Delivery Djibouti to Cyprus

Having been awhile at home I was contacted by my ex Ch Mate to do a short delivery of m/y Kalizma from Djibouti to Turkey and as I thought I have time I agreed on it readily and as I had been on her several years ago, last time back in 2012, I knew the yacht and her flaws. She had since 2012 been refitted and undergone survey to become a commercial yacht under Cook Island and successfully chartered in Indian Ocean the past years.

Said and done I received my flight tickets a few weeks later after the initial contact and flew down to Djibouti via Istanbul. Arrived more or less on time and exited the plane to go through the formalities I got the 1st indications of being in Africa.

Had to shell out bribes to get my arrival stamp, of course no receipt was given but got the stamp. Same was for the other seafarers behind me in same line, totally open and accepted. At the Customs I was made to open the bag and it was rooted around in, luckily nothing illegal was found and I could continue out of the terminal and find my ride.

Planned voyage Djibouti to Turkey, possibly Bodrum

Meeting old friends

Having transited several weeks from Malta to Maldives we finally had arrived, checked in and disembarked the security, we settled in the anchorage off Hulhumale. 

The scenery had changed quite a bit from the last time I was there boatsitting Kalizma. There was now a bridge connecting Hulhumale and Male' Island. Hulhumale had been developed and big housing towers dotted her skyline whereas they were only starting building works ten years back when I was there. 

Taxi drivers enjoyed zipping over the bridge as they could gun their cars 100km/h for a short while. In the middle of Hulhumale was a big park for the residents and the new street grid looked much airier than the stuffy Male' capital. 

Few days after our arrival the old Kalizma steamed in from Sri Lanka, my trusted Chief mate, Surender, was skippering her now and we got in touch. As my birthday was on, he invited me for dinner in Male' and we went to Sala Thai that was run by an old German chap with Thai chefs and food stuffs flown in every week. The food was excellent.

m/y Kalizma riding at anchor off Hulhumale Is

Captain's Blog Feb/ Mar 2012

My vacation had been spent and I was instructed to go to Maldives and relieve Saini for vacation before returning back to Indian Empress. Kalizma was sitting at anchorage in Hulhumale' together with m/y Linse and there was a skeleton crew maintaining both boats.

I came onboard on the 15th Feb and met with Saini and we expedited the handover. Nothing much to say as we both know the boat very well, merely I was updated on ongoing works, the accounts and local customs. We discussed the future plans of the drydocking in Sri Lanka for April. Then I cooked a Thai spicy curry for Saini before he left and then I was left in charge.

My first thought was what to do in Maldives to keep oneself from sinking into apathy and fatigue. You can't walk around as everywhere is water, the surrounding Islands are discovered in a day by foot. Shopping has never been my hobby and is not worth here either. The locals are very isolated and keep to themselves and I have never been very active in socializing with complete strangers. I'm more of an observer and I participate in discussions when I know what I am talking about.

There are no bars or restaurants close by, with the two exceptions of the Hulhule airport bar and Bandos Island. I have in 2007 been to the airport bar and did not recall anything that would keep me going there night after night. Bandos Island I prefer to call "Bandit" Island as they charge 20USD only for entry to the Island, then depending what you want they charge you through the nose for mediocre food and drink. No thank you. Besides, Maldives is not really a party place, most tourists here are couples and newly weds that have come here for own privacy and R&R.

So, that left me with the remaining options, fishing and diving. I was mostly working daytime and did not have the interest to go fishing in the mornings although I had done this a lot during summers when I was a kid. This left me with diving that is one of my passions, the underwater world. In addition it also gave me much wanted exercise that I was in need of as I had decided to lose some unwanted weight that had accumulated lately.

Said and done I gave my instructions to Dubey and every morning almost without fail we explored one of the dive sites explained by Tim Godfrey in his dive book or just by looking at the local chart and trying out "unlisted" sites. During the time here I have now clocked 25 dives in total. The crew is also trained/ updated for surface support as well as are knowledgeable of the current situation and locations of different dive sites around Male' as it seems next high season will be Maldives for Kalizma. It has also been an educating experience for myself as well trying to identify the different species of fish I have trapped in my camera lens as well as working out techniques of getting the best picture by using flash.

