Seafarers adventures #1 : The Introduction

in #travel7 years ago

The Introduction

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So, as I actually don't know where to start, I would start from the beginning.
(Trying to sound smart)

The literal beginning would probably be when I was 7 years old and made my first voyage with my father on a 300 meter long vessel made for shipment of containers all across the globe. My mom and me were staying there for about 2 months of my summer break. My father worked on that ship and as it usually goes, his company did let him have his family over.

We visited many world countries and that was my first legit traveling experience. (Will cover this thoroughly in other posts) For now let me focus on the main subject: the beginning. (Ha ha very funny)

So after years of owning small vessels (actually my father owned a few) I learned to maneuver small boats and to dock them. From the first time I embarked a vessel I knew I would be doing this for the rest of my life probably.

First Job on boat

My first non-marine job was machine operator in a big pharmaceutical country in Croatia. It was booring to be honest, repetitive work every day. 8 hours of madness I would call it.
The real turning point was when my neighbor told me that her friend is looking for an ordinary seaman on his fishing vessel. (ordinary seaman is the lowest ranking position in merchant navy)
After a few minutes of thinking through I decided to give it a shot. (I do have a degree in nautical science, and the pay was double the size the one I was already having)

It was August, 2015. I remember that day as it was unusually hot and wet day. Had to meet my future coleague on that fishing vessel so he could give me a work familiarization.
That was the moment I found out that most fisherman are kinda crazy (in a good sense for most). There are no serious rules on a fishing boat, the atmosphere was relaxed to be exact. Safety first, everything else...you know it!

Worldwide job

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As I mentioned earlier, I had a degree in the maritime sector so as I worked on that fishing vessel for a short period of time (maybe 10-15 days) I applied for a position of deck cadet to expand my local nautical experience to worldwide sailing.
And on my own surprise I got an answer that I should embark my first big ship (Oil tanker) end of August,2015. (It was all going so fast for me)
I view myself as a world record holder in how quick I gained all the necessary documents for embarkation. (If only I had a Guinness world record book contacts at that time)
There was Basic training certificate, Tanker safety certificate, Health Certificate, Advanced firefighting, US Visa, etc...(It is pointless to name all the certificates). Next thing I knew I embarked the boat in Istanbul, Turkey and was starting my world journey.

To be continued...

I'll hold my stories and sea quests for more posts, as if I try to tell you everything in one post it would be too long (thousands of pages). So this part of my blog will be called Seafarers adventures. In hopes that you will enjoy it,
I wish you a wonderful day full of positive surprises my fellow steemians.

Sources: http://www.shipspotting.com/ (only the second image in the post)
All other photos are made and owned by me.

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I'm glad you made the decision to take the job. Sometimes the difference between living a life of adventure and being stuck in a boring job for the rest of your life is the willingness to take a chance and say yes when the opportunity arrives.

I'm looking forward to hearing about your adventures!

@shawndove Yeah, that's what I thought when I was making that decision and I didn't regret it a bit actually. When you have a dream job, then it is done with love, and things done with love are easiest to us. Thank you for your feedback once again!

Hey, this is really interesting! I have been fascinated with what life would be on the water, I am more of a mountains guy, but wow! I can't wait to see where you go next. I like travel, so I will follow you on your sea adventures.

Thank you very much for your comment. I hope it would be interesting for you.

Hello colleague!! I am also seafarer, electrical officer from Split! Good post! Keep going!

Thank you for your kind comment. Glad to know there are more people from Croatia here. Pozdrav!