Hubby and Wifey's Blog

14 Feb 2009... it was Valentines Day, a heart day and the most favorite day of all lovers all over the world. I celebrated my valentines day working at anchor in Singapore. We dropped our anchor at around 1000hrs because our ship will be taking bunker.
This month is the end of my contract in this ship but instead of going home, I stayed for another months. I joined this vessel last May 2008 and my contract will end on February 2009, it means I should have went home by now. I refused to go home because my 2nd contract will finish this April 2009. The more you stay at the ship the more money you will earn. The more reason I want to stay longer until April is because I want to gain 9 months experience as 3rd officer on board the ship. This is my chance to prove that I can be a good officer. My crew mate Ordinary seaman went home already because he had finished his contract. I felt guilty for going home just because I am tired of my work and don’t want to pass Gulf of Aden again but I must extend to have 9 months experience as 3rd officer to be strong in my profession. I was also guilty to my girl friend because I know she misses me and wants me to go home. I felt sorry for her but I want to be strong to my profession and give her a better life. This coming April or May, we will get married and I want her to be happy and give all that she wanted and support her as her husband.
I gave my girlfriend (wifey) a call to greet her on Valentines day, to show her how much I love her even I’m a thousand miles away. I hope she understands our situation and as I told her before, seamen don’t have permanent home, our home is the sea….. Rough or smooth it will be our home till we exist in this so called earth. In every special occasion I will be in the surface of the sea. Working hard to earn and give better life to my love ones. Sometimes people don’t understand our situation and all they know we are “SEAMANLOLOKO AND SEAMANIIWAN” “DI NAMAN KAMI ANG NANLOLOKO EH KUNG SINO ANG NAGSASABI NITO JUST LOOK AT THE MIRROR AND YOU WILL SEE WHO IS THE REAL MANLOLOKO”

If I went home, I should have arrived in Philippines on 15th Feb 2009 at around 1730 hours. I don’t have a choice but to stay longer for our better future and for my experience (carrier). Seaman in the Philippines is one of the highest money earners. Our salary is much higher than the managers in the Bank. Filipino Captain could earn as much as half a million per month as all Seamen Officers want to be a Captain as soon as possible to gain the Half a million per month. High earner but it’s difficult if you miss special someone in your life.

Everyday I wake up early in the morning to replace chief officer at 0800 hrs because my duty schedule is 0800 to 1200 and 2000 to 2400 hrs. If there is no traffic in the area I just look at the sky and the horizon of the sea. It’s calm and peaceful and because of that you will have your daydreaming running in your mind and you'll begin to think of your love ones and it is a disaster for us “HOME SICK”… I eat my lunch at around 1230 hrs and take a rest till 1515hrs. I will go out at around 1530 hrs to check all my life saving appliance and fire fighting equipments. At 1630 I will go inside and take my dinner at around 1700 hrs. After I eat my dinner I will go to my cabin and take a deep rest in the 4 corners of my cabin. Sound trip, games, and watching movies are my past time at this time. At 1930 I will take a bath and prepare myself for my duty (2000 hrs till 2400 hrs). The same situation at the bridge when I am taking my night duty, I still look the beautiful horizon of the sea and moon light, sometimes I see a falling star and wish deep into my heart and soul. Sometimes I see a huge falling star that drops just a couple of miles from our ship. We are in a deep **** if that huge falling star will hit us. Sometimes I’m looking at the formation of the stars and sometimes there are planets (Mars, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn).We use these heavenly bodies to compute on our Gyro error and Positioning of the ship. Before when computers are not yet ruling the world, we use all heavenly bodies to prevent loss in the middle of the sea.
Our life as a seaman is the fastest life span. We gain our age quickly because of our contract. 6 to 9 months aboard the ship and we are not around in special occasion in the Philippines. I accept this path and choose it, this is how I will live and die together with my love ones.

