Baptism of fire

Not really going to plan today, the old enemy the weather has played a big part in today's proceedings.  We left at 08:00 for Craignure in a brisk Easterly which was a full gale by the time we approached Craignure Pier,after 45 minutes or so we got alongside stern in and some of the vehicles had to back off.  The other ferry that has been standing in for us the Hebrides, then took up our run and is still doing it while we are manoeuvring around Oban Bay waiting for a free berth, and the wind is still howling.  Welcome back.

Back home, for the ship that is.

22:00 and back alongside in our usual berth, #1 at Oban, great passage back via the Sound of Islay and up the west side of Kerrera.  The weather was fine all the way up with a gentle swell coming in when we rounded the Mull of Kintyre, but not enough to spill the gin.  Back in service tomorrow morning with the 08:00 out of Oban.

Change to plans

It has been said that if you want to make God laugh tell him your
plans. The ship had left the dry dock on Monday and shifted around to
James Watt Dock where we were afloat to continue the last of the
maintenance work.
In the forward part of the vessel there is a large void space under
the car deck, some of the metal work had been painted and needed
inspection. On entering the space the Chief Officer noticed quite a
lot of water at the bottom and traced this back to a little crack in
the hull up on the starboard side. The Lloyds surveyor had a look and
as a result we are back in the dry dock having repairs. This was a
photo I took last night as they worked away through the night.
The repairs should be finished by tomorrow (Thursday) morning and then
we aim to depart at 14:00 for sea trials.

In the Garvel

Here in Greenock at the Garvel Dry Dock getting the annual service or
overhaul. I joined on Wednesday and was down in the dock bottom 20
minutes later replacing the bungs or plugs in the double bottom tanks.
We are scheduled to move out of the dry dock on Monday and move round
to James Watt dock next door to complete all the work, at the moment
it doesn't look likely that we will have any engines so it'll be dead
ship with tugs to help us around.

Day two of the Ice Station Zebra training

Out onto the Humber today to zoom around with the fresh wind and spray
in our faces. These are two of the boats that we are training on, the
one on the left can go up to nearly 40 knots which is really quite
scary.
There was the odd snow flurry during the day but in the main it was
clear and sunny and about 26 degrees colder than Tampa on Saturday.
Tomorrow we do our swimming pool training, capsizing and righting the
boat. We've been assured that the pool is heated. After that it is
back to Albert Dock for our practical exam.

First day of the Course

Lifeboat launching gear

First day of my course at Hull learning how to drive a Fast Rescue
Craft, in reality a RIB (Rigid Inflatable Boat) with two 75 hp
Evinrude outboards on the back. Today we spent most of the time
learning about the boat, how to launch and recover it using a davit,
then going alongside and picking up buoys. All of this was in the
non-tidal Albert Dock, tomorrow we are off out into the Humber and
maybe the North Sea to get some experience driving around in a sea.
And probably snow if the forecast is correct, the old nose and feet
were a bit chilly by the time I got back to the hotel tonight.

Don't want to come home!

Today, here in Tampa we woke yet again to blue skies and a temperature heading for 26 C mid afternoon. We drove across the Bay to St. Petersburg on the Gulf coast and visited the Dali Museum Fabulous building and a wonderful collection of pictures, made all the better by the interesting and knowledgeable tour.
Tomorrow we head East to Orlando International to nip back across the pond to London then Glasgow.  Another week of holiday, would be fabulous but I have a date in Hull starting Tuesday morning at 8:15 for the Fast Rescue Craft course on the River Humber.  Can't wait.

Arrived on the West coast

Here in Tampa, damn hot so we're going for a dip and a beer at a local beach bar. This is the view from our room.

