Pirates!

As we made our way down the Indian ocean, the captain had summoned a crew meeting. we all knew what was coming, we were scheduled to sail past Somalia in three days time. this was during the time that somali pirates had hijacked the Maersk Alabama ship of the coast of somalia. The majority of the crew didn’t give it a second thought that our ship would be hijacked, and i felt the same way until captain rik gave his speech during the meeting. the whole ship was talking about pirates, and the

Party in the indian ocean!

passengers were getting more and more anxious, especially due to the american crew of the Maersk Alabama being held by pirates and the sight of a dutch navy ship escorting us through the indian ocean.

It seemed everyone just wanted to reach the next destination which was Mombassa, Kenya. Safe to say the ship wasn’t hijacked and we had reached Mombassa, and everyone was ready to go on safari!

I had been advised not to take my equipment and film around Mombassa because i would have returned to the ship minus my camera and my wallet! so the crew had organized a

Tsavo East Safari

two day safari at one of Africa’s most popular national park’s. everyone had bought their new digital cameras and stocked up with plenty of batteries as we set off for a 4 hour journey to Tsavo East national park. 6 of us had squeezed into a truck that we would be our home for the next two days, and before we knew it the guide was pointing out all these animals to it. it’s one of the hardest thing i have filmed, coz i had no tripod, and to get a steady shot of animals moving on the distance is well hard! as the day wore on, we were getting a bit frustrated that we hadn’t seen a lion, and we resorted to drinking cheep kenyan larger in the truck. after being told repeatedly by the guide to keep the noise down, i looked to my left and there was a female lion no more than 10 meters away from the truck, it was insane and the cameras went crazy.

massai dance

On our way back to the ship, our guie had suggested we go and visit a massai village. wasn’t sure what to expect but we all said yes and we arrived at this village in the middle of nowhere. we were greeted by a family of massai warriors and what a welcome it was. we were treated like royalty and i politely asked if it was ok to take some pictures and do some filming. using the guide as a the interpreter, it was no problem at all and they even started posing like Hollywood movie stars! lol. the vilage itself consisted of a few huts made out of mud,sticks and grass. a large group of massai warriors formed a line and as the women started ‘singing’ the men jumped, and jumped some more. we  were taken for a tour around the village and

massai children

being shown how they lived, how they hunted, started fire and various others. i couldn’t get over how warm of a reception we got, we didn’t understand a word they were saying but we laughed and all got along somehow. i was approached by a massai who was with his two sons hidden behind his legs. he kept pointing towards my video camera. he hadn’t seen anything like it before and i showed him and his sons how the camera worked. one thing that i will never forget was the sight of Joost (one of the dutch crew members) giving a can of fanta orange to a massai warrior to try, no surprise he didn’t like it and politely gave it back to joost.

As we pulled up to the docks, we were greeted by a load of media vans and reporters everywhere. then we realized the Maaersk Alabama was docked next to our ship. we couldn’t believe it, i was approached by a dozens of reporters but we were all told to keep quiet and made our way back onto the ship. Turned on CNN on the telly, and there was our ship on the news next to the hijacked Alabama ship.

So we left Mombassa and made quick stops in madagascar and maputo, Mozambique. next on the schedule was South Africa. we docked in Richards Bay and Durban for a few days before making our way to Cape Town. Being a massive football fan, i was eager to see the new stadiums being built for the 2010 fifa world cup. but i was told by a few of

Table Mountain, Cape Town

the south africans working on board there was much more to see in cape town. i remember it being an extremely windy day as we headed into cape town, so windy it wasn’t safe for the ship to dock, and we were anchored at sea for the best part of 6 hours as we waited for the wind to die down. it was frustrating, but the views of table mountain was incredible and soon we were given the all

Great White Shark, Cape Town

clear. we docked at around 9 in the evening and decided to ht a few bars in town, a few places i wouldn’t want to go back to in a hurry, but all in all we had a good night out. The next morning we all got up early to go shark diving. It was by far the best thing i have ever done, we were stranded on this small boat of the coast of cape town for hours waiting for a shark to be spotted by the dozen ships that were also out shark diving. then we got the call to get the wet suits on and take our positions in the cage.first thing i remember was how cold the water was, it was freezing! then one of the deck crew would throw the bait out and next thing you know

Shark diving!

this great white shark approaches the cage. i was a little bit scared to be totally honest with you! especially as it grazed the cage. and the next half hour was nothing different. i would have spent the whole day in the cage, but the water was too cold and we all took it in turns to go in the cage. we had been told all the horror stories of shark diving and i could see how it could go wrong sometimes. we were repeatedly told to keep our hands and feet inside the cage at all times. i remember my feet wandering out of the cage at times but the panic set in quickly and got my feet back in the cage sharpish!

The land down under!

it was just another night in the crew bar, drinking cheap european lager and playing darts against the competitive dutch, then we heard the announcement from the captain that we were approaching sydney harbor. everyone grabbed their cameras and made their way to the deck. there we were, heading towards the harbor bridge sailing past the opera house. with all the bright light the view was spectacular tas the ship docked opposite the opera house. we weren’t due to dock until early morning, but as there was a passenger on board who needed urgent medical attention, we arrived early. it was about 11pm we arrived and the crew went straight of the ship to take in this amazing scenery.

