15th – 21st of November 2021

Sunday, in the middle of the night we arrived at our berthing place in Szczecin. It was quite dark where we were and there was just a quayside with enough space for two vessels our size to be moored. I had never been. In this part of the harbour yet. A small bridge was ahead of us where only smaller river ships could pass beneath. Clearly, this was the end of the end and the city could not be seen from where we were. I could only distinguish some cranes behind the shed where the wood pulp would be stored.

We were far from the city centre, that was quite clear. Anyways We would not have time to go there this time as they were discharging 24h here and there was no rain forecasted.

The discharging went quite smoothly. We were planning to start on Monday after lunch which gave us time in the morning to take away the lashings and the airbags without pressure or hurry. The crane was a small crane that could take only three packages at the same time but it went quite fast nonetheless. The thing is that with smaller cranes, they are often faster and more agile than bigger ones. It is really a matter of perception: less cargo but more times, or more cargo but fewer times… In the end, it took us less than a day to discharge it all and I ended up waking up captain H. two hours after he had gone to bed; so that he could call the agent and get a pilot organized. We had still 4 hours on the channel to go and then not even a day to sail to Kaliningrad and if we were lucky with this time, we could have the early morning convey in Russia and at least be at the waiting Berth if the winds were to increase too much – as expected later in the week… And for once, for once, the Gods were with us till we arrived at our loading berth in Kaliningrad! Can you imagine? Arrived spot on time at the pilot boarding station, clearance with immigration went very smoothly, draft survey and cargo hold accepted without any problem and we started loading very easily and the weather was so far grey, but not rainy…..

Normally arriving in Russia is always a hassle because Immigration comes on board with 2 to 3 officers and they are never so kind to you. This time he was a normal human! 😉 They did not do any cabin check, but the compulsory face check did happen and all the crew had to be awake for that. Because we knew that in advance we also mixed around the watched so that everyone could benefit from a good rest. The ABs and the trainee would be doing constant gangway watch in Russia. They were prepared to be cold too. They took a small heater out and a bucket to sit on by the gangway but luckily they were also out of the wind so it was not as cold as one month ago when we were loading here; or even as two years ago during my internship where we were already reaching the 0° Celsius…

In this loading port, It always takes a bit of time for them to prepare the belt and the cargo and have the scale ready for loading. They say 45 minutes but I believe the tendency is slightly less than the double…. We are always ready and we need to wait quite some time before they move the crane and position it above the hatch we want them to start, and then again quite sometime before the actual first cargo is in the hold. It is a pity because we lose quite some time like that and Sometimes I wonder how they do not make it more efficient. They know we are there, and ready so why not prepare ahead if the weather is clear? I am sure they have their reasons I am not aware of of course.

This time I do not think it would have made a big difference though, but as we are depending on conveys to sail in and out of the harbour, we have to shots a day and if we are delayed 12 hours because we started loading one hour later well it can sometimes be a bit frustrating…. This harbour is not the best place to be for the crew: we are not allowed to go ashore really, we need to do constant 24-hour gangway watch, it is often quite cold weather and windy, there is no network and 4g (I mean there is but it is extremely expensive so we are all on flight mode!) and the buildings and silos act slightly as an opaque screen on our satellite internet which lowers the quality of our connection…. Of course, we can survive a few days without a good internet connection, right? I mean, on the sailing vessels, we would not have any internet for weeks during our long crossings and it was fine. We would socialize and read books (ok watch movies too… 😉 but not Netflix as it was not available of course!)

This time it was all going fine and we were hoping to be out on time before the storm and have a nice weekend in Uusikaupunki before discharge would start the week after. It was only 2 days sailing to Finland, but Russian surveyors can be very very difficult on the weather during loading. To avoid any difficulties and discussions, with the finest drizzle hatches are closed immediately. A drop is a drop and in this case, there is no discussion on how big or how wet the drop is. no risk is taken ship side. And…. On our first night, we had a very fine drizzle almost the whole night which meant we almost did not load. A few times on my watch I hesitated to open. I did for half an hour but no one could be found on the shoreside, or by the crane. Also, the surveyor was not there (he usually stays all day in his car in front of our gangway). I was waving whistling ( loud, with two fingers in my mouth right? Not the birds while you do in a forest on a walk… 😉 ), shouting. But decided to close again. As it started raining slightly again. I am sure they were checking me out with binoculars thinking I was just a crazy woman on deck… Or maybe they were just sitting behind their radar screens and deciding they were not going to load anyways because of what was still to come ahead… At least I tried, and it was noted in the logbook; not that it would make a big difference in the end!

