At Sea
Westward- south of the Dry Tourtugas, Florida keys
We left Port Everglades, after nearly twelve hours of delayed sailing. What was supposed to be a seemingly quick Discharge of cargo, followed by a quick Departure, ended up to be a waiting game.
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After a couple of days of high winds and relatively high seas, we’ve called to port in Ft. Lauderdale,Florida!
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We finally were able to depart Lake Charles, but not with a lot of delays. It seemed each couple of hours, the refinery had some sort of problem, for which they had to shut down for a couple more hours, at a time. Yet, after nearly 30 hours, in port and loading Jet fuel, we were cleared to depart for Port Everglades,Florida.
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The Captain received word a couple of days ago, while in Galveston,Tx., of a load of Jet Fuel originating out of lake Charles,Louisiana, destined for Port Everglades,FL. When the captain received the call, we were only given a couple of hours to prepare for the quick journey, Eastward. You could tell that the Second Mate, who was in charge of voyage planning, was a busy person as he was not one for much conversation and diligently prepared for the voyage.
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I’ve been eagerly walking the deck of this massive tug/barge combination and getting familiarized with everything associated with the ship. Since we’re at anchor, this gives me an advantage of checking out all the ship has to offer that would, otherwise, not be available if we were busy with cargo.
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I finally made it to my ship after a long day of travels! After waking up at 3:45am and driving the ninety miles to the Flint Airport, I found out at the ticket counter that the plane would be delayed. There wasn’t a sure answer from the Delta Representative after I asked, “…how long of a delay?”
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No sooner did I think that all would be lost with the notion that a shipping job was given away to some other eligible mate, when the union called me on a job that required a Third Mate, and fast!
I accepted the job and will be shipping out on Sunday!
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As quickly as the job for the tanker was made available at the union, the job was given away in no time to another mate!
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As my number on the union job list has dwindled to an impressive ‘Eleven’, a potential job has surfaced!
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I’ve been asked a few times, regarding my job, about what it takes to become a Merchant Marine. Or specifically, what types of certificates or courses are needed in order to be at the propensity of a well seasoned Deck Officer.
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