We are spending ¾ of our life working and staying aboard the ship. We transport goods from country to country; we travel around the world for free, meet different kinds of people and learn their traditions. Yes that is the life of a Seaman, no permanent home, no permanent life. All we know is to live and work on a floating metal and earn a better and higher salary for the people we love.
They say that in every port there is a girl, in every port we drop our anchor, seamanloloko, seamaniiwan, we are people like those who live in land. The only difference is we born in land but we live at sea. It is hard to live at sea if you’re not capable of it. For the whole contract, all we do is work. From 8 am till 5 pm we work. Sometimes when our ship will be going on berth 24 hours round the clock we don't sleep because our vessel need all its crew to be along side safely. Our home land is sea and sometimes seas are not on us. Sometimes the sea is angry giving us large and huge waves which make our life much worst. Rolling, pitch, and yawing from 0 to 35 deg side by side on our clinometers that makes us dizzy and cannot sleep at night. No television for the whole voyage. We cannot watch television when the ship is 15 miles away from land. We have Movies here (dvd, vcd, blue ray disc) but sometimes some nice movies are being kept in respective cabins and never return in their respective place. Some are place in their baggage and bring it home (because its original and original in Philippines are expensive).
“BAKIT MAALAT AND DAGAT? KASI UMIIYAK ANG MGA SEAMAN” What the hell is this? They make fun of all seafarers. We have satellite phone on board the ship and we can use the phone to call our love ones. Some modern ships have crew mail on board. We can send e-mail on our love ones and we have our own user name and password for private messages. Some other ship have internet on board and that is because of the technology at this time. If you are a seaman, company insurance will chase you. Discuss some privileges and how seaman can be helped in times of emergency. They deduct the monthly contribution to our salary and it is fast as the bullet. In times that we need to use the insurance, the insurance company will need some this, some that, and the processing takes around several months to get the help of the insurance company “mabilis silang kumaltas ng contribution pero pag gagamitin na ang seaman isang taon pa ang hihintayin para marelease lang ang insurance na kailangan ng seaman. It’s not fair to us and they are just using this seaman to their so called insurance business.
Showbiz chismis hehehehe onboard the ship chismis can spread as fast as 3 seconds. Mas matindi pa kami sa chismosa sa lupa hehehehe. We get what we want when we are in land. We can buy as much as gadgets as we want but if the seaman can't manage to control his expenses, after 1 month he will board again the ship. Some seamen have lots of gadgets but after 2 weeks he will go to pawnshop and use his entire gadget to survive for another week while waiting for his line up. Some of our comrade on board the ship are not lucky. Sometimes the Sea took our comrade seaman letting them buried in the heart of the sea. Some of our comrade seaman when their ship sunk they will be lucky if there is nearby ship that will help them. Some seamen are eaten by sharks and predators of the sea. Even the seaman can swim he cannot stay for a week to swim.
There are times I notice some seagulls in the middle of the ocean. Thousand miles away from land but there are some seagull flying around the ship. The old seaman told the new guys that if we saw a seagull at the middle of the sea it means that area have or there are some ship sunk and the seagull was the spirit of the seaman. We live at sea and we die at sea. This is how the seaman’s life when his life was taken by the heart of the sea.

Since 1820 Philippine Merchant Marine Academy produces Finest Mariners and Hot shoot engineers. I was so lucky to be part of the Alumni and it is my dream to be one of them. As the PMMA produces maximum 200 graduates from Bachelor of Science in Marine transportation and Bachelor of Science in Marine engineers, these lucky 200 gentlemen and ladies do not usually go to marine industries. The graduates have the option to go to Philippine Navy, Philippines Coast guard, Maritime police, Philippine Marines. We are proud to be “THE FEW THE PROUD THE PMMAer’s”! From the first time we stepped our foot in the warp zone of the academy, we are trained in our mind and souls the Righteousness, Humility, and Courage.

