. All three are Indians.

If you are allowed to post details about this, please do start a new thread. It would be interesting to know how a hostage situation is handled!!

[ariesonu]

@sachin
Nigeria: Foreign sailors kidnapped - World news - Africa - msnbc.com
Two sailors abducted off Nigeria: navy spokesman
Some interesting points here are that actual kidnapping happened on 31st Sept but no news was released till 3rd Oct.
Nigerian authorities have resorted to the extent of threatening to keep this affair under wraps or as hush-hush as possible.

Rest is classified till the seafarer's are back home safely.

Raab Rakha.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Originally Posted by ariesonu

P.S.: Presently am handling a case of kidnapping of ship's crew by Nigerian pirates in the bonny river. Three crew members were taken by pirates on 31st Sept & a ransom of 500,000 USD was asked. It was negotiated to 150,000 USD & the ransom was paid on 13th Oct.

Originally Posted by ariesonu

Some interesting points here are that actual kidnapping happened on 31st Sept but no news was released till 3rd Oct.
Nigerian authorities have resorted to the extent of threatening to keep this affair under wraps or as hush-hush as possible.

@ariesonu,
are you sure about kidnapping happened on 31st sept???
There is no 31st sept in India or in the world, don't know about Nigeria.

Btw, such type of information may lead you to some trouble.
please avoid to post such info for your own safety.

[ariesonu]

@Ashish: If I am in the middle of storm, I need to have my facts correct.
The situation is open public discussion now. I'm just an instrument in getting things in place. No issues of dangers. These things have happened from the ages & its only now that people have started paying attentions to Piracy at Sea.
Sadly ship accidents/incidents do NOT make news like air crashes or train accidents. But they happen everyday all across the globe. Just to give you a broad view, Its 1430 hrs IST on my watch now & I have four ship accident/incident reports since I started my day & one involves a fatal accident. But most probably you'll NEVER hear/read about them.

..& Let's not hijack a beautiful travelogue thread of deky.

Sorry deky... Pls continue.

Raab Rakha.

[f1fan]

Excellent log Deky. Read it in on go from first page to last.
Had a similar experience during my first out of India trip to DBX where I was in a similar situation like Tom Hanks from the movie Terminal and you would agree that is not a good place/situation to be in.

Cheers
f1fan

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Originally Posted by ariesonu

I'm just an instrument in getting things in place. No issues of dangers.

@ariesonu,
If such situations are routine for you, then there is no problem sir.
such type of situations are new and news to us and someone from this forum is involved in any way, we feel some concern and my post is in line with that concern.

But as you always post it, i pray, Raba Rakha.


@Dhiraj,
where are you man?
waiting for next post.