Day 6: Thursday

The captain asked if I could be on gangway watch again as they were short-handed and I said, “Of course!” I am willing to do anything on the ship.

I later joined the Third Officer to make sure the discharge went smoothly. He then showed me various safety items such as the lifeboats and how they work. We then went forward to the focsle and he showed me a passage that ran the length of the ship.

Day 5: Wednesday

We finally arrived alongside in Vancouver, Washington in the wee hours of the morning. I remained on the bridge throughout the navigation up the Colombia River. I enjoyed being on the bridge when the ship was maneuvering in to or out of port. Like my father, I am more of a “Decky” rather than an engine room guy. I find the bridge fascinating. I am definitely not a morning person.

While in port, I went down onto the dock, but couldn’t really go too far due to security. I followed the Third Mate as we observed the discharge of the steel products/coils to make sure everything went smoothly. I asked to go on gangway watch again and took over from Sandeep. 

Day 4: Tuesday

After joining the Chief Mate’s watch, I had breakfast and then went to my cabin to catch up on a few z’s. The ship was now well underway to Vancouver, Washington and so again, I fell asleep to the slow rolling of the ship.

However, I eventually woke up as I rolled off my bed and smacked my forehead on the floor. Since I could not get back to sleep, I went up to the bridge to find that we had arrived off the pilot station at Astoria and the Pilot was now on board.

I joined the Second Officer and followed along as we navigated up the Colombia River. The Second Officer helped me understand how to plot our course on the chart. Captain Samyal was also on the bridge for the six-hour journey up the river to Vancouver, Washington.

Day 3: Monday

Today, we are still discharging and behind schedule, so they plan to work through the night to finish as we need to get underway towards Vancouver, Washington. My job today was to help paint one of the holds. I was later on gangway watch for the balance of my shift.

Discharge completed in the evening and so the pilots were ordered and we set sail in the evening for Vancouver. It was still light enough for me to take a few pictures of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge on our way out. I stayed on the bridge all night and joined both the 3rd officer and then the 2nd officer for their watches and then finished with the Chief Mate’s watch.

Day 2: Sunday

Sadly, the ship passed under the Golden Gate Bridge at 0200 hrs, so it was impossible for me to take pictures. I had gone to bed at midnight since I would not be able to see much at 0200 hrs. When I woke at 0600 hrs, the ship was alongside Pier 80 in San Francisco down near Candlestick Football stadium.

We again had to discharge steel products here, but the local stevedores were far from amused with the ship’s gantry cranes. The stevedores were only used to the conventional ships cranes rather than the gantry cranes which the Saga Andorinha has. There was an issue with one of the hooks on one of the cranes and the stevedores ended up dropping some of the cargo back into the hold, which made a tremendous bang. Fortunately, there was no major damage and discharge then resumed.

I took the opportunity to go ashore with the Third Mate and some of the crew. We took a taxi to the Golden Gate Bridge for a little sightseeing, but the fog was so bad that it was impossible to see much. After touring the bridge museum, we then went back to the ship, but I had a hard time getting back as the security guards were not letting me through. The Third Mate had to go get the ship’s crew list to show security that I did indeed on board the ship.