Local sealife

Our ships have been running into Alexandra docks, Hull for years and I can always remember seeing a single seal swimming about in the dock. To enter the dock you have to pass through a lock so perhaps it would swim through with a ship, come to see what's on the other side. It sometimes would slither up a small ramp and lie basking for an hour or so.
This morning whilst taking a quick walk along the quay something caught my eye and there around the stern of my ship was a seal. I took a little video which I have uploaded to YouTube.
Look up Seal@alex Docks,Hull on YouTube
I do however have a couple of photos.
Later in the afternoon, I looked out of my window to see a small congregation of men, nothing too strange about that except they were all gathered in the corner of the dock looking at something. When I looked closer it was the seal again but this time it was at the top of the set of stone steps!
I walked over to have a look, nodding hello as I approached. 'got any fish' said one bloke jokily.
I'm not sure if it was the same seal as I'd seen earlier, it looked a bit smaller to me. Anyway the group of men were local stevedores working on the timber ship next to us, they were concerned it was out of the water and would get lost among the huge piles of timber. Of course when they came near it, it bared it's teeth and growled just like a dog. They had long pieces of timber and although they didn't prod the seal they fended it away from themselves and back towards the water.
One man made me laugh because the seal turned and went down the side of a pile of wood towards this chap and he started running away! I wondered what on earth he thought the seal was going to do to him.
Anyway after about 10 minutes of standing about with these chaps, the seal pushed off and went back into the water.
I wonder if it'll go out in the lock with the next ship?
There is a big grey seal colony to the south of the mouth of the River Humber - Donna Nook -

At this time of year the pups are leaving the colony. At the last count there had been over 1000 pups born at Donna Nook this year.

Check out this website to find out more http://lincstrust.org.uk

It is a dirty job.........

Today started with a blocked toilet! How nice!
As far as i can remember the toilet in my cabin has always been a bit temperamental, you always need to give it a good flush to make sure it doesn't block. Unlike the toilet at home there is no cistern so the flush handle just releases water into the toilet bowl for as long as you hold it. Also this ship was built in Holland so many of the fittings are Dutch so aren't easy to source in the UK. Hence the unusual toilet itself. Although the waste pipe is at the back of the toilet( like in UK) the hole in the toilet is at the front of the toilet bowl. Basically we can't just nip down B&Q and get a replacement.
After noticing the toilet bowl was filling but not emptying I sighed a big sigh and held my breath whilst using the toilet brush as a plunger to try and unblock said toilet quickly followed by a bucket of water. Alas this did no good so I thought, ' I know I'll go and speak with the Bosun, he'll know what to do!!'

On a Merchant Navy ship the bosun is in charge of the deck crew,like a foreman ashore, he usually has many years experience and as a Chief Officer he is your right hand man really. If anything needs doing you speak to the bosun. To have a good reliable bosun makes my job a lot easier! My bosun is brilliant, I've known him since I was a new trainee about 15 years ago. He has been on this ship for many years and knows it inside out.
So Bosun came up and had a look and then we went and had a chat about the best way to unblock the toilet. He had, I should mention, not long left my bathroom after fixing the sink back firmly in place. I did suggest that perhaps the previous occupant had been sitting on the sink, perhaps because his toilet was blocked :)

Then the 2nd and 3rd engineers came up from below ( from the Engine Room) and they joined in the rather strange conversation on how best to unblock my toilet!
Anyway it seems that the 3rd engineer (Mr 3E) was destined at an early point in his life to become a plumber. His father was a plumber and so was he, until he ran away and joined the Royal Navy. Years later, he's in the Merch and is obviously THE man for the job. He positively relishes the fact and gets to work with long red rubber gloves and a long piece of wire.
Within a matter of minutes, the 'problem' is solved and the toilet is once again flushing freely! I thank Mr 3E again and again, happy that I can now use the toilet again :) and all without a £50 callout charge!

Needless to say I shall keep an eye on what goes in to my toilet and flush accordingly! I have also put in an order for a new toilet and pipe work as this problem will reoccur at some point.
It only remains to be seen whether the job is agreed.

Surrounded by buoys!

Well we're broken down here in sunny Hull so my dreams of sailing away into the sunset have been thwarted slightly. I've been reacquainting myself with the old girl, her crew and our surroundings. Been out and about taking photos.


Many of you will have been on boats or ferries in your life or even been lucky enough to go on a cruise so you may well have seen these navigational buoys in the water and wondered what on earth they meant.

