Mersin, Turkey :: Rain, Tea and Meat

Here it is:  Mersin, Turkey - Finally! 

 

Mersin was okay.  Yes, just okay.  It rained, rained, rained....all day long....there was even lightning and thunder.  No bueno.

There were however some good parts.  The meat market was really neat - there was a lot of fresh fish....and goats and cows.  The meat was literally all hanging ready to take home fully skinned - or if you like you can just take home a giant piece of intenstinal lining.  Up to you.  (This is the part where I warn you that there are some sort of nasty photos in the gallery....but I just couldn't help myself.) 

We (Travel Buddy and I) basically hopped from place to place doing our best to stay dry. 

One of my favorite things of the day was the fresh pressed carrot juice.   For some reason carrot juice rejuvinates me like nothing else.  If I'm feeling melancholy a little carrot juice can potentially bring me out of the dumps.  It's actually quite impressive.

Hands down though, the best part of the day was having a bit of tea in a little tea shop.  The room was tiny, tiny, tiny.  One young fellow stands behind the counter brewing tea.  He has a walkie talkie and is receiving orders from all over the area - he breezes in quickly and will take a whole tray of tea in dainty cups through the neighborhood.  You'll see little platters with empty cups sitting on the sidewalk and you just have to assume that a runner will be by soon to pick up the tea cups.  The tea was good and on a rainy day was exactly what the doctor ordered.

All in all, I wouldn't couldn't Mersin as a future travel destination but, I will say that Turkey is great.  The people have an easy laid back way about them, good food and fresh produce and meat abounds....and there is always a warm cup of tea nearby!  What else could you want or need?!

 

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Rota, Spain :: Sun, Sand, and Shrimp.

I got ashore in Spain after all!  It wasn't the port I was hoping for but it was sweet none-the-less. I had no idea but Rota, Spain sits on an absolutely lovely beach.  Apparently, when you are at the oil terminal you can't see the perfectly white sand!  Who knew?!  Well, I know now and I think I'll make sure I take my bathing suit with me the next time I hit town...more importantly I'll take some slippers so I don't end up on the beach in my Uggs!  These Uggs are getting a workout this trip!

After some shell hunting I hit town with Travel Buddy.  The town was much cuter than I expected.  Lots of small shops and cafes.  I had some cheese - apparently spain is known for its cheese.  When they serve cheese that's it.  You get cheese.  Works for me.  (I may or may not have washed it down with a brewed beverage.)  Then there were shrimp.  Two HUGE shrimp on a plate.  One for me and one for Travel Buddy.  I wasn't too into removing its shell - but oh was it worth it.  Freakin' delicious.

We hit a small leather shop.  It was great!  Everything in the shop was handmade.  Fabulous purses, belts and jewelry.  I got a belt and a purse - I know, I know....I needed a purse like I needed a hole in the head however; this one was handmade in Spain!  Win!  (Also, Travel Buddy is a terrible influence when shopping!)

The afternoon was wrapped up at the base shopping in the exchange.  It is amazing how exciting it is to see 'stuff from home' even after only 2 months!  I got some L'Occitane hand cream....daily air conditioning (and a little dose of petroleum products now and then) have really wreaked havoc on my hands!  I also bought the nail polish featured a few days ago.  Hells yeah.

Highlight of the day:  Shell hunting with Travel Buddy.  Fo Sho.

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Novorossiysk :: Nom nom noms...

The best part of the day was lunch.  Hands down. My travel buddy and I found a great spot to stop for a bite and we got very lucky.  I love trying new foods (although I will admit that I'm not nearly as adventurous as my travel buddy) so, it is always fun when I can find a restaurant that serves local cuisine.  This is sometimes trickier than it seems because most times I can't read the menu in the window....it might be a hamburger joint for all I know.

It's also cool when you find a travel buddy who will eat family style.  Isn't it the most annoying thing ever when you go out and someone doesn't want to share their food?!  (Like sushi.  I hate it when people want the whole roll to themselves.) 

Here's what ended up on our table:

Crushed and seasoned walnuts (almost paste like) rolled in eggplant - topped with pomegranate.  Seriously delicious.  I wish I had ordered two of these....it was hands down the best pick of the day.  Pat on the back for the Nautie Mermate.

I also ordered a yogurt based soup with rice and  mint.  Tasty but I don't need to make it at home.

Sturgeon topped with cheese with french fries.  This was super mayonaise-y and also very fishy.  It made me throw up a little bit in my mouth and I barely swallowed my bite.

Grape leaves stuffed with minced lamb and a yogurt like dip.  These were good....but I think the Greek version might be slightly yummier.

Are you ready for this one?  Veal tongue.  Seriously.  This was not my pick (and I told you my travel buddy was adventurous).  I have to admit....it wasn't that bad.  It was a little hard to get over the idea of it all but....it was quite tasty especially with the horseradish sauce for it.  I took about three bites....the best bite was a nibble of tongue smeared with horseradish sauce and topped with a pomegranate seed.  The only thing I can liken it to is shredded beef that has been prepared for tacos....it easily could have fallen apart into strips.  Also, it wasn't a crazy amount of chewy.

