Tanker tour!

Saturday night- me excited to go to bed after spending a day at the Stilt Village and hanging out with people all afternoon. I was chatting for a few minutes with one of the roommates working the front desk before heading down when suddenly Grace grabbed my arm, tugging me towards the gangplank.

Grace is a friend of Lynnel's- a friend of mine from Chicago who served here in 2007 when the Africa Mercy was in Liberia. Apparently Lynnel gave Grace the heads up, so I was greeted enthusiastically by her this past week. She's one of the driving forces behind my fledgling social life. Obviously. She's also an ICU nurse back home and works the ward here.

Anyway, apparently Grace had befriended the crew of a tanker docked next to us. She said there is a bond when Filipinos meet abroad, and the entire crew of the Admiral L is from the Philippines. So there you go. I'll admit I was a little hesitant to check it out (what do we really know about these strangers anyway?), but my fears were unfounded. The crew was eager to have new people aboard, having lived with just the twenty-one of them for several months at sea aboard a 170-some odd meter oil tanker. Their hospitality and graciousness was beyond what any of us could have imagined. We got the red carpet tour of the ship- the huge engine room, the pilothouse, the crew lounge, and the spacious deck. The grand finale was a savory dinner complete with dessert, wine, and very enjoyable company. We kept sneaking glances at each other saying, "can you believe this? What could we possibly have done to deserve this?"

Commenting on how small the Africa Mercy is compare to the tanker.

About to start our tour of the four story engine room:

One of the engines:

Finally down to the propeller driveshaft, under the water in the hull:

An section of the shipshape engine maintenance room. My dad would be proud:

Dinner!

I never in my wildest dreams thought I'd spend a Saturday night on a Filipino oil tanker off the coast of West Africa eating a feast fit for a king with such gracious company- and singing karaoke. Who knew?