THIRTY DAYS by Shawntel Agujar

Everybody talks about their hardships on-board. Everybody talks about the worst kind of people who come and go during their 12-month-stay. Everybody talks about the massive waves that racked their ships in the middle of nowhere. Everybody talks about the boredom inside their own cabins. Everybody talks like that. So, did everybody miss the part I experienced? Because nobody told me that cadetship would be jam-packed with first times. Nobody told me that the people around could be so good and fatherly. Nobody told me that the sea reflects the beauty of the sun or the moon on clear calm seas. Nobody told me about how graceful the ship could be when it danced with the waves. Nobody told me about the comfort I could get inside my cabin after a long day of work and learning. Nobody told me that I would experience things I’d never done before. Most of all, nobody had told me that cadetship will be such an adventure, flavored with learning plus extra fun. Now, that’s the story I will tell everyone.

First realization. Since I’m not born eating on silver spoon nor born swimming in a pool of money, it is a given that I do not travel most of the time. I may have traveled, but not as often and not as far as where I am now. We left the grounds of the Philippines at a regular Saturday night – a good 15 minutes past 7. Before, I really enjoy seeing stars in the movies making scenes in the airplane. But now that I am to experience a 12-hour long flight myself, my perspective altered. Twelve hours of sitting can be a drag. I realized that not everything that looks good, feels good.

First time travel. After 12 hours above the clouds, we finally landed on a rainy Vancouver. Everything felt awkward. In my place, these people were aliens. But there, I was the alien myself. I felt like an alien who just landed from outer space on a planet I knew very less. What’s more interesting is that we landed 3 hours before we left. We landed on 4:30 pm on the same day. Time Warp

First meeting. It was on the next day that we went to board the vessel. She was there waiting a little east of the coast of Vancouver. A good 5 minutes ride on-board a pilot vessel and I’ll be boarding my new home for the next 12 months. Anxiety, excitement, ambiguities, uncertainties, all kinds of feelings mixed in the bottom of my stomach and ran the lengths of my spine as I stepped on the gangway. Strangers – young and younger – greeted our arrival. Their smiles assured me that I’m in a safe zone. Their smiles were trying to tell me that I do not need to worry because they will take care of me. 

First impression. And so my cadetship started. After a series of familiarization, I am now equipped with enough knowledge to handle works on deck. The main concern of deck works were to deal with the vessel’s physical condition and maintenance. I felt so small looking at the massive equipments used to do heavy works on time pressure. I thought, “Do I really belong here?” The other side of me replied, “This is the life you chose. It may seem strange and foreign to you right now, but time will come that you’ll go looking for the sea once you leave.” I set aside all my thoughts and started to be as productive as a Deck Cadet can be. 

First shore pass. Surely my first impression lasted short. All the uncertainties were erased when I was granted my first shore pass. The enthusiasm I showed was a bit evident that even a mile of walking didn’t tire me. Together with some of the crew, we were able to roam around the quiet streets of Squamish, Canada. After 18 long year of living, that was my first time to wander around other borders.   

First bridge duty. It was during my first duty that I totally ended being a clumsy tourist and started being a snappy crew who has to fulfill her duties and responsibilities on-board.  I woke up on a gloomy dawn and prepared myself for a day of work. Three rings on my cabin phone and I knew I had to proceed to the bridge to start being the apprentice of the Chief Officer on his duty. This was where I learned my first lessons on navigation. I recalled that some of these things were taught in school but it was then, that I was able to fully understand and connect the missing links between these lessons.

First nerve-wrecking waves. They say that seafarers travel the world for free. Free? That statement maybe true until you experienced seafaring yourself. Traveling the world is already long paid by seafarers. The grave sacrifices, the unending maintenance, the abrupt temperature and season changes, all of those may have been thousands when converted to money. But most of all, the nerve-wrecking, brain- twirling, stomach twitching, knee-dwindling, building- high waves would have been billions when summed up.

First day skipping. One thing advantageous about trading the Pacific Route is that passing the International Date Line is a regular routine. But sinceit was my first time, I was really amazed. I slept on a Sunday night but woke up on a Tuesday morning. Others may say I had a very long sleep, but no, I just passed the International Date Line. 

First pay. The fifteenth of every month is always a significant day to land-based jobs. Banks and ATMs will be crowded workers who would withdraw their salary after a long month of work. Same applies to the seafarers. The only thing that varies is that seafarers get there monthly summary on the fifteenth and send their allotments and receive their cash advances on the twentieth. 

Thirty days spent onboard and thirty days spent ashore are two completely different stories. Thirty days would be over in a single blink. A day onboard would feel like a whole year ashore.  You need to end your lazy lifestyle to adapt to a new culture – where everyone is a part of a whole – in upholding quality service and safety of life at sea. Being on-board M/V Star Florida for thirty days made a considerable change in me.

These are firsts of the many firsts that I would experience in my whole year journey as a seafarer. But these thirty days is a fraction I would not barter to any other thirty days I had and I would have.