215 Nautical miles sailed
3 days at sea
Sailing from Paphos, Cyprus to Herzliya, Israel was quite an exciting one. It was probably due to the fact that we had a film crew on board so we did a lot of fun stuff. (Click here to see the documentary said film crew made).
I was taking a nap when the general alarm went off. That's always the best way to wake up. Really, it is, what with the loudest bell ever ringing right outside your room. So great.
I went up to the wheelhouse to ask the captain what was going on and he said we were doing a Man Overboard Drill. Something that is required that we practice in the unfortunate event that someone does actually fall overboard and we have to rescue them. It's good to know what to do in that situation.
When I found out what we were doing, I came to discover that the 'man' overboard (i.e. a fender) was already in the water and the dinghy was needing to be ready to lowered. As has been my usual position for over a year, I went to the aft (the back of the ship) and took my position, ready to lower the dinghy with Thomas (our excellent first mate) (he's from Ibiza) in it. However, as Thomas came back, all suited up with a life jacket and a radio in his hand (as well as a GoPro camera on his head) he asked me if I was ready with a life jacket on.
Umm...pardon me?
What?
We were heaved to (read this post to find out what that means) just off the coast of Cyprus and the water was just a bit choppy but not too bad. So with 'what?' being my only question, and not actually getting an answer back, I went back to the wheelhouse to get a life jacket on and get ready to be lowered to the water behind the ship.
The majority of the time, I wasn't entirely sure what I was supposed to be doing. I just kind of did what Thomas told me to do along with a bit of common sense and it worked.
I was in the very front of the dinghy as Thomas revved up the engine and we headed off to find our man. Well, fender man. I could see it in the distance so I pointed with my arm and we raced towards it, bouncing all over the place over the waves. We made it to Mr. Fender Man and I brought him inside and we set back off to the ship across the choppy waters.
Let me pause and say that it was quite the view in front of me as we raced back to the ship. With the hills of Cyprus on the right and the ship with the main sail flying high, it was a sight not soon to be forgotten.
When we made it back, I thought the job was done.
I thought wrong.
Next thing I knew, someone in a bright orange life jacket jumps into the water behind me (literally didn't see this coming until she splashed in the water) and we had to rescue her. We pulled her up into the dinghy and practiced using the Jacob's Ladder. Why it is called that, I have no idea. But it's a very interesting contraption that attaches to the ship and the person needing a rescue goes inside of it and it literally rolls them up on to the deck.
Once she was up, my job on the water was finished and then I had to be in the raising party to get the dinghy back on board in it's proper place. It went well.
Thomas and I made a great team that day.
Again, I thought my job was done and I could go back to my nap.
I thought wrong.
There's always so much you can do in a day on a ship.
We then went into a full fire drill with a 'casualty' in the engine room. (That means one of our crew members had a fake injury and we needed to rescue him and bring him on deck.) In this particular case, our engineer was unconscious in the engine room. Every fire drill is different and every one is very much a learning experience.
A lot was learned this day. I don't think I managed to get back to my nap as after all this excitement finally came to and end and we were setting off again for our destination, it was my turn to be on watch.
I slept well after that watch.
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