Some of you may wonder which place was the best and it is hard to say. Every site had it's good points and highlights, it all depends on what you are looking for. I am usually going down with no expectations but keep my eyes open and my camera ready for anything spectacular the nature may want to throw at me. My favorites were definitely the Kuda Haa thila, Club Med corner and Maagiri caves if I'd have to name a few places. Of course the Maldive Victory wreck is awesome too.

Divesites in red and Kalizma in blue (BA chart 3323)

For those interested I have linked all published dives down below so you don't have to go looking in the archives, each post has an individual map of the dive location:
16th February Warm up dive S of Banana reef
17th February Furana South
18th February Kudakalhi channel
19th February Banana reef
20th February Hulhumale North
21st February Wreckdiving
22nd February Club Med corner
23rd February Banana reef
24th February Bandos Island
25th February Kalizma bottom
28th February Black Coral reef
29th February Furanafushi West
1st March Maagiri caves
2nd March Maagiri caves
3rd March Wreckdiving
4th March Hulhule
5th March Hans Hass place
6th March Club Med corner
7th March Lions Head
8th March Kuda Haa thila
9th March Nassimo thila
10th March Reef West of Aarah Island
11th March Furana South
12th March Driftdive down Club Med corner
12th March Nightdive S of Banana reef

Sojourn on Kalizma

So 14th my vacation was up and I was ordered to fly to Male', Maldives to relieve the Officiating Master from Kalizma for his vacation too. I did not mind going to Kalizma as sitting on Indian Empress for two months in Abu Dhabi can't be better than going to Maldives.

The trip didi not start out very well as I was driving towards Phuket I got a call from office that I had missed my flight. It had been changed from evening to morning flight and I had totally missed the information. What a mess. Anyhow, I got a flight again the same evening and caught it to Kuala Lumpur, there I spent a few hours and flew to Colombo. The KL airport is huge but very quiet, maybe the reason was the late timing, I had a nice Caesar's salad at a restaurant while waiting.

I arrived Colombo in the early morning hours and spent there about 6hrs waiting for the morning flight. I half slept on a row of benches but was always woken up by clattering footsteps when a batch of passengers arrived from who knows where. Thats what you get for missing your flight. When the sun got up soon enough I was in the plane for Male' and a bit later we landed in good order.

The immigration was a breeze and I met Saini on the airport and we sat on the tenderboat to Kalizma in minutes. Kalizma looks the same as before, a bit worn out but that's why she is going in for a face lift in April. She is sitting at anchor north of Hulhule Island next to the Hulhumale' jetty. Then we started the handing over, accounts, current issues, maintenance, local contacts etc.

Colombo airport

In the evening I made "spicy chicken" curry Thai style for Saini as I had brought the ingredients from Thailand. Usually it is made in pork but unfortunately pork is illegal in Maldives. Later on I sent Saini to the airport for his flight to Colombo as he was going to meet with drydock people in Colombo before going home and so I had taken over Kalizma for a month.

The crew I knew from before: Richard now as Chief Steward and Umesh from Indian Empress as Chef, Dubey as my Bosun and Ruman as Engineer, as deckhands were Pardeep and Dhiraj and Steward was Parvinder. Rajaram and Sunil were on vacation. No girls worked on her anymore as they had resigned from service. I think an all male crew is easier to manage as well, less hassle and no envy.

Back to Mumbai

Like all vacations we have they always end and this day was my return to reality. I could not get any long mornings, not that I have the need for them anymore as in my youth when I could sleep until noon, now I had to get up and catch my flight to Mumbai.

Back to Mumbai

I was up and had a light breakfast and thanked my hosts for their hospitality and letting me stay in their house for these few days. It had been an interesting experience to visit Bengal even for this short period. Then I was out the door and took a taxi to the airport.

At the airport I managed to check in my luggage without any bigger problems and boarded the Kingfisher flight. We landed on time in Mumbai and I was met by our driver Santosh at the airport and he took me to the Gateway of India where I was met by the Kalizma tender and I was soon onboard and being greeted by Saini and other crew.

Map of M-wall

The day went on discussing handover notes and future plan of spending the monsoon in Trincomalee, Sri Lanka. Basically everything had been planned to the last detail, we only waited for the go ahead from our Management.

M-wall and a row of barges at it

3rd May Signed off Saini for vacation and i signed on at the Yellow Gate Police station, all went ok for once. Discussed various maintenance requirements scheduled for the monsoon with the office and met with Mishra Yogi from Yeoman Marine.