The waitresses were soooo accommodating.  They didn't speak a lick of English and we got along just fine!  It was almost more fun because they didn't!  We had the best time trying to order some sparkly beverages!

I liked this dish soooo much that I decided it deserves TWO photos. 

So there you have it.  The highlight of the day.  A walnut, yogurt and tongue filled lunch in Novorossiysk!

Novorossiysk :: Out and About

Wanna know my favorite thing to do in new places? Go to the grocery store.  Seriously.  If you want to see what's really up just take a look at what the locals are eating.  The supermarket in Novorossiysk was equal parts amazing and appalling.  There was a very large selection of food....lots of baked goods....lots of treats....lots of 'wod-ka'....

BUT.  Check out their produce:

 Slightly appalling, no?  Maybe it is just the sassy Hilo Farmers Market shopper coming out....but seriously, produce shouldn't look like this in the supermarket!

They did however have a pretty awesome selection of fresh fish.

 I just wish that I could read the signs to tell what type of fish we're looking at.  I think I will pretty much always classify fresh fish as awesome.

Wanna know what else was awesome?  The supermarket was a couple of stories.  They had one of those really cool flat escalators...the kind where you push your cart onto it and it immediately stops because the conveyer is grooved.  I didn't know this.  So I got super excited about pushing the cart and start running with it lining myself up for the conveyer.  My travel buddy says, 'uh, I don't think you want to do that'.....it was just a little bit too late....I go barreling onto the conveyer and get stopped in my tracks coming to a screeching halt and slamming myself into the cart handle.....if I had been going any faster I might have given myself whiplash.  Note to self:  Grocery stores know that if they don't groove the belt some idiot will try to run as fast as they can up the conveyer with a cart.

 As I wrote this it dawned on me that the grooves are equally important for the trek down the conveyer belt....

One more thing requires documentation.  I sorta ruined my Ugg boots.  They're not exactly ruind but they'll never be the same.  I didn't really have any appropriate footwear for a day in the snow (other than my leather work boots) so, I rocked my Uggs however; they were suede and not meant to get super wet.  (Honestly, this always cracks me up about Uggs....why design the warmest boot ever and make the majority of the styles available completely impractical for winter usage?)  Needless to say, even though my boots were wet my feet were warm....and I can still sport the boots....they're just not quite as fuzzy looking on the outside.

 I think that spending a day in Russia with warm feet is a really good justification for ruining boots!

So there you have it.  Ammmmazzing and Apppallling!

Novorossiysk :: A Winter Wonderland

While we were in Novorossiysk they were absolutely getting dumped on by snow.  I almost didn't go ashore....because it was really, really coming down.  But then I thought, 'Megan!  You are in RUSSIA!  GO!'....and so I went.....AND IT WAS FUN! We got very, very lucky and were berthed very close to the downtown area.  This is highly unusual when dealing with tanker terminals - you're normally in the middle of an industrial wasteland.  It was about a 15 minute walk into the heart of the city so, I bundled, bundled, bundled and trekked into town.

The locals were LOVING their snowy day!  I couldn't quite figure out if they don't get snow very often or if they just loved snow.  I have a feeling it was a bit of both.  There were tons of parents playing in the snowy parks with their kids, teens out on photo safaris, and just people on the snowy sidewalks enjoying a stroll.

We walked along a very nice promenade that wrapped around the waterfront - which provided a great view of our ship as well as their maritime museum which included an old warship.  There were a couple of really beautiful bronze statues one of a woman and child waving to a distant ship and another of a woman who looks like she's blowing kisses (or in this case snow) towards the seashore.

There was a large square full of trees and benches and fountains that were absolutely white washed - and full of people.  I'm telling you, the Russians like the snow.

Also, for the record the snow was good snow.  You know...the clean, crispy, white kind?  Not the kind thats been around for days and is brown on top with doggy pee holes in it.  I actually ate a bite of this snow.......that's how clean it was!

In a Nutshell: 

Snow + Russians in the snow + Russians shoveling snow = FUN

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Novorrosiysk :: Our Port Stay

Yesterday morning we departed Novorrosiysk, Russia.  It's still a little too cold for the snow and ice to melt on deck.....so now we're a winter wonderland eagerly heading towards warmer waters. I managed to make it ashore before we sailed!  I think it's safe to say when you think of Russia you don't automatically think 'fun' however; fun was had!  It was snowing something fierce when we departed the vessel so I didn't take Big Bertha (the big camera) with me and instead used my iPhone all day - I'm still trying to get the pictures sorted out.

I'm kinda wondering if maybe I shouldn't write about exactly how much fun I had.  In the meantime I'll tell you a bit about the port call itself. 

Russia was operationally challenging - in many, many ways....let me name a few:

Russia is corrupt.  Cash incentives and gift giving are present in almost all business dealings.  We were the first US Flagged vessel to call on the port in almost 20 years - which means we were ripe for the picking.  Customs, immigration and port state control descended upon us like locusts.  Throughout our stay 'Officials' would suddenly arrive demanding that the perform 'an inspection' of some sorts.  Needless to say, such circumstances required us to all 'wear our game faces'. 

