05 June 2017; Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Nova Scotia lived up to its reputation again as the captain had to sound the horn every two minutes to let the world know the Maasdam was around and sailing through the fog. As we all now know it normally has a positive end result; it means nice weather in the next port. And yes by the time we came in the white curtain had gone and we could also see the lone piper on the dock and not just hear him.

An overview of Halifax Passenger Terminal. If there is only one ship in then we call it Pier 21 and we dock in the middle. Pier 21 is also the immigration museum of Canada. (Photo courtesy Halifax Authorities)

Sometimes I think that Halifax is more Scottish than Scotland itself. They always have a bag pipe player on arrival and often a larger group on departure.   I stress the word always, as one during one call a number of years ago, the bag piper had broken or sprained his leg or foot and thus he serenaded us from a wheel chair. I did not know you could play the pipes from a wheelchair but he did and he produced the same amount of noise sitting down, as he would have done standing up. I love bag pipes and Scotland is one of my favorite countries to visit, but I prefer Bag pipe music late afternoon with a pint in my hand instead of early in the morning while drinking my first cup of tea.

I was in the naughty book today as I forget to clock in my working hours. Normally I do that first thing in the morning at 06.30 but this time I got distracted by exam papers and I completely forgot. Clocking in my hours might need some explanation as it is something you relate more to a factory than to a cruise ship. But since a number of years, everybody who works on board has to log their daily hours. From the Captain, to the Dining room waiter, to the Ships Cast, who do not work more than two shows a week and a bit of rehearsing.

We have a maritime law called MLC 2006, the Maritime Labor Convention agreed upon by most seafaring countries in 2006. This law sets rules about the quality of crew quarters, food, payment, travel but also about how many hours you are allowed to work. As with every sea related law it was instigated because something went wrong. Titanic gave us Solas so the ships are much safer now, and unscrupulous ships owners caused MLC 2006 because there were collisions due to fatigue and on some ships they found living conditions which were worse than the poor houses described by Charles Dickens.

To verify that all ships owners are behaving themselves, each company is required to keep records of the working hours of their crew. Those working hours have to be filled out by the crew members and then filed for future verification. Each company and ship is subject to regular auditing by Lloyds, by Flag State or during a Port State inspection. Holland America has a computerized system for this, with terminals in crew areas for those who do not have their own computer. Officers who are normally hooked up to the ships intranet can do it from their office. As I live in a passenger cabin, I have to make the trek down to the crew corridor on B deck and today I forgot. Tomorrow morning I will receive a nasty message from our 3^rd officer administration telling me, not to do it again; otherwise the captain will take disciplinary action.

We are allowed to work 13 hours a day with a maximum of 91 hours a week. That is the law. A Holland America Line day has 10 hours maximum. Within each 24 hours, there shall be one rest period of 6 hours and one of 4 hours, un-interrupted. My working day is normally around 11 to 12 hours a day and most of the time   06.30 – 08.00 then 08.30 – 11.30 then 12.30 – 17.30 and the  18.30 – 20.00. I am in compliance because I then have an unbroken rest period from 20.00 – 06.30 which is 10.5 hours, so I do not need to comply with the 6 and 4 rule.  If the company requires you to make more hours in a day, then more free time has to be given the next day to make up for it and if that is not possible than the work load has to be reduced.  The captain supervises this all and takes action if there is somebody who does not follow the rules.  If I forget to clock my hours a 2nd time, then he might have to call me in and ask what is going on…………………………………..

Tomorrow we are in Sydney, arriving there late in the morning for what is supposed to be another beautiful day. Chilly, 54oF / 12oC, but sunny and with very little wind. More messing around with boats is being called for.