Docked in Sydney Harbor

As for life on board a crusie ship, its a lot like living at university without the lectures part.. all the crew are located on the lower decks and there are loads of corridors where all the cabins are. so i got plenty of neighbours. the first week i was on board, it was like freshers week. everytime a new crew memeber joins the ship, the current crew go all out with parties and stuff, so it was great. most of the crew are made up of indonesians and filipinos, then youve got the americans (the cast of the shows,the party planners), then youve got the easter europeans

who work in the casino, the dutch officers, mixture of british and european engineers and the 1 welshman! during the day you tend to spend a lot of time getting to know the passengers on board and meet some interesting people who share their stories with you (some boring, some very interesting). While we were at sea on new year’s, ronald Koeman (famous dutch footballer) was on board. so i spent almost all evening annoying him asking a billion questions about his career and the players he played with and against.

New Years Party

we spent a week in sydney, and obviously i went to visit the tourist attractions. the weather wasn’t great as it was winter, but that didn’t stop me from going for a surf down bondi beach. a few of my friends had told me to go and visit a place called manly beach. tis was by far one of the best places i had visited, everyone was so chilled out and welcoming as you just laid on the beach with a few beers talking to the locals. even managed to get a game of football with a few of travelers from the uk.

New Years Celebrations

we then headed down the west coast of australia, stopping at Melbourne, Adelaide and finally in Perth. thoroughly enjoyed my time in australia, and got to see some amazing places and got to sample a bit of the australian outback.

The Pacific Ocean!

The Pacific Ocean!!

Having spent considerable tome in MIami (checking out the beach and bars on south beach!), we headed through the panama canal, for those who haven’t heard of the Panama a canal, basically it connects the Atlantic ocean to the pacific ocean.

Cruising through the Panama Canal

By the time you pass all the locks, it takes the best part of a day to travel from one side to the other.  first thing i noticed as how busy the canal was, throughout the day we would pass numerous cruise and cargo ships with each one taking hours to get through the locks.

the panama canal was one of the main reason why the passengers had come on board for the cruise to experience the must-see engineering marvel.The Canal remains one of the most significant waterways on earth, but there’s lots more to Panama than the canal. I found it was a fantastic place full of natural attractions and water sports.

Having reached the end of the canal, next stop was Mexico. i had always wanted to go to mexico and i wasn’t disappointed as we docked in places like Huatulco, Acapulco and Cabo San Lucas. The sun was shining, the beer was flowing and locals were great. i particularly enjoyed Acapulco as me and a few of the engineers on board decided to go and watch the famous cliff divers.

These fearless men plunge into the sea from heights up to 136ft five times a day for the viewing public.

Acapulco - Cliff Divers

Before the men would jump from the top of the cliff, you would see a few children dive first from around 50ft.

You would hear the experienced divers talking to the children about when was the right time to jump.

It was a strange feeling watching these men risk their lives as the tourists looked on.

The men make a living from diving and after they dived, they would mingle with the spectators selling

various merchandise.

But it was time to love on and head up the coast to Los Angeles.

As the ship sailed into dock, the entire crew was buzzing of arriving in ‘hollywood’. it would be a understatement to say that the crew were a little disappointed to be greeted by towering cranes and a cloudy forecast. not what everyone had been expecting but we were told by our american friends on board that downtown was hidden behind the

ms Rotterdam docked in LA

towering hills and was only a short distant away. we only had two days in Los angeles so we all made the most of it. for someone who dreams of working in hollywood one day, i was a tad excited, especially as we passed the movie studios on the way into town. But after quick stroll down rodeo drive, me and my dutch friends from the ship were keen to sample that LA nightlife and it didn’t disappoint!

So feeling a little hungover and the ms rotterdam loaded with 1500 new passengers we set off for Honolulu, Hawaii.

Hawaii

with a few days scheduled in Honolulu i was eager to visit pearl harbor. i had read the books and watched the films, but nothing could prepare me for the size of the US Navy Base. it is still used by the us navy today, therefore it didn’t go down too well with the officials when i turned up kitted out with a Z1 and tripod. Next thing to tick off when in Hawaii, was to buy a shirt before we headed down to WAikiki beach.i brought my swansea city football with me with the intention of playing on the beach, but that idea was soon squashed as we hired surf boards. i have surfed a little in swansea bay,but that was nothing compared to what i faced that day! so we reluctantly finished off our remaining beers and headed back to the ship where we were to face 8 days at sea, crossing the pacific ocean.

5 days into the crossing and everyone was showing signs of going a wee bit crazy. we had all heard stories from experienced crew members who had done the crossing before, but it’s the most surreal feeling standing on the top deck of the ship looking out at the endless ocean without a horizon in sight. while the

Drinks in the crew bar

passengers remained in their luxurious cabin’,i was confined to my crew cabin, very similar to that in university halls of residence, with all my work finished 5 days in, myself and the english officers turned or attention to the playstation and endless games of pro evolution soccer. it is by far my favorite console game, but even i got bored of playing it for the best part of the day. what does every crew w member look forward to when at see? the crew bar opening at 7pm!!there we were greeted by ronald (our indonesian bar man and big Chelsea fan), $1 for a pint of Heineken and a relentless repeat of the same music store in the bar jukebox. but i loved it. only in a crew  bar could you meet people from all over the world who had one thing in common, of working on cruise ships.

Ship at sea

i always found it funny when i first stepped into the crew bar. in one corner you would have the musicians, another corner would be the casino staff, at the bar would be the engineers, the singers and dancers at the far end of the bar. it was as if every dept had their own place in the bar. as for me, i just mingled! the beautiful and charming girls from the performing cast caught my eye first and then you seem to go round the bar introducing yourself as a 22 year old videographer from wales and meet so many people from all over the world.

Almost there.100 nautical miles until we arrive at our next port of call. Sydney, Australia!