River Thames

My week aboard Arco Arun is going by in a flash!
Another dredger, she is slightly different to the last two ships I've sailed on in that, unlike a traditional ship, her accommodation is at the forward end of the ship. So although there is no engine noise its damn noisy when we're mooring because of the mooring winches whirring away or when the anchor is dropped. Yes that certainly wakes you up as it rattles out of its housing!
I've sailed on this ship before, many years ago as a fresh faced trainee. Sadly my trip on her then was cut short when on the day I was due to join she hit an underwater object in the River Thames, near Tilbury, and ended up on her side!
She is one of four ships built of the same design, in fact, when we were loading our cargo the other day, all four of us were out there together. Here are two of them,

This week we have been loading cargoes for the Thames - Dagenham, Greenhithe and most recently Victoria Deep which is a berth right up the river near Canary Wharf.
It involves going through the Thames Tidal barrier, under the new Thames cable car and past the O2 dome to berth almost opposite Canary Wharf.