Sunrise

At the moment when I get up at six forty five it is pitch black apart from the dotted little lights of the oil rig near us in the firth. By eight (ish) there is usually some light, and this morning there was a fantastic red sky to photograph.

Kestrel

This is a picture of the Kestrel, where I am currently working. She is pictured here alongside the West Admiralty (Inner) at Invergordon.

So far I have been battling through the ships Japanese certificates and instruction manuals. I have managed to work out the cooker and rice boiler but Japanese is not my strong language!

Invergordon

Welcome to Invergordon, one of the coldest places in the UK if not the plant at the moment (according to Scottish TV colder than the Antarctic, something I can agree with as I was in my shorts in the Antarctic this time last year).

On Thursday I travelled up here to join my new boat the Kestrel. Despite being up at 5am to get the first flight from Humberside to Aberdeen at 7am I didn't arrive at the ship till 5pm. By ten past eight in the morning I was in Aberdeen I then spent the next three hours arranging transport to Inverness. The snow and ice on the roads meant the bus journey to Inverness took nearly five and a half hours. A short 20 minute drive saw me eventually arrive.

Essential travel only was the advice, I guess work can be deemed essential.

Dam.

(The picture above was taken at twilight this evening and shows one rig in the yard at Invergordon.)

I'm back!

Just over one year after my last post from the South Atlantic blogging is to be resumed.

I'm about to go to a new boat named KESTREL as Chief Mate in a couple of days and it is my intention to blog reasonably frequently (more than alternate years)! I don't know where Ill be going and what Ill be doing exactly so hopefully there will be something interesting to write about. If not its the decline of Grimsby Town FC.

In February I will be travelling out to Cameroon to stay with my friend Lizzy who is working for the VSO in Yagoua (see her good Blog for some stories and thoughts on Camroonian life http://www.cameroonlizzy.blogspot.com/). Hopefully Ill be able to post from there too.

Bring on the Super Restaurant!!