I chose to be a merchant mariner and my status as of now is 3rd officer in Ruby express. We know when there are comrades around the seven seas. When there is a call in VHF channel 16 “smod smod” it means that it might be our senior, junior or batch mates. We are happy to hear from our comrades and let’s just say “bilog ang mundo and small world”. From the small town in San Narciso Zambales, we share our life and memories to all our seniors and juniors till we conquer the seven seas that we are still united to the end forever. When we talk to the VHF, we are relaying some important informations to our senior, batch mates or junior, that our senior needs some bunkmates to sit in shipping company, to be instructors in college school or training center. That’s how we help each other, to give and to relay to our comrades that there are some good opportunities even we are not on board. We think and apply to ourselves to be the leaders of everything, to be the one who will be the greatest of them all.

Of course when there are good times there will be bad times. We didn’t say we are the best. It’s our actuation that makes us best but the best and great guy must encounter or start from the scratch. We start from the empty can when hit by object you will know there's nothing on it. In such a way we train ourselves to be the fullest and the greatest and we prove that by sharing our ideas. I example myself, from down to earth lousy person you’ve ever known into a “Gentlemen who live in this called earth” (grabe ang hangin). I have experienced to be an Instructor in college school, instructor on board super ferry 1 and a 3rd officer on board the ship. I have experienced the hard and better life to prove the motto “THE FEW THE PROUD THE PMMAERS”. I share my knowledge by teaching them on how to have a good seamanship. Like in supper ferry one there was a PMI student who asked for my age and I told him I am 25 years old and he told me sir you are too young to be our instructor. He asked again, where did you graduate sir? I answered him, I graduated in PMMA and he just told me ahhh that’s why you are a young instructor because you are from PMMA. I told him PMMA or not you can do what I can do. We are human not robots and we are all the same. You can also reach what I have achieved and to prove, I didn't study my lesson when I was in your stage. When I graduated, that was the time I studied hard. Study and study to prove myself that I can also become better. Then my student just told me sir you are great and you’re my idol.

From the good side of our uniforms there are some dark sides. There is one maritime school that created by our senior. This school copies all our actuations, style, and everything. All they know, they are the best and number one. They challenge PMMA that they will finish our home and it will never exist on this earth. They have everything from books, simulators everything. They always publish in newspapers that they are the best of the best and they will finish the old school. From what I've read in the news paper titled “In with the new out with the old” and from there magazine editorials drawing the probi climb the mountain chase by midshipman from PMMA and on the top is the Midshipman of this lousy school. How rude they are, undisciplined and think like a caveman in 10,000 BC. They pretend that they are the best but they are not. They are eating the income of Filipino Seafarers and take note of it. The one who mold them and teach them how to be like us, to be in shipping business are the PMMAer’s. But this lousy school is banging the PMMA and pinning it down. How could they pin down this most sacred school of the Philippines if the founder of their school is a PMMA'er? They are just our products and pets. Pets cannot take over the mentor because mentor is mentor and pets are pets. Creator is just creator. Its just like God is God and there will no one will be a God because God is the one and only God.
Sounds sad because we teach everything and we share our knowledge to them but the result is they want to be the highest and they are not thinking because they are air heads and crying babies “FROG LEAP NGA! KATOK ULO GAYA GAYA KAYO HA! (DIBA SPIKE)”. They never learned. From actuations, uniform, even “BUNKMATES” they call themselves…. “MAHIYA NAMAN KAYO!” even the PNPA and PMA 's sacred uniform and discipline, they copy it just like the pirated CD in Quiapo. If you browse the webs go to youtube.com and search for this school and all there comments are worst and very poor! From PMMA, PNPA and PMA these 3 sacred academy of the Philippines run by the Government suggest that this useless school must stop from copying everything and stop pretending that they are number one but they are useless piece of CRAP! . They copy all that we’ve had and still they pretend number one. Are you ….!!!?? Ignorant and useless piece of WASTE!!! Think of it who mold you and who is your father and mentor but you still banging and beating us. You cannot put us down because we are your mentors. Soon you will be extinct from this earth and you will be useless floating airheads because you are the pirated piece of the PMMA. You know who you are and you will be the pet of the PMMA as long as you exist on this earth. “SABI NGA NILA PAG GINAGAYA KA IBIG SABIHIN SIKAT KA” in English “IF YOU ARE COPIED IT MEANS YOU ARE THE BEST”

