The Good and The Bad Onboard

Like the moon has a dark side, life onboard is not always the glam and glory filled one. It has it's bad days too. But, on a positive note I'd like to start off with the good side first.


The Good

The good part is perhaps is the food, rather the shore leaves. Yes, who doesn't enjoy visiting different countries. The cherry on top of it is no need to pay for the tickets, visa and tiring immigration procedures. Just get off the ship in the morning and feed your wanderlust and come back at night. One could argue that you cannot go afar as you have to return back to the ship by night. But, on the bright side you get to experience the culture first hand and to know the place. You could have a blast trying out the new things and stuff.

I went shore leave in Thailand, and it was a day I'd never forget as far as my good memory goes. I had so much fun going parasailing and trying out new food like 'Som Tam' which is like minced spicy crab. Walked all day long the beachfront, got a tattoo and bought some souvenirs. Moreover I found out that my colleague and I have similar interests and idea of fun on that day. We bonded like never before and after that we were great friends. And so that is why it's my good thing happened to me when I was onboard.

The Bad

There are some bad times that has hit during then. If I were to choose one it'd be when I almost messed up big time. It was with a critical equipment. Till then I have had bigger responsibilities that that. When I think of it now, it does seem funny. But, back at that time it got really panicked and worried. My chief officer asked me and Pumpman to take a look at a leaking BA bottle. So as usual I carried it to the workshop and opened it up and we found the holding valve was leaking since it had a cracked.

As there was nothing we could do about it, we decided to put it back but for that we needed a box spanner of a small size, and I carried the penny sized brass valve and went to the engine room workshop to get the appropriate tool. As I checked and brought the spanner up to the workshop I had found myself missing the valve. And I couldn't remember where I left, since it's a critical equipment it was important that it'd be found. My chief officer scolded me fiercely and I was searching it all the way back to where I came from. After a 2 hour search I finally found it in the workshop floor below a metal rack. I never experienced any relief like that before. Since then, I learned a lesson to be careful with really small parts.