Fueling Up

I love the smell of ship's fuel in the morning. That's exactly what I
woke up to today. We anchored last night, after I went to bed, only yards
from the town of Gibraltar. So close and yet so far to the town because
we're not docking. We're only here to bunker up. I'd love to get off and
take a walk on dry land. I won't get to visit my little monkey friends
from last year on "the Rock".

After dropping anchor about 02:00, the bunker barge (really a small tanker
ship) arrived. They tied up alongside, hooked up their giant fuel hose to
us and began pumping over 1,000 tons of low sulphur ships oil into our
tanks. I don't know what the gallon count is, but it is a heck of a lot.

I dread the fueling process because the tank that holds much of the ship's
fuel is directly below my library. Ship's oil is not like gasoline. It
is thick and viscous. In order for it to flow properly it has to be
heated up to about 150 degrees. When in our tanks, the heat has to go
somewhere and that is directly into the library. It gets to the point
sometimes where the library's air conditioning cannot overcome it. If it
gets unbearably hot, I have no choice but to close the library for health
reasons.

The pumping process lasted about six hours, concluding around 10:00.
During that time smoking was forbidden on the ship. The smokers on board
must have been having nicotine fits by then.

We're out to sea again heading east. The weather is warm and hazy, with
some light intermittent drizzle. The Mediterranean is calm. Since we
have a week to get to Malta, it is going to be a slow, meandering journey..

Meanwhile, the cadets are keeping busy drilling and painting the ship.
Last night they were practicing lowering the lifeboats right outside the
Officer's Mess at dinner time. The winches were extremely noisy as is the
constant din of scraping for paint prep. They sure keep them busy. I
guess that's good because it keeps them out of trouble.