The Tales of A Watchkeeping Officer - Ghost Stories

I had a pat on my shoulder.....at 0500H in the morning....when i was alone on the navigation bridge.......

Yes this is not some joke as it happened to myself in the middle of the South Atlantic.

It was cold to the bone that particular morning, as southern winter wind blowing outside. Meanwhile it was like a freezer inside the bridge since we cant turn off the air conditioning. Centralize aircond do have its own drawbacks.

there were no maritime traffic in the vicinity. Another quiet and silent early morning, with no stars and moon in the skies as overcast skies were reported to persist in the coming weeks.

It is abnormal to be alone on the bridge when ship`s are on long ocean passage as at time there should be at least an assistant wstchkeeper tagging along but since we are short on hands for deck for maintenance and task required to be completed by chief officer so the helmsmen cum assistant watchkeeper will be taken off from shift rotation and instead will be on day work, with provisions that in any case the OOW needs them, he can be called up immediately to assist on the bridge.

back to my story....

i was looking out front, standing close to the integrated  nav panels and its a norm to lean your back at the center navigation console with your feet close to the center gyro repeater. At that time it is the best position to keep your situational awareness.

an hour passed without anything exciting in particular apart from the bridge navigational watch alarm that kept on shouting every 12 minutes.

then while gazing through the dark skies....

A PAT ON MY RIGHT SHOULDER....

startled, i turn my head and there is no one around, and i knew for fact that there is no one expect me on the bridge..and there is no sign of entry through the door from the staircase or from the sliding doors leading to the bridge wings. Both doors on port and starboard are kept shut and locked.

i kept myself calm....i cite my prayers

in these oceans...it is known that there are a lot of lost souls who perished and shipwrecked

and their presence are still around. Some say their soul is chained and unable to get to the netherworld.....still as a Muslim this is not the case of an understanding of souls and spirit....but then i knew for sure that there are other beings that lives among us in its own dimension....

nothing had happened after that....until a few days later....

I HAD ANOTHER PAT ON MY RIGHT SHOULDER

then there was none until the day i leave the ship....
there are a lot of other ghost stories revolves around us mariners....among them was the white lady....the voices in the engine room....the calling of your name on the main decks....there are also stories of how people sees entities in a form of human being in cabins....and so forth...

the ocean are wide and had endless boundary.....many ship and its crew perished since the day man put up sails and cross the ocean to explore new world....many more of them died in catastrophic ways...in sea battles...in treacherous storm...explosions and accidents that sent ships and its crew to the dark abyss....

this is only one of my encounters with the unseen spirits that roams the ocean....
there are more sinister tales....

but that can wait

-come to sea and see for yourself-

The Story Of A Watchkeeping Officer - Back to Sea

I have not wrote as much as i was a few years back so as i noticed for i have been busy with other things while i am ashore...and plus i found that i got stalled halfway while writing..i have lost my touch and my ability to turn words into expression..and a number of writings were now in cold storage,waiting to be written again or to be thrown into the dustbin so to say..

But suddenly...

I got the urge to write again...for now i know that the person i cherish and love the most is waiting for me to write...waiting to hear stories from the seas and far away land..

And so..i am writing

Here in a crappy 4 star hotel i wrote my expression of knowing and having someone waiting for me to come back in one piece from the treacherous ocean and the unforgiving nature of sailing...

In the last 4-5 years in the service...i had never felt so reluctant to leave for another shipboard service...i had never felt so sad to leave my love one...i never had tears running when i had to leave..when i had to see her in tears....when she said how much she care about me...how she rejoice the times we had been together...

And for the first time...i had never went to sea...having the desire to come back....the desire to get into fights about insignificant things...to get into unnecessary argument...to hold our hands while walking together talking about irrelevant things.... to talk all night on the phone...going to places we had never been together..have you on my passenger side showing ways around the city....i will miss all that and i am really looking forward to do that again...

Thank you for all the things that you had done...for all the things we did together...for all the time we spend together....i will remember them...i will treasure all the memories...

Even when i am far away....do remember that i am always close to your heart and to your mind...for even we are apart...we are still living under the same skies...looking at the same moon and counting the same stars...

I will be going now...i will miss you a lot...i hate to go but i have to...

Pray to god that i will be safe...so that i will come back for you...

