Crisel, Micha, Joy and I

Crisel, Micha, Joy and I
My family!

Friday, October 19, 2007

Mer Sea

What an incredible adventure this life is. Okay sometimes monotonous, but really pretty cool. Well as long as you are an adjustable adaptable person who can either follow a plan or have the plan thrown out from under him and still keep plugging along. This last month or so has seen me move to the US, sail a ship to no place in particular, and get thrown in the back of a police car. Oh yes, and I now write this on my second day off since arriving here. I arrived at Port Mercy in Lake Charles, Louisiana after a three day drive in my 32 year old Mercedes. The car ran ok for the most part although it likes to stall at times if you have recently stopped for fuel or something. Anyways I got here in the middle of a big push to get the Hope ready for a planned trip to the East Indies and Honduras, while the Mer Sea was also being prepared for a trip a couple weeks later to Nicaragua and Honduras. I was assigned as Bosun on the Mer Sea, which was great. We got the hope ready to sail, and when she left I drove a few miles to the Interstate 10 bridge which the Hope had to pass under on her way to the sea. I parked in a parking lot near the end of the bridge and walked about 2/3 of the way up the bridge which I figured was a great vantage point to photograph the ship as she passed. The problem is, apparently, you are not allowed to walk on Interstates or bridges on Interstates. So here I am, on the sidewalk, waiting for the ship to get closer, when three police cars fly up and flash on their lights and stop and the guys jump out and grab me, make me bend over the hood of their car while they frisk me and then make me get into the back of the first car. I'm glad I have a laid-back enough nature to see the humor in this, as I just laughed to myself rather than get worried. After driving me off the bridge and checking my ID's they explained the rules of Interstates to me. I guess they thought I was going to jump off or something, but then realized the truth when I told them my story and showed them my camara. I'm just glad it happened in the free-est country in the world. I'd hate to think what they might do to you in less free countries if they caught you walking on a sidewalk on a bridge! Lord Forbid! It was funny though the cop pointed and said "See, there is... well there was a sign there that said no trespassing." Oh well. Life goes on. So the Hope got about four days out and suffered serious damage to her main propulsion motor, a giant 65 year old DC electric motor which was irreperable at sea, and the decision was made that proceeding on the mission at that time would be unwise as they could only make 2-4 knots and instead they came about and made for Port Mercy. We at that point temporarily abandoned our plan for the upcoming Nicaragua trip to prepare the Mer Sea to head out and escort the Hope back to Port Mercy. We finished up a few projects and got her ready, heading out for "Sea Trials" which indeed they proved to be. Mer Sea had trouble with the computer that regulates the governor on the Ship Service generator, and since the other generator was apart for being rebuilt prior to the mission, we ended up anchoring for a few days while our engineers sussed that out, jury rigged a temporary solution and waited for the Hope to reach us. By the third day we had the Mer Sea power situation worked out and the Hope made it to within 40 miles of us when her main motor finally gave up, so we proceeded at out best (under the circumstances) speed to her position and took her under tow. We could only run our main motor at a fairly slow speed though due to a burned out fan that cools it, which we had also jury rigged while at anchor (every portable fan on the ship was comandeered for the main DC Motor). After getting back to the vicinity of the mouth of the river we anchored for another day and a half to better fix our jury rigs and then proceeded up the river, with the Hope in tow, at 2 knots. A mile or so in we were pushing less current and made better time, up to 4-5 knots the rest of the way home. So now we are back here at Port Mercy, with the reality that the Hope will not sail again for at least the next few months, and the Mer Sea needs a lot of TLC and will likely be our main ship for the next while. So all the planned outreaches have been postponed to next spring, probably to be carried out by the Mer Sea. So as far as I know now I will be here at Port Mercy until next spring when we sail, with the planned outreaches to Nicaragua, Honduras and Nevis Island. But as I said at the start of this, flexibility is key here as plans are subject to change until they are in the past tense. Oh, and my car broke down.