There were an overabundance of people to accommodate.  Normally, upon completion of cargo one individual attends to 'gauge' the vessel.  We match ship to shore quantities and the discrepancies are then noted by the 'gauger' - the idea is to have a neutral third party perform the paperwork.  There were three gaugers and each one represented their own party.  This generates a lot of paperwork and it also generates a lot of grey area - which numbers are to be used in the discharge port?  You got me...

It was cold.  I know you all get that - since it's basically all I've written about for the last week but, hear me out.  When it gets truly cold critical systems start to act up.  For example, we were having trouble with our hydraulics.  Our valves are all hydraulically operated.  Because it was so cold they had trouble actuating.  This means that sometimes the valves didn't readily close.  Sometimes, when you are putting diesel into a tank you need to make it stop going in there or it will overflow.  I'm sure you can see how this could be a problem. 

English was only spoken by a few.  I realize that this sounds like a very American thing to say.  I was in Russia and no one spoke English.  You don't say!  That being said, English is the International Maritime Language.  For realsies.  While most dockmen overseas have very limited English they usually have the key phrases down pat.  For example, 'Shut Down Cargo'.  Every Indian, Filipino, or Greek sailor can say 'Shut Down Cargo' in English. 

Let me tell you a little story....

In this port we were loading to draft.  We have a draft restriction in our discharge port(we can't be deeper in the water than the water is deep).  This means that when we load cargo we are less concerned with the quantity aboard than we are worried about how deep in the water we are.  Due to the cold some of the radar lines weren't reading properly.  The radar system is the most important component of our automation system.  The radar system is what tells us how much cargo is in the tank.  Because it wasn't reading accurately (as in saying some of the tanks were empty) we couldn't rely on any other data it was providing.  Because of the draft restriction and because we didn't have good data we stationed people on the dock to physically read the draft marks as the ship loaded.  I was stationed on the bow (the cadet was on the stern) and we would call in the changes in draft during the topping off process.  When the Chief Mate called the dockman to shut down cargo he didn't get a response.  He says, 'Meg!  Get to the dock shack and tell them to shut down!'.  So I start running down the dock towards the shack.  I tear up the stairs and burst into the room where there are three Russian guys sitting around a table with their feet propped up.  They looked at me like I was from outer space.  I'm not sure if they realized that our ship had a woman (which is a whole other story....apparently most Russians have never seen female mariners). Our exchange begins by me blurting out 'Shut Down Cargo!'.  The Head Russian puts his feet on the floor - looks at me - and then the fun begins:

Russian:  Haeh?

Me:  Shut Down Cargo!

Russian:  Huh?

Me:  STOP.  STOP THE CARGO!

Russian:  Shut Down?

Me:  Yes!

Russian:  Stop?

Me:  RIGHT NOW!  RIGHT NOW!

Russian:  (picks up a pad of paper and writes:  30000)  metric tons?

Me:  (slashing my arms through the air to indicate stop)  Stop Now!

Russian:  (The Chief Mate is calling on the dock radio asking to stop - the Russian reaches over and turns his radio off.)  Not enough cargo?

Me:  Shut Down!

Russian:  How many Metric Tons?

Me:  STOP IT!  STOP THE CARGO!  (I talk into my ship radio....ME:  "Mate, this isn't going well!  They wanna know how many metric tons we have!"  MATE:  "Megan!  Tell them to stop!"  ME:  "I'm telling them!  I'm telling them!")

Russian:  (Talks into his radio in rapid Russian)  Stop?  Okay?

Me:  YES!  STOP!

Russian:  Close the header.

Me:  (I talk into my ship radio....ME:  "Mate, close the header!"  MATE:  "Well, did they stop?"  ME:  "We'll find out soon!")  I report to the Russian:  Header is closed.

Russian:  Okay.  Header closed.

Me:  Okay thanks....bye....

Russian:  Bye-bye

In summation, I think it's safe to say his English could have used just a little improvement.

It was cold.  Oh, I said that already?  I mean, it was cold and windy.  The prevailing NE'ly winds in the winter consitently blew us off the dock.  At one point the ship had shifted forward over a meter and we had to shut down cargo until we could move the ship aft.  This isn't that easy...you have to call extra people out - the stern lines need to be heaved while the bow lines are slacked.  When we initally docked we didn't have very good leads to the shore side bollards.  We actually sent ships crew down to the pier to swich some lines around so we had a better combination of forward and after leading lines.  The wind didn't help matters any.  This point probably should have been labelled the dock had crappy leads. 

Hopefully, my dramatic rendering of the story Novorrosisyk  ::  Our Port Stay left you feeling like you had been operationally overwhelmed!

Can't wait to show you some pictures!

(Also, the photo posted last was a shot I took while ashore....I used my iPone....when I went to grab a bite to eat I found some wifi.  Much to the chagrin of my travel buddy I insisted on using instagram and posting on the go!  There you have it!  A truly Russian post!)