Probably coming to a TV near you soon

We are heading South now and to break the journey we stayed overnight in Beaufort, not pronounced as we would but Beefort. We were flicking through the TV channels last night trying to find something to watch, when we came across Tattoo Wars.  This is a programme where competing Tattoo artists play to find the champion, each level introducing greater levels of complexity.  They do a real tattoo on a real person and then the judges comment on the artistry then one individual gets knocked out.  Yes real tattoos on real people who were getting their backs covered in some fantasy muscle man and then hearing how bad the shading on the arm is and how the colours don't blend in well.  And as we know, just like a puppy at Christmas, Tattoos are for life not just for the show.  The competitors were an interesting bunch being good exponents of their own art and covered suitably with pictures.  You read it here first.

Elegant Charleston

Apparently Conde Naste has voted this city as the best in the world.
Well I wouldn't go as far as that but it certainly is pretty and
historical. This was where the Civil war started and prior to that it
was one of the busiest ports in America. God fearing folk too, more
churches than anywhere else we've been too so far.

Charleston

Another day and another State, now in South Carolina. We stopped off
at the Middleton Estate, this was a Plantation run with African slaves
by a settling British family, not for the production of cotton but
rice . Beautiful grounds with lots of animals and some interesting
exhibits like these original carriages. And still the skies are
cloudless, fabulous weather.

Savannah

We have had a wonderful day walking the streets of this lovely city.
Fantastic squares of great elegance and history, to top of the day
there was a Parade of Sail with fireworks on the river. Off to
Charleston tomorrow and our most Northerly point on this trip.

Savannah

OK this isn't the greatest view in the world, but looking out from our hotel room this morning I don't see anything but blue skies. Thought I might mention it. Off shortly to look around this lovely historic city.

Jacksonville

As the rest of America gorges itself on Thanksgiving turkey and cranberry, smothered in cheese probably, as everything else seems to be served that way.  We fruitlessly walked the sun drenched streets of this fair city.  Nowhere is open and we are benefiting from an enforced diet, oh well the sun is shining and this is the view from our room, not bad for £36 a night.

Flagler College and some tourist momentos.

It was a beautiful day here in St. Augustine, not a cloud in the sky
and temperatures in the high 60's (we've gone imperial like everyone
here) This town has been invaded and occupied by many including our
own Francis Drake who is clearly regarded as being a pirate. We took
the tourist road train around the town dropping off to visit the
Flagler College which is a magnificent building, specialising in
Liberal Arts? There are always opportunities to purchase little items
to take home, like these aligator heads.
Tomorrow we continue North to Jacksonville and Thanksgiving. Pity the
poor sales staff who have to open the doors that evening to start the
Black Friday sales.

And onwards North

Last night we stayed in a quirky motel at Daytona Beach, in the
pursuit of cheapness we booked the room over the reception with a
great view of the highway. But it was comfy and the Kon Tiki
restaurant next door provided us a good fried shrimp with three sauces
dinner. By the way that is our BMW X3 hire car, which is lovely to
drive and maybe at the end of the fortnight I'll have worked out what
all those buttons do.

To get away from the concrete we went walking around one of the many
National Parks here in Florida, Favers-Dykes. Seems that the British
were here many years ago and manged to remove all the locals shortly
after they arrived.

Off to the moon because we can

Today it was off to the Cape Canaveral Space Centre to look at rockets
and other such space paraphernalia. Fantastic audio visual displays
particularly the Imax theatre with its 3D film of the space station.
We have now driven about 50 miles north and are staying overnight at
Daytona Beach, and it's just like Oban overcast with a strong breeze
accompanied with drizzle.

1st day in Florida

Did ourselves proud last night by managing to stay awake till 3 in the
morning UK time, 22:00 here. Up at the crack of dawn and we visited a
local lake, of which there are many around here. We took an hour long
boat trip about the shores and the narrow canals with a guided tour
from the old fellow pointing out where all the poor folk have to live
on the waterfront, see example above. Lovely and warm day and a good
start to the holiday.