For almost two days we sat there counting drops while only half the cargo was in the hold. And then of course the wind was picking up. The same wind we were hoping to avoid while sailing out and to be in time out at sea. In Westerly winds, the harbour closes for vessels like us as soon as the speed hits 16 m/s which is a 7 Beaufort. It was 7 already and it would keep increasing to 10 even later. There was not much we could then wait for the rain to pass and the wind to die – in case we completed the loading. Sailor’s life. Sometimes it is also about waiting and being patient right?

Well, let’s say that to complete the waiting, they decided that there was too much wind to load even. It was dry. But too much wind. Oh well. Captain H. Said I just needed to wait for them to come to the ship and decide that we could open. It feels a bit strange. Usually, I would say that it is the opposite. That we ( the vessel) decide if we can load or not. But of course, there is more involved to that too. They have their inspectors and they want to make sure that the cargo is good. And we do not want to mess with Russians either. The good thing is that it makes easy watches…. But it feels a bit like a loss of energy to be just awake and waiting during the watches at night. You can do a few small jobs but not like during the daytime. Luckily they came during my night watch for me to open up! I was glad – although the wind had not decreased in my opinion…. Haha And finally finally we continued the loading process. We still had 900t to go so with a bit of luck it would be completed by the morning and with even more luck we would be able to sail out with the morning convey! For sure the wind would have decreased by then just enough to open the harbour again.

And Yes! We were lucky; it is how it happened. Completion at 6:30 am then draft survey and then waiting again. For papers, for the agent, for immigration to come onboard. I think in this country only the pilots are there on time, or even early… hahaha they must be paid for the time they spend on board haha. I mean, of course, I do not know and I hope they would not get offended reading this; the past Russian pilots we had onboard were pretty ok and nice people.

Saturday afternoon we were finally sailing out of Kaliningrad, wind in the nose – of course, for a change!- and heading to Uusikaupunki in Finland. It was a 2-day sail normally; but with strong wind, we do not manage to reach the double digits in speed. And this time we were slightly below average but still made it on time to the pilot station in Finland.

The crossing went well; not so much heavy weather as expected, a bit of a nervous ship when sailing out on my watch but then it because easier. It seems like a good thing in the Baltic: when the wind drops, the horrible swell also decreases almost immediately. Because the swell in that area can be terrible really. The other thing I do not really like when sailing up North like that is that the heading of the ship is not so nice to catch the satellite for good internet onboard…. Oh no, do not judge me! After years without internet and after 5 days in Russia when you do not want to have any 4g network and a very bad internet connection, trust me, you are really looking forward to having some speed internet on your night watches too!! Or just for the ship of course ;-). Ok I might be slightly exaggerating, but it is true; on that course, it is not as stable because our mast is in the way. It is the way it is. It is not a long trip anyways and I pick up drawing a bit more instead. I have a tablet with a pen and I am trying to get more drawing skills. It has been so long since I have not really done « art » and I really like it and wish I’d be better at it. I believe the only way is to practice then and because I am always travelling, having a tablet on which I can draw is really awesome!

Oh! A great thing when sailing up north is the water temperature! We are getting close to Finnish winter temperatures here! During my night watch at sea, it was -2°C and I had hazel, snow, and drizzle. I had it all! Soon we will have to take care to ballast -5 minutes the tanks to avoid any damage. The air is getting colder and ice is slowly making its way on deck. But ok that is one thing. What I wanted to say is that the water temperature is really cold! Outside of course but also the ship’s wanter! The tank is of course located very low in the aft of the ship and is directly against the hull so it is cold – very cold- when it goes through the piping system to my shower! But wow it is so powerful in the morning. I must say it wakes you up! Brrahh! 😉 I try to train myself again to stay a little longer like count till 60 on each side of the body and breathe slowly. It is really great! I hope it will help me not get too cold on deck and not get sick either ( just the sniffy nose you know…); we shall see!

Anyways, We are arriving Monday after much time so I wish you a good Sunday at sea and oh! Saturday was A. Our engineer’s birthday! We had chocolate cake. And a very nice meal. It was nice 🙂

Ok, see you next week my friends!

Xxx Sopietje