4th May Did seatrials with several smaller yachts related to Kalizma's management that was not very successful. My snag list became suddenly very long.

Later I inspected the M-wall at the Prince's Dock, the area was ok but not really a place I would bring a yacht alongside, at least not for a very long duration. Furthermore, I saw works were going along to reclaim land from Victoria Dock to Cross Island in way of the envisaged Container Terminal that was being developed against all odds. I'm surprised no environmentalist has cried foul yet.

Cross Island

5th May was spent chasing various work quotes.

6th May Met up with Mishraji at his office, our naval architect, and discussed stability issue for some minor engineering modification that involved some weight shifting. Later I was invited for lunch to a Punjabi Restaurant and had a delicious vegetarian lunch with Mishraji. Later in the afternoon I receive news that the Trincomalee relocation is cancelled. Kalizma will stay at the M-wall for the monsoon. In light of our last years experience it was not a very appealing decision in terms of maintenance.

Captain's blog December 2010

This blog is the last as the Captain of Kalizma because I’m being transferred to the Owner’s bigger yacht, m/y Indian Empress, as Captain/ Chief Officer but I will be coming to check in on Kalizma at regular intervals.

m/y Indian Empress

After spending 2.5 yrs on her she has taken a chunk of my life with her troubles keeping her fit and trim for the Owner and guests. This is not only by my own effort but also with the good team effort of my Indian crew that is now left to be guided by my 2nd in command, Surender Saini, that has now gotten the MCA certification to this. My best congratulations for his future success in managing Kalizma with all her faults and on the other hand, her charms. In the end it is the crew that makes the spirit on the yacht.

Bottle mountain at Kingfisher village

As for the December month it went fairly uneventfully. On the 2nd I went with Saini to visit the Kingfisher village that was erected for the film festival. We were quite surprised as the beer was sold practically for nothing and the bartenders were handing over beer as fast as they could. The mountains of empty cans and bottles told the story of demand. We also found out this was the last night for the village until the next festival. People were having a good time with the local orchestra playing Konkani songs interspersed with Hindi popular songs. Me and Saini enjoyed us thoroughly until the venue was closed.

With Saini at boatshow checking the wares

On the 6th I visited the Goa boatshow, a really small event that mostly peddled boats for unsuspecting buyers. As an example I could mention the Seadoo jetski that looked fine and dandy but if you are gullible enough to buy for an arm and a leg you would discover at the first malfunction that the closest service center is outside of India. The next step to import spares and get somebody to service your jetski (properly) would cost you another appendix. Incredible India.

14th we did a seatrial to see how the old lady is performing, despite many barnacles being scraped off her hull and new ones growing up we got her up to 8.5kts with economic rpm's.

Aguada lighthouse and jail from sea

On the 16th was another Goa boatshow opening and I went to see the setup. On the arrival was abig banner announcing the show open at 10 am same day and I was there about 3 pm but then the guard told us to be back next day as the show had not opened yet (!?). We told we were here to visit our associate Mr. Alan Koh from International paints so the guard relented and let us through. Soon enough we found Alan and changed some news with him as well as with some people Saini knew from before. As Alan’s host was being busy elsewhere I ended taking him out for dinner to Candolim. We had a nice dinner at Joe Joe’s corner and we also discovered the restaurant had changed Owner’s. The food was still delicious and in fact the beer was now cheaper.

Full moon taken through binoculars

19th December was my birthday and the day Indian Empress arrived Goa and I had orders to sign on her. The crew gave me a Titan wrist watch as a present with the cake but I did not make it to Indian Empress as they were too busy with officials. I went onboard her the 20th and time will tell if this was a birthday gift or not, for sure, I’m going to be busier now…

BIS visit to Kalizma

Earlier in November I was approached by Mr. Alistair Lawson from the British International School (BIS) if they could do a study visit onboard Kalizma. I was positively inclined for the visit and ran it past the office eventually receiving the OK, so I let BIS know that the visit was on.

The visit was to consist of abt 50 students 8-9yrs old and abt 10 accompanying adults. As the visit was 3rd, early morning at 0900hrs, we decided not to make a big deal abt refreshments as we assumed the kids had had their breakfast, but still we prepared some softdrinks and nibbles for them.

