My First Ship!

15th February 2016 was the day when I joined my first vessel, ‘MT Bunga Azalea’ from Kandla, India as a Deck Cadet. As on first day, I reported to C/O and Captain and proceeded with my shipboard familiarization. C/O asked me to report for my first assigned task as a deck cadet which was gangway watch along with Duty AB and he prioritised the proper PPE and safety in the briefing. I remember the second day was the most horrible for me as I got sea sick when we were passing through the rough weather in Indian ocean and my C/O asked me to stay in CCR instead of letting me go to take rest and sleep because according to him I had to learn “how to fight sea sickness” which at that time was not sounding reasonable enough to me but it turned out to be a lesson to be immune to the sea sickness. That was the first and last time that I got sea sick ever in my whole cadetship onboard.

Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

I was assigned with multiple tasks and hectic schedule by C/O as he wanted to train me in the hardest way possible. I used to do day work and bridge watch daily. I learnt the practical aspect on deck under the supervision of my bosun and C/O. My OOW taught me various things on bridge. Challenging thing onboard was about “how to accommodate with different nationality” and perform the job productively. Team work was the key and I learnt it the hard way, all thanks to my C/O. It took me a month to settle down and get used to the working environment onboard. After that I started focusing on my TAR Book and started concreting my basics. I worked along with 3rd Mate for maintenance of LSA and FFA. I learned about the job profile of OOW as a 3rd Mate.

Hari Raya Celebration!

Click by me which made it to the cover page of MISC’s magazine.

Best OOW for me in my whole cadetship! 2ndMate Philip Chacko.

Dessert hunting in China with my coolest Bosun.

Months passed by and I was still learning about cargo operation, navigation and bridge watch keeping. I always used to approach my OOW and C/O for any doubts and they used to help me and sometimes they used to teach me in their own way. The rest hours onboard are like luxury and one should learn to utilize it productively rather than wasting it by watching movies and playing games.

My first Chief Mate, C/O Kansil.

Charts!

My best Chief Mate. C/O Didik Hermanto 

Bunga Azalea!

Break time.

My vessel route was mostly Asia and Middle East. I went to China, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Oman, UAE, etc. It was always exciting to visit new ports onboard. The schedule used to be quite hectic but that’s where I learned “how to manage time” and stand out as a good team player. From tank cleaning to bridge watch, everything had something that I found out to be new as theory can’t cover all aspect of a good seamanship. After 7 months and few days, I had my name on the sign off list, yayy! I signed off in Singapore.

Sign off day! Best day!

Flying back to my loved ones! #happylife