Day 142 : We Are Sailing

It was pretty creepy as we approached the port at dusk. The ship does not take passengers so it was all a bit confusing at port security. The  two security chaps were equally confused as everyone else, so whilst we were waiting I settled in to a spot of Aussie bashing on the back of the 2nd test victory by England.  Jan and Graham kindly waited as the paperwork was being sorted. After some fun and games with customs and the cargo coordinators, Amy and I stood at the edge of the water staring up at our ship, the Le Mans Express. There have been many surreal moments on this expedition thus far and this was right up there for being particularly odd. Eventually a nice chap in a van pulled up, we chucked our stuff in the back and he drove up the ramp and into the ship. Our home for the next 9 days. Up a tiny lift and we were 10 stories up on the upper deck. A long a corridor, door after door with all of the crew jobs titles on them, we were taken to our rooms. We were Wiper A and Wiper B, cleaners I think.

So it looks like we are the Wipers, how exciting. It seems that all the crew stay on this deck. From the doors, this is who we think are on-board :

Captain, Chief Officer, 2nd / 3rd Officer, Chief Engineer, 2nd / 3rd and 4th Engineers, Electrician, Bosun, 4 Sailors, Cadet, 2 Oilers, Chief Cook,  Mess Man, Fitter and the Superintendent. All of which are Filipino.

It was well known that my sea legs are particularly poor and after just an hour I was already feeling a bit green. For some sick reason though, it is always more fun when someone else is feeling a bit shabby too. Amy is also feeling awful so good times all around.

In the ship’s office we met with the captain, customs and quarantine. Nobody is  particularly sure how to classify us but eventually we were sent to the Mess for a bit of grub before hitting the sack. Let’s hope the rocking motion will at least let us sleep through the first night.

Sweet dreams

Steve