-only the best men can go to sea...and only the best women can be with the best men-

A Navigator`s Serenade - A Serenade for The One I Love

back to sea

these last four days...
had been really meaningful to both of us
all the small things that we have done
all the memories that i will cherish the most
while i am out there in the open ocean

i will remember
bit by bit
places that we went together
what we did
what we saw
what talked over lunch
for that is the only reason for me to go on

you are the reason for me to come back
reason for all that i done in the treacherous waters
reason for all the risk i took

you are the light that shone the coast
the light that marks fairways for mariners to pass
light that gave hope to me that there is still chance for us to meet again

i will miss you a lot
for my love to you is un fathomed
like the depth of celestial heavens
like the depth of the dark ocean

thanks for all you have done these 133 days we have been together
i will cherish and appreciate it like how i did to the bluest skies


-come to sea and see for yourself-

a navigator`s serenade - breaking the silence

a serenade and an entry for her..i got only one you and that is you

let me break the silence
that had been going on between us

i had never did the things that you said i did
i never look for someone else
or did things that you hate the most
for you are always close to my heart

i know that i had been a jerk
for getting my self on a high note
getting mad at stupid things
for thinking that you are getting mad at me

but that does not mean
that i hate you
i love you for what you are
and nothing else
just like how i love the sea breeze
the starry night skies
that reveals the center of the galaxy
and the calm seas that comes together with all of it

we had been apart for to long
and i know it had taken a toll
to both of us
where we rarely see each other
it makes us drifted further and further away

and comes the silence...

i long for your smiles
your laugh and your small talks on things
that made you shine
like the brightest night skies
over the great oceans

i miss your voice through the cellphone
although we talked for hours
and i miss your actual voice
when you are next to me
in my car driving to a destination called nowhere
or maybe at some diner in the metropolis

the warmth of your presence
soothes my soul

your punches that really hurt my shoulder
our small and petty fights
and our massive fights together
i never forget it

your mischievous calls
that always kept me awake at dawn
to remind me my responsibilities

i miss all that
i miss it all
and i will remember all that
and it will always stays in my mind

i don`t meant to leave you alone
for being alone makes me much more
restless and uncertain

maybe you were right
were getting farther and farther away
but as far as i can go on this earth
you are always close to my heart

we are far in distance
but yet you are close

for this are a note to break the silence between us

apart we have been yes i knew,
quite and in total silence yes both we have been these days thus,
i ask for forgiveness for the things that i did for I,
long for your presence that soothes me day by day
all the things that i said to you that puts you in a prolonged melancholia and
had makes us drifted apart

forgiveness is what i seek from you
and affection in adoration are what both of us were looking for
reconcile we should from this fight and
indifference in feelings to eschew while
similarities and commonalities we seek to make things better

-serenade-

a navigator`s serenade - loosing grip

entri jarang-jarang

i have not write as frequent as i had before...way before during the advent of this small blog entries that started five million years ago...

it seems to me that i have lost my touch to write (or to type to be exact)...

every time i open up the catatan baharu....i`ve feel a total emptiness...blanked and saturated

maybe it is because there are too many sites that flourish like mushroom after heavy thunderstorm that pops out here and there everyday...that have more interesting stories to tell...

but that is not the real reason of why i am not writing for quite sometimes...


have i lost interest...?


well its possible....


-have gone to seas and seen for myself-

the story of a watchkeeping officer on holiday - another LIMA 2013....

entri cuti tanpa gaji....




the smell of jet fuels...roaring jet engines and heated tarmacs....plus the never ending sunshine are coming back to Langkawi...and i am again in Langkawi for the excitement of listening to the thundering   freedom of fighter jets flying in dumbfounded and fantastic maneuvers...

from the 26th till the 30th of March...i enslaved myself to the all the jets that were flying over the skies of Langkawi....i enslaved myself and my soul to the LIMA 2013....a revisited pilgrim that i made for the second time after the 2011 event...

here are some of me and my mates stunning photos taken during the 5 days event...

all of us are crazy about it...and were sniffing jet fuels like smoking cigarettes...

hahahahhaa...

Russian Knights in the Su-27UB Flanker C...or    

 something else...                       

looking at the future

the sweet Swedish Gripen of the Royal Thai Air Force

 everyone were amazed by the French flying skills....

