It was a long cramped flight from Vladivostok to Seattle. We changed planes in Anchorage. I ended up sitting next to a man with a major attitude problem. And to top it off I also shared a cab with him into the city. The cab dropped me off at terminal thirty, were I had left my pick-up truck. My new ship was already tied up and waiting to be loaded with cargo.

The M/V Kemerovo is an Ice Breaker Class ship. It is approximately 320 feet long and maybe 65 feet at the beam. It’s got two 10,000 HP main engines, but is so heavy that it can only do 16 knots using the two of then. The Russian crew refer to these type of ships as Carrot ships, due to the fact that their hulls are painted orange. The ships of this class were designed to move military equipment, (tanks, etc.), in the northern parts of Siberia. The Kemerovo has a large ramp that be lowered onto the pier. This ramp allows vehicles to be driven up into the ships holds. I did not know any of this at the time I first saw it upon entering Terminal Thirty, and I did not want to know anything about this ship. I got in my truck drove to Ballard to pick up my mail then and immediately drove to the apartment that I share with two other sailors in Issaqua.

I slept the rest of the day then went into the Sunmar Office in the morning to drop off my paper work, and to find out the scoop on the new ship. I ended up working in the yard helping to load the ship for the week. So, I only got two days off between trips. I met the captain, chief officer and the chief engineer when Terry Anderson invited me to have dinner with them at a fancy resturant at the Elliot Bay Marina. They seemed like an OK group of guys, but I’ve been around Russians long enough to know not to trust them. They will treat you like a King if they want something from you. But as soon as they can lower you and demonstrate to you just who is in charge, they will. They were all smiles and good will at the time.

The day before we sailed I moved some of my stuff on to the ship. I was shown my room. It was by far the worst room I’ve had on this run yet. It faces the exhust stack, so I have no view at all, and if I open the window I hear the roar of the engine. The floor was filthy. This room is half the size of the room I had on the Socol 2 and a Quarter the size of the room I had on the Archanglesk. Enough about the bad stuff.

Third Trip on the Kemerovo

I got a return trip back to Seattle, so it’s a shot of cash in my pocket. Right now we are getting ready to depart Vladivostok. I spent last night at Katya’s apartment. I feel as if I’m cheating her a little, as I’m kind of worn out after romping with Sveta in Korsakov for two days. Sveta is a kick in the ass. She’s 32 years old with two kids and a shitty little apartment, but I like her. She turns me on a hell of a lot more than Katya. Katya is a bit star-struck by me and appears to be in love over her head. She is one hell of a nice gal though. I told her I would buy her a ticket to Seattle and back if she could get a passport and a visa this summer. And I would be more than happy to do it. I think we could have one heck of a good time driving round in a motor-home. Sveta is not going anywhere, she has her job in Korsakov and is dedicated to her family. She is a cocky little loud mouth when she talks to other Russians but is very demure with me.

April 25, 1997

Wow, twelve days so far with nothing to do. I finished my Solar program, all it is missing is a professional Help file. I don’t have the Help compiler, so I can’t work on that.

I went out of my mind a little bit on the 21 st. I blew up at the Radio Officer for not sending a fax I had given him. But he did piss me off. He hung up the phone on me, and told me that my fax was not important. Oh, well. Boredom will get to the best of us, but it effects me in a rather bad way.