Well as you may or not know, things on a ship do break down now and then. The engineers on the ship are nothing short of miracle workers but even they cant fix everything. Part of our cooling unit for our coolers went down the other day, so we had to cut our trip short and pull into port. We are in Galveston Texas right now waiting on parts to fix the ship. That's good but we got here Wednesday and the parts probably wont be here till Tuesday. What to do with a months worth of food in the freezer and the cooler, you rent a refrigerated semi trailer and unload ALL the food. about 9 or 10 pallets of it.
That's a lot of food. The whole crew was involved in the operation. it still took almost 4 hours to accomplish it. But it is done. Now that the foods off the ship, what do I and the second cook do? We clean, first the galley and mess deck and the each cooler and then the ovens. After that ill find other things for us to do.
Just goes to show you that you will never be able to completely predict what goes on in the galley.
Oh I forgot to mention that Im now Acting Chief Steward until I leave. It has a lot more reasonability and stress than the second cook. You are responsible for shopping and ordering all the food and the menus and everything else in-between.
Until next time, may your garlic never mold and your pasta never stick
NOAA
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
Monday, January 19, 2015
Winter work
As I write this I am on the Okeanos Explorer as Chief steward
I want to write about winter work and hours at that time of year.
Normally when your sailing, you get 4 hours of overtime each day because its a twelve hour day. Now when its winter all the ships in NOAA go in for at least a month or more for the winter repair period. You will only get about 8 hours per day. Now when they are in-port most of the time they only serve breakfast and lunch. They can do this because of the fact that many persons live near their home port and go home at night. During this time the ships get needed work done on all aspects of ship board work. From the obvious painting and chipping, to the unseen work in the engine rooms and every where else conceivable. My galley is getting work done this week, so it will be shut down for a few days. During this time we still have to work. There is always cleaning that can be done and that's going to happen this week. Also sorting of linens and other stores can be done. The coolers can be cleaned from top to bottom and organized for the upcoming sailings. That will be important later because this ship is leaving for a very long time and will need the organization. I wont be on-board for that but its my job to make sure whoever is doesn't have any extra worries.
Also much of the regular crew take time off this time of the year, that's OK because it gives guys like me in the relief pool time to work.
I hope anyone who reads this blog and has the ability to go to sea for work looks into NOAA and also the work on the Great Lakes.
Till next time
May your greens never wilt and your sauce never break
I want to write about winter work and hours at that time of year.
Normally when your sailing, you get 4 hours of overtime each day because its a twelve hour day. Now when its winter all the ships in NOAA go in for at least a month or more for the winter repair period. You will only get about 8 hours per day. Now when they are in-port most of the time they only serve breakfast and lunch. They can do this because of the fact that many persons live near their home port and go home at night. During this time the ships get needed work done on all aspects of ship board work. From the obvious painting and chipping, to the unseen work in the engine rooms and every where else conceivable. My galley is getting work done this week, so it will be shut down for a few days. During this time we still have to work. There is always cleaning that can be done and that's going to happen this week. Also sorting of linens and other stores can be done. The coolers can be cleaned from top to bottom and organized for the upcoming sailings. That will be important later because this ship is leaving for a very long time and will need the organization. I wont be on-board for that but its my job to make sure whoever is doesn't have any extra worries.
Also much of the regular crew take time off this time of the year, that's OK because it gives guys like me in the relief pool time to work.
I hope anyone who reads this blog and has the ability to go to sea for work looks into NOAA and also the work on the Great Lakes.
Till next time
May your greens never wilt and your sauce never break
Saturday, January 3, 2015
Another New Year
Happy New Year to everyone
I hope you all had a Great Christmas and a safe New years eve.
I was home for over a month and it was great being with my family over thanksgiving and Christmas.
If I remember right I haven't been home for those holidays in 2 years. That's another aspect that makes this job difficult at times. When your ship isent sailing but your not home it is a trying time on you. 99% of that time most of the crew is gone, so work isent hard but missing family is. Guaranteed to run up the phone minutes.
I came back to the Bigelow on December 29th. I was suppose to stay here till the end of February, but things changed again, as they seem to have a habit of doing. Im going back to the Okeanos Explorer to be the Chief Steward again. I guessing ill stay there until the end of February.
That's the way the augmentation pool works. If they need you and the ship your on can spare you, off you go.
The galley isent serving dinner right now so its short days. We do breakfast and lunch, then we are off. kills the overtime but that's ok. the crew that is onboard, which isent many, I think 8 go home at night or if they stay onboard grab a dinner somewhere else. We get paid a per diem for each meal we buy with our own money. Sometimes its cheaper for NOAA to do this than pay the overtime for us to cook.
Well that's it for now I hope you all have a blessed and prosperous New Year
Till next time
May your chocolate never seize and your sugar never clump
I hope you all had a Great Christmas and a safe New years eve.
I was home for over a month and it was great being with my family over thanksgiving and Christmas.
If I remember right I haven't been home for those holidays in 2 years. That's another aspect that makes this job difficult at times. When your ship isent sailing but your not home it is a trying time on you. 99% of that time most of the crew is gone, so work isent hard but missing family is. Guaranteed to run up the phone minutes.
I came back to the Bigelow on December 29th. I was suppose to stay here till the end of February, but things changed again, as they seem to have a habit of doing. Im going back to the Okeanos Explorer to be the Chief Steward again. I guessing ill stay there until the end of February.
That's the way the augmentation pool works. If they need you and the ship your on can spare you, off you go.
The galley isent serving dinner right now so its short days. We do breakfast and lunch, then we are off. kills the overtime but that's ok. the crew that is onboard, which isent many, I think 8 go home at night or if they stay onboard grab a dinner somewhere else. We get paid a per diem for each meal we buy with our own money. Sometimes its cheaper for NOAA to do this than pay the overtime for us to cook.
Well that's it for now I hope you all have a blessed and prosperous New Year
Till next time
May your chocolate never seize and your sugar never clump
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)