 The Taufan Ganas of Smokey Bandits

also here is the American private air refueling corporation....

 checking the canard...

our own Malaysian American....the F/A-18D Hornet...in new light grey scheme

 the Aussies...with the E-737 Wedgetail...

 and also the Russian...with the Ilyushin Il-76

and also the Americans...with their P-3C Orion Maritime Patrol Aircraft...

 not to forget the RMAF mud movers..the HAWK...

and the all time favorite...and also the pride of all Malaysian...the Su-30MKM...the ever feared TEDUNG SELAR....

-come to langkawi next year and see it yourself-

the story of a watchkeeping officer - Panama Canal

entri terusan wan mat saman...

The Bridge of The Americas

after 28 days of ocean passage...we arrive at the port of Balboa in Panama City located at Gulf of Panama..the capital city of Panama and also the Pacific entrance for the Panama Canal..
we anchored for a night when we arrived...and waited for our canal transit convoy orders from the canal authority which is on the next day morning..

most of us on board had never cross the Panama canal..so the atmosphere is full of excitement...

we were boarded by the pilots..the cable handlers and also their supervisors who will be the guys who handle the cables when we enter the 3 canal locks..and headed for the first canal lock, the Miraflores..

clearing the 2nd Miraflores lock...where literally our ship is climbing up to a higher ground

Miraflores had 2 sets of locks each side with 2 lock chambers enclosed by 3 lock gates...where it can accomodate 2 Panamax size ship on both side...

the Miraflores is also the entrance to the Miraflores Lake..which is enclosed by the 2 Pacific locks...

coming from the Pacific...this will be the first canal lock a vessel will enter and here you got the first glace of the intricate working of the lock systems..

we were escorted by two powerful tugs...each stationed forward and aft to assist our vessel in entering the canal and aligning itself straight to the canal entrance before the cable handlers and the locomotive took over..

the locomotive is used to guide and also to keep the vessel straight and steady in the lock chamber...

steel wires were sent from the locomotive to be tied up to the vessel and this is where the cable handlers played their roles

side by side at the Miraflores..further up is the Pedro Miguel lock before going thru the Culebra or Gaillard cut...a series of treacherous and narrow waterways..

we cleared the Miraflores lock and were inside the Miraflores lake..and we`re headed to the 2nd lock...the Pedro Miguel, a single chamber lock that completes the Pacific Locks..

from the Pedro Miguel we were ordered to come alongside at the buoy located 400 metres away from the lock..

we awaited for the southbound transit convoy to clear the Gaillard cut since the cut is narrow and the pilots insist to wait until the convoy cleared before we proceed up north

a Panamax bulk carrier heading southbound..part of the southbound convoy preps itself to enter Pedro Miguel

we proceed up river thru the Gaillard Cut..passing the Centennial Bridge...

that is the closest we can get to the lock chambers...you can put you hand on the walls...that is how close...

Culebra or Gailllard cut is a waterways..cutting through the rugged Culebra mountain terrain...forming an artificial valley..connecting the Pedro Miguel Lock in the Pacific Side to Gatun Lake and then through Gatun Lock at the Atlantic Side...

rain had reduced our visibility....a normality in tropical weather conditions...

we pass thru 7 miles of winding waterways...with mountain rigde on both sides...before coming to the arms of the Chagres River and into the Gatun Lake....

we arrive at Gatun Lock just after sunset...

the locomotive...or the mule as it is known...these are the workhorse of the Panama Canal...the machines that pulls the vessel in and steadies it while waiting for the water to rise up...

again here...the intricate working of the canal took place...the pilots assisted by tugs drives the ship closer and closer to the lock....and then orders the cable handlers to tied the vessel to the locomotives...3 each on port and starboard bow and another 3 both on port and starboard quarter...

they move in unison....bringing the ship inside the first sets of lock chambers....

then they stop....the gates were closed and then...like magic the ship were lowered down like nothing happened....

if going thru Miraflores is like climbing up a mountain..then going thru Gatun is climbing down...provided that you are coming from the Pacific Sides...unless it is vice versa if its from the Atlantic

there are 3 sets of lock chamber each on both sides of the Gatun Lock....and both were occupied by ships...going towards the Atlantic....

that is how close...the clearance...is a hand reach over to the gates....

most of us are first timers through the canal...and everyone is excited to have their photos taken...because nobody knows when are we gonna go through here since due to our  unexpected trade pattern...

maybe im stuck at checking at the vessel and the lock clearance for another god knows when....

-come to sea and see for yourself-