Finally, on the 4th morning all interior was setup and exterior as much we could without disturbing ongoing maintenance the first group arrived as expected with their teacher, Mr. Alistair Lawson. I greeted Alistair by the gangway and the kids lined up their shoes on the jetty. Once all were done I helped the kids onto the gangway to climb onboard.

Jyothi and Kalpana guided the kids down to the saloon where I wished them welcome onboard and explained how they were going to be divided into 2 groups and showed around the yacht and after that I would tell them a bit of thehistory of Kalizma and answer any questions. Off the kids went with accompanied exclamations "ooh", "aah", "Oh my God", "so nice", "cool", etc.

Children were shown guest rooms, tour of the outer deck, galley, crew messroom, bridge and the dining room. On the bridge Saini was explaing and demonstrating the navigation equipment. Once finished the tour, the groups ended up at the dining table, which was laden with cookies, softdrinks and chips. I admire how well disciplined they were as they kept their fingers to themselves until I gave them the "go ahead" for the goodies. Before this I told them about when and where Kalizma was built, her participation in both WW's, how Richard Burton gave her to Elizabeth Taylor and finally how she ended up with the current Owner and his measures in preserving this Classic yacht.

I also ended up teaching them marine vocabulary for galley, bulkhead, deck, porthole, capstan and windlass as well as how much is nautical mile (1.852km). Finally there were not so many questions, one recurring question was how much Kalizma was worth. I reckoned one had to give my Boss an offer he could not refuse but assured that their weekly allowance would not cover it. One girl asked "Why is she so nice?". Oh well, because the Owner likes nice and we're paid to keep her nice. Another wanted to know from where I was, Finland that is. One boy wanted to know how fast she is, well she is not fast at all, only 10 knots compared to todays modern container behemoths that race over the Oceans with 25kts speeds. One wanted to know if I been in bad weather with Kalizma, not really, I try avoiding bad weather.

Afterwards Saini told me that he had been heavily bombarded with questions so I guess the technical gadgets always win over dry facts and stories.

In the end all kids said a big "Thank you" and marched off to the jetty where they donned their shoes and marched off while waving goodbye to Kalizma. I hope they all enjoyed their visit, I know we did.

Captain's blog - beginning July 2008

M/y Kalizma at Ko Phi Phi

The month of June came and went without any particular happenings, routine maintenance was carried out, weekends some of the crew went hashing (running). Hash house harriers are a tradition invented by English expats in Malaysia and has spread all over the world. I also discovered the world small as I met my old Electrician from Ukraine that worked together with me 5 years ago on another ship.

Me and Volodymyr

As far as crew changes concerned Sunil Sharma returned from vacation to charge his batteries, Jyothi Thomas left for her well earned vacation. Deckhand Jaynard Payumo resigned in order to pursuit his career marketing Crocs on a sailing boat. Good luck for him! Jaynard’s replacement is still open.

Phuket HHH circle

Finally, on 3rd July Kalizma left for Ko Phi Phi to run our equipment. We left at noon during overcast skies and generally miserable weather. We arrived PP at abt 6pm and anchored in the bay S of the Island.

Morning of 4th July brought forth a promise of a wonderful day and we loaded our divegear in the tender and left around 9am for Ko Bida Noi, a beautiful setting for a dive. We arrived at the E of the Island and made fast to a mooring buoy and started to gear up while 6 other boats from PP came along and dumped their divers in as well. By the time undersigned and Saini went down the cacophony of the boats around us was deafening. The reef itself was not that spectacular, many dead clam shells were seen. A lot of fish was present and we had 0.5-1kt current to swim against. Once our air was exhausted it was the turn for Vivek and Jessica to get some instructions from Saini followed by a shallow dive. Once all done we set out for Hin Bida, an underwater reef between Ko Bida Noi and Ko Ma. During the transfer we enjoyed a refreshing watermelon to wash out the taste of salt. Once at Hin Bida, we found yet again an anchor buoy where we made fast and geared up. We started at 30m and swam against the current circling S of the reef and eventually came up the shallowest point that was abt 4m, the reef is actually limestone formation covered by corals, quite nice dive. We managed to see a huge lobster, a moray eel and a leopard shark in addition to the normal reef fish. By this time it was time to head back to Kalizma for lunch.

