The hustle and bustle of Bilbao
Name: Alan Otter
From: Cork, Ireland
Age: 22
As I make my way to the cargo control room I can already hear the somber chatting of various deck officers, agents, loading masters, and the jubilant good-byes from those destined for a night in a hotel and later a flight home.
Having spent from midnight to eight in the morning down in the engine room, keeping watch with a very happy and soon to be home bound Third Engineer (Richard Foulkes), I was slightly tired but the thought of getting ashore kept me going.
As I made my way through the throng of people going about various duties involved with discharging 130,000 m3 of Liquid Natural Gas, I met the Deck Cadet Sarah Butler (also hailing form glorious Cork). We exchanged those few words that can brighten up any one’s day: “You going up the road?” With affirmatives from both parties we set leaving time for nine o’clock, enough time for a quick power nap and shower. Having relieved the fourth engineer the previous midnight, I though he might like to go ashore also, so I roused him from his slumber to get himself together for going ashore.
We met up in the Cargo Control Room (CCR) to see what we needed to actually get onto Spanish soil. Apparently not much, according to the Captain. Just some valid photographic identification. No shore passes required. After waving to all those still left on deck, we departed with shopping lists for various officers. The next obstacle was the security guard at the gate. It should have been pretty straightforward, but considering he had no English and my Spanish consists of “Hola” and “Muchos gratias gringo” (actually spelled “muchas gracias, gringo”), it was slightly more difficult than expected. Eventually we got signed in and even got a taxi booked. So we didn’t do badly, considering.
After a ten-minute wait the taxi made an appearance and we soon found out that the driver had less English than the security guard. But equipped with the name of a large shopping centre we made our intentions known, and after a twenty minute drive through what could have been mistaken for rural Irish countryside we made it to the centre.
Bilbao City Scape
We arranged a time to meet up again and Sarah went to do her type of shopping, guess what type that is? Clothes!!!! So James Jardine (Fourth Engineer) and I went to do our part. We managed to get pretty much everything on our lists, and a little extra in the form of sweets and chocolate for the lads stuck onboard. Having met up we decided to go on and try and find the city centre.
As it happened, it was another ten-minute taxi ride and again struggling with the language barrier we ended up at another shopping centre in Bilbao city.
One of the perks of this job is getting to see new places. So far during the three months I’ve been here this is my second time stepping off the ship. So it really was nice to see trees, other people, cities and hills.
Calatrava Bridge in Bilboa
Some people will tell you that some places you go to aren’t worth going ashore, but I’ve learned that you really must take every opportunity you can to go and see new places and people, its amazing what you see if you just open your eyes.