Home and then off again

I came back from the wild west to Glasgow a couple of days ago.  Time to sort through the post and get a hangover from last night, drinking something called Hopoclypse Yale.  This with a nod to the Marlon Brando film,  "I love the smell of freshly burnt hops in the morning."
Despite there being some lovely days here in Scotland with clear blue skies and frosty starts in the morning, for my leave this time we have decided that there isn't that many good days and are heading off tomorrow to Orlando in Florida, where there is rarely frost but quite often blue skies.
Hopefully there will be places in America where they have the Internet so I can update our progress.  We have hired a car and intend travelling about a bit to Savannah and Atlanta among other places.
Adios for now.

Cleaner seas?

Some changes to the MARPOL (Marine Pollution) regulations, which apply to our vessel, are coming in at the beginning of 2013.  No solid food can be put into the sea when a vessel is within 3 miles of the coast, when more than 3 miles away then food waste can be discharged into to the sea but has to go through a sieve with a maximum of 25 mm/1 inch spacing.  On our run we are never more than 3 miles away from the land so we are no longer able to deposit any solid food waste of any size into the sea.

Now we have been in the habit of putting a lot of food waste, peelings, plate scrapings etc. through a macerator which turns them into a fine soup before going over the side.  From January 1^st we can no longer do this and all of our waste is going into extra thick and strong plastic bags to be deposited into a skip ashore here in Oban.  This will eventually end up in land fill as there are no facilities for organic waste here.

As I see it the fish are losing out on an easy meal and the planet gets a load of plastic and landfill.  This is progress.

Out and about the west coast.

Amazing bit of seasonal weather, cold frosty mornings with blue skies and sunshine, not for long at this time of year but they make for great sunrises and sets.

This is looking across at the hills beyond Oban, Ben Cruachan I think.

And a bit closer to show off the snow cover, notice the smoky cloud coming off the peak.  The trip down and back to Colonsay today was fabulous, we go down one way and back by another route so that our ten passengers with their three cars could have a different view.

On the tourist trail

Been a busy few days, yesterday we did the Eden project and then today we were back in St. Ives, this time without the fog.

Tin Mining

As St, Ives was fogged out we went a touch further down the North coast to the Geevor Tin Mine .  Normally it looks like this.

But yesterday it was like this.

This was a working Tin mine up until it closed in 1990 when the price of Tin no longer made it viable.  Now it is a World Heritage site and museum with the majority of the machinery and buildings intact.  There is a guided tour that took us through the processing plant, which was used to extract the mineral from the lode, about 0.7% metal to that mined we were told, and then a chance to don overcoats and head underground with our knowledgeable guide Barney.  

This was at the start of the tour where we went in about 40 feet, and then waited for a minute I think to check that everyone was comfortable being under the ground with water dripping down the back our necks.  In places I had to bend almost double to get under.

This particular working was very old and had nothing to do with the operation that finished twenty odd years ago.  This bucket was called a kibble, which I believe is a type of cat food in some parts of the world.

The winding gear used to haul the miners up and down the 2,100 feet to the bottom of the mine. The seams and workings then extended up to 1 mile out to sea, there was approximately 100 miles of tunnels.

Air compressors used to power the tools for the operations at the face, especially the drills, this was a safe way of providing power and fresh air.

Built in Glasgow.

I'm smiling because I'm getting out shortly, the miners did up to 10 hours underground grafting.  

On the way out of the washrooms there are photos of all the last miners to work at the mine.

Off to the seaside

Being in Cornwall this week, one is never far from the sea so today we decided to head off to St. Ives on the North coast.  For those of you who don't know St. Ives is famous as one of the UK's premier seaside resorts, its glorious beach, fourth cleanest in Britain, the amazing light that has attracted many artists and a branch of the Tate gallery.  So it came as a bit of disappointment when we arrived today.

There is sea and a beach out there somewhere, but we couldn't see it.  To help with my humour, on the way back to our cottage I foolishly listened to the enforcer on my TomTom commanding me down ever narrower Cornish lanes with mud underfoot and brambles scraping down both sides of the car.  Me praying quietly that there wasn't going to be a Massey Ferguson round the next blind corner.  Grand day out.