Spirit of Discovery blog

After having had a month off on holiday I am still trying to get used to my four o’clock starts but slowly I am getting back into my former routine, of course with the help of plenty of coffee. After conducting the handover procedure with the outgoing 12-4 watch, the Officers and I started to settle into our roles, the 2^nd Officer as the navigator with the conn, the 3rd Officer as the co-navigator and myself as the admin.

Having not done an arrival for over a month I dived fully in to the checklists preparing the bridge for the arrival into Bergen as the officers focused on getting us to the pilot station on time. The Captain would join us 30 minutes before the pilot boarded and once the pilot boarded, he conducted the master pilot exchange, a vital component in fully integrating the pilot in the bridge team. We then proceeded into Bergen, with the Captain taking the conn as we approached the berth and smoothly brought us alongside.

After coming alongside and having a quick debrief and an even quicker breakfast it was back to work as we prepared for the full crew drill. As they say, no rest for the wicked! This drill was particularly interesting from a training perspective as we planned to lower the boats and I managed to get myself into one. After having a quick jaunt in the lifeboat it was time to go ashore.

How I love Bergen, it really is a beautiful city. The city holds a special place in my heart as it was the first port I ever came to on the Spirit of Discovery.

There really is only one thing I do when I go into the city and that is have their world class seafood. I proceeded to gorge myself at the fish market on a shrimp salad and a delicious piece of wolfish while Laurence a 3^rd officer had a particularly nice whale steak with freshly caught oysters and scallops. After our stomachs reached breaking point it was time for both of us to waddle back to the ship and me to get back to the bridge and help prepare it for the departure.

It was an equally smooth departure as it was an arrival with us singling up our lines, letting go and manoeuvring of the berth. Off we go to Andalsnes; Bergen becoming ever smaller in the background.

Gursimran Attwal, Deck Cadet