Ko Bida Nai

At the time we arrived we saw many speedboats at shore hanging around a few trees, after having a closer look we discovered the trees were full of monkeys that were being fed by tourists. Afternoon went putting gear back into condition and for the evening all crew (except standby engineer) went ashore for dinner at Phi Phi Banyan Villa restaurant where the food was good but service was slow considering the amount of customer’s. We had a delicious seafood dinner with grilled fish, grilled squid, deep fried prawns, Chinese fried vegetables, fried rice and mixed seafood Tom Yam soup, once we had finished all we rolled onboard.

Dinner @ Ko Phi Phi

Morning on 5th was equally sunny if not more than the 3rd and we set forth only Saini and undersigned this time for the Kingcruiser wreck that grounded on the Anemone reef and sank in 1997. The wreck was marked with two buoys and we went down by the anchor line. The current was abt 1kn, but at places it was less where you could get lee from the superstructure. Wreck was well preserved and covered with barnacles and a multitude of fish at a depth ranging from 19-30m. We saw a huge lionfish, must’ve been abt 40cm long, came swimming with all plumes wide open, apart from that the fishes were ordinary. After returning to the surface we headed for Shark point (Hin Mu Sang), just S of Anemone reef. Here we also had a current to swim against but once we reached the reef there was some spectacular fan corals and a multitude of sea anemones, we also caught two leopard sharks sleeping on the seabed. Once up on the surface it was time to head back to Kalizma.

In front of Ko Phi Phi

On the way we explored the W side cliffs of Ko PP where there are small coves carved by the sea during ages of erosion. We entered the biggest cove that goes a long way inside and at the end has a small bay with a beach and a hut built (for overnight visits?). Very picturesque scenery but unfortunately a lot of floating garbage in the water. Once back on Kalizma it was time to put back the gear and lunch time. In the afternoon the girls went ashore Ko PP for shopping and swimming and Saini and Rajaram took out the jetskis for a spin. Evening went for the boys in Ko PP enjoying the Saturday night beach party.

Ko Phi Phi

On the 6th Kalizma awoke to a sunny, dead calm sea with gently incoming swell, at 0900hrs we hoisted anchor and headed back for Yacht Haven Marina. The transit was uneventful and at 1400hrs we tied up to our usual berth. Rest of July will now go preparing for the drydocking as well as ticking off jobs from our list that can be done before that.

Captain's blog - Handover

I arrived in the evening on 31st April by train and minivan from Bangkok to sign on m/y Kalizma, the van left me at the Yacht Haven Marina junction and a final motorbike ride took me to the Marina.

M/y Kalizma in Yacht Haven

Once at the Marina I was met by the Chef Richard and we trollied my luggage onboard. Onboard Richard treated me to a small evening snack and a few absolutely delicious cans of ice cold Kingfisher beer.

The next day I woke up to a sunny day and met Captain Avnish and the crew. After that we started the handover which went on for quite a few days. Accounting, budgeting, maintenance, bridge equipment, class/ certificate status and the whole shebang, the list went on and on.

Finally towards the end of handing over we received onboard the Company representative, Cmde Mongia, to endorse the handover and review of accounts. We did a short 3 day cruise in order to see all equipment in operation. First night was spent at anchor in Ao Tha Lua and we took our tender to Boat Lagoon for dinner. Boat Lagoon was almost bone dry due to extreme low tide and we barely managed to navigate the channel, but eventually we made it slowly, very slowly.

Next day we cruised towards Phang Nga Bay where we went exploring with the tenderboat and jetski. For the night we stayed overnight at Berama Bay where a new marina is being built, in fact the whole Island is being restructured on a massive scale. At sundown we had the Island developers onboard for snacks and drinks but we were interrupted by very heavy rain showers and had to retreat into the saloon.

Next morning was again sunny and closer to noon we hoisted anchor and started towards the Yacht Haven Marina, the approach was uneventful and then we came to the exciting part where I had to maneuver Kalizma alongside. I had slight wind from the port bow and the current from astern. I made port side alongside and without any mishaps. It was not that easy but by time I’m sure I will get to know her tricks and treats.

Having crossed off all items in the handover list we did the final item which was to sign the boat officially to me. This was done in the morning of 8th May on the aft deck in the presence of Cmde Mongia. After all signing was done I could see that Capt Avnish looked very relieved after the burden of responsibility had been lifted from his shoulders. Kalizma is now under my command and I hope it will be a long and happy relationship with the Owner’s, distinguished guests and crew.