The beginnings of a navigational buoyage system began to emerge around 1889. Certain countries agreed to mark some of their channels by placing black can shaped buoys on the port ( left) hand side and red conical buoys on the starboard ( right) side.
Things were complicated with the addition of lights because some added a red light to the port side mark whereas some added a red light to the starboard side mark to match the red buoy.
In 1973 the International Association of Lighthouse Authorities (IALA) tried to make a single worldwide system. Eventually 2 regions were agreed upon with regard to the Lateral navigation marks. Region B is the Americas and Pacific and Region A is everywhere else. So most of the places I have sailed to use the Region A system of buoyage and it is this one I shall refer to here.

There are 5 main types of navigational mark.

1) Lateral - these indicate the sides of a well defined channel according to the direction of buoyage. *
A port hand mark will be a red can shaped buoy with an optional top mark of a small red can. It's light will be red.
A starboard hand mark will be a green cone shaped buoy with an optional top mark of a small green cone. It's light is green.

2) Cardinal - these indicate where the best navigable water is in relation to a danger or hazard and are referenced to the 4 points of a compass, North(N), South(S), East(E) and West (W).
The buoys are yellow with black bands which relate to the black cone shape topmark. Each topmark is made up of 2 black cones in various unique combinations. The lights are white and all relate to the clock.

As an example a South cardinal buoy has a top mark of 2 black cones, in a vertical line both with points facing down. The buoy colour is yellow with black around the bottom half of the buoy. It's light would be white either VeryQuick6 + Long Flash 10s or Quick6 + L Fl 15s.

The named side is the safe side to pass so if you saw a South Cardinal buoy ahead you would pass to the South of it.

3) Isolated Danger Mark - used to mark areas/ isolated dangers of limited extent.eg a wreck. They usually have navigable water all around them. They are black and red in colour and always have a top mark of 2 black spheres in a vertical line. The light is white and always Fl(2)( A group of 2 flashes close together. )

4) Safe Water Mark - As the name suggests these indicate safe water around the mark and are usually found in channels/rivers to mark the mid channel. They can be either spherical, pillar or spar shaped and are red and white vertically striped. The light, if fitted, is white, occulting, isophase, LFl 10s or morse code 'A' ( ._ )**

5) Special marks - these are not of navigational importance but just help to indicate a special area, depicted in a chart. These can include: naval exercise areas, recreational areas for bathing or water skiing or cables and pipelines.
They are yellow with a topmark of a yellow St Andrews cross. It's light is yellow and the rhythm is one not used by any other mark nearby.


Opposite where my ship is berthed I noticed these buoys, obviously out the water for servicing, they are L-R spherical Safe Water Mark, Lateral port hand mark, spherical Safe Water Mark, Special Mark, Lateral Starboard hand mark and South Cardinal buoy. Now it's got a bit darker I see they are still merrily flashing away with their own special coloured light and rhythm.

*Direction of buoyage - always marked on navigation charts. Local direction used when entering ports/rivers from seaward. General Direction is clockwise around continents. Around the UK it is North (N) up the West(W) coast and Irish Sea, East (E) up the English Channel and then N up the North Sea.

** Occulting - duration of light is longer than dark.
Isophase - duration of light and dark are equal.
Flashing - light shorter than dark
LongFlash - 2 seconds or longer.

The best Christmas Day present

What a lovely Christmas we had. Some delicious food and smashing presents. Got a couple of exercise type games for the Wii so have no excuse not to lose weight now!
However by far the best Christmas present we had was a new edition to our family. My hubby's daughter had a little girl, weighing in at just over 7lb. Our first grandchild. It does mean i am a Step- granny before i'm 40 but i suppose thats what you get if you marry a man old enough to be your father:)

We had a call from her partner just after Christmas lunch to say they were at the hospital so we spent the afternoon jumping every time the phone rang. She was born on Christmas Day, early evening. Within 20 mins of her being born we got the call!
My husband was so happy, he hadn't wanted to get too excited beforehand until he knew both his daughter and grand-daughter were ok.
Yesterday (Boxing Day) we were able to go and visit them at home. We both had a cuddle and she is delightful. I am sure she will bring us many years of love and happiness.

Its Christmas.

So the festive season has slowly crept upon us again.
We're just waiting for my parents to arrive to spend Christmas with us. This year we lost my lovely Grandma, (I shall be posting about her I expect in my future blogs.) so my Mum said she didn't really feel like spending Christmas at home. So on one side we shall all feel a little melancholy about not having Grandma's company but we also have a lot to look forward to.
My step daughter is due to give birth to a little girl any day now! She was due a couple of days ago so we are jumping at every phone call!
So the sausage rolls have been cooked and put away quickly before hubby's hands nick them and the mulled wine is on the stove waiting for our visitors. I finally iced the Christmas cake too -