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Dec 15 to 16, 2008 this was our 2^nd transit to Gulf of Aden. The old crew knew how dangerous to pass this area. We came from Singapore for bunkering and next destination was Le Harve France. We have new crew on board and we told them that passing Gulf of Aden is no joke and it’s very dangerous. They knew that we were not making jaki tacky on what we were telling them. Our new master gathered us in crew mess hall for familiarization of our duties while passing the Gulf of Aden. He told us he doesn’t have any idea of what will be our situation while passing Gulf of Aden. He just told us that we were lucky because the convoy for all ship would start on December 15. The crews were very happy to hear that from our new captain.

As per master instruction the crews prepared all the things that they have done before when we first passed the Gulf of Aden months ago. They prepared Ropes, fire extinguishers, fireman’s outfit, pyrotechnics, and nets on poop deck. Dec 15, 2008, we arrived in the position where the convoy starts. Our captain was shocked when we arrived there without seeing any convoy in the area. All ships were traveling with different speed. There were no coalition warships around the area. Our captain was so disappointed for there were no Coalition warships to assist us. It was my first time to see our new captain got very nervous and scared. He told me that he doesn’t like to be seized by Pirates. He was just doing his job, to be the captain of the ship that’s all and he went down just to relax his mind. VHF channel 16 was very silent. Nobody was talking and making funny on each other. All were serious and monitoring the area. It was my very memorable experience. As I told the Master all the informations came from me, chief officer and 2^nd officer regarding what we experienced in our tour of duty, he made a letter to our company (summary) informing them how we experienced the pirate attack. Almost closed as an inch (kabuhok nalang) to be attacked by the pirates for 2 times in a row, we were very lucky to pass this area safely.

I include here the statement of our master so that you can read the summary of our experience while passing Gulf of Aden. I also include picture of one mother ship of the pirate in Gulf of Aden, the preparation and actual footage of distress relay by container ship MV BOSPORUS attacked by pirates. MV BOSPORUS was seized by pirates.

Does long distance relationship really work? I guess many couples have tried this kind of commitment. Some failed, others struggling and only few have succeeded.

Successful long distance relationships can and do exist. As for my experience, having a boyfriend who is an ocean miles away, long distance relationship is hard but distance should not hinder love from growing….it should not be a barrier.

The success of this kind of commitment depends merely on couple. They should find ways on how their partner will feel the love despite distance. Communicate in some way every day, more than once if possible. Since you won't be seeing each other, it's important to establish and maintain an emotional connection. With the help of the Internet and use of modern technology, long distance relationships become easier to sustain. Technologies including cell phones, e-mail, online chatting and video conferencing have made it possible to keep in touch.

My bf and I communicate through email and phone call. We’re just lucky for having their ship equipped with crew mail connection. We send each other’s email regularly. There is also a satellite call if signal is not available so he can call me (though it is more expensive) during special occasions and whenever he misses me (lol).

Trust and love are also important to keep the long distance relationship burning. For me, trust is greater than love because if you can’t trust the person, there is no reason to love him/her. Otherwise, you will end up thinking and staring from nowhere hehehe too late to realize your craziness. Without trust, any relationship will turn out into mess.

Long distance relationship have to take a lot of sacrifices, various special occasions have to be celebrated alone but still fine because you understand each other. Just make sure that when the time comes you’ll be together, fill the missing moments with laughter and love. I am looking forward on this day.. My hubby will be back soon. J

Hi there…

Again, I’m Keenen Blogger’s Muse of February.. :)



"Beauty is simply reality seen with the eyes of love..."

"Simplicity is making the journey of this life with just baggage enough."

"We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open."




"Teach love to those who hate, and let that love embrace you as you go out into the world. May the teachings of those you admire become part of you, so that you may call upon them. Remember, those whose lives you have touched and whose have touched yours are always a part of you, even if the encounters were less than you would have wished. It is the content of the encounter that is more important than the form."