Seal Coast Safari
by Ian Kee on Dec.16, 2011, under Australia 2011
The last month since I’ve posted on here has been an incredible experience in many ways. The begin with, our printer continued to have a lot of electrical problems which has prevented us from doing any printing. We had Fuji service technicians come on board 4 times before they actually got it fixed. The first time they came and replaced some parts but the main issue wasn’t fixed. This happened a couple more times before finally a technician came and actually sailed on the ship with us from Melbourne to Sydney. He figured out that the problem was that there was a large static buildup between the printer and the computer and it was continually frying the firewire cards. We have installed a properly grounded static matt which has prevented the static from harming our equipment. So now the machine works, but we still need to figure out why there is a static build up in the first place.
So that whole situation has been taking up a lot of my time and energy. Several times I spent almost the entire night staying up late printing everything that I hadn’t been able to print so that we would have something to sell. Aside from this our ratings on the ship haven’t been the best either so Ocean Images sent out the S & R class operations manager to give our team some advise and pointers on what we can do to improve customer ratings at the end of each cruise. It has helped a lot and we are doing some things differently now. Ratings are improving so that’s always positive.
One of my photographers on the team is finishing his contract after next cruise, so he’ll be going home on January 4th. Then Niamh and I are finishing our contract on January 17th, so there will be a lot of changes in the near future.
Next cruise Niamh and I plan to go to Hobbiton, which is the place where they filmed the Shire in Lord of the Rings. Originally they had to tear the whole set down, however it has now been rebuilt because they are filming The Hobbit there. So it’s going to be pretty cool to see the set how it really should look. I’ve heard from other people who have been there that we’re not really supposed to post photos of it, but I’ll see what the rules are when I get there. I might be able to post a photo of a Hobbit hole or two.
Next cruise is also the Christmas and New Years cruise for us. I will be in Dunedin, New Zealand for Christmas and Auckland for New Years Eve. We’ll be at sea when the new year actually arrives.
A few days ago I went on a tour in Wellington to the coast and got a chance to see some amazing landscapes and some seals. We rode in some heavy duty 4 wheel drive Toyotas. The path that we took was off-road and very rough. You can see here the path that we took on the beach. The vehicle pictured is one of three that were in our group. There were only about 5 seals that I saw, I guess because in the summer they go other places. The winter is when they are here in large numbers. If you’re a little confused, it’s because it is currently summer in New Zealand, as we are south of the equator. December 1st was the first day of summer.
More Fun On The Volendam
by Ian Kee on Nov.14, 2011, under Australia 2011
Back when I was still in Alaska, as you might remember I rented a car and drove up to Emerald Lake in Canada. My internet at the time wasn’t working very well and so I wasn’t able to upload photos. Here you can see Niamh at Emerald Lake. It was very beautiful, reminds me of hot springs that have really weird vibrant colors. There’s actually some of those places around here in New Zealand which I might try to go to before my contract is over.
Also, here’s a photo of me on the back deck of the Volendam in Auckland during the final match of the 2011 Rugby World Cup. There were several huge outdoor TVs setup on the docks around where the ship was and there were thousands of people watching. I can’t imagine what it must have been like in the actual stadium.
In other news, life here on the Volendam is going well. We had a bit of a hiccup last cruise when our printer had major issues and stopped working for a few days. There is a huge problem with static electricity in the lab and it fried a few firewire cards in the computer and the printer and it caused it to not work. So that was fixed in Sydney by a couple Fuji technicians, but then it got fried again about 2 hours after they left. When we got to Melbourne another tech came on board and replaced the firewire cards again, and suggested that I also replace the actual firewire cable, and get a static mat to go under the computer. It seems that one or both of those two things has fixed the problem as we are still up and running several days later. I have my fingers crossed that it won’t happen again.
I’m also starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Only the remainder of this cruise and four more cruises until the end of my contract. That means just about 2 months left. I’ll be leaving on the 17th of January. It’s been a super contract so far but I’m also very ready for vacation. Who knows where I’ll be next, but I’m hoping for a ship in Europe.
What I’ve Done
by Ian Kee on Oct.22, 2011, under Australia 2011
So it’s been like a month since I’ve written anything on here, so here’s the low-down on my life recently.
Been to Hawaii.
Visited my cousin Heather in Hawaii.
Been to 5 country islands in the South Pacific.
Been to Australia and New Zealand.
Visited Jael, friend from post college, in Auckland, New Zealand. Twice.
Planning to visit Chris Loh in Melbourne, friend from high school.
Taken over as photo manager of the Volendam.
Been to glow worm caves in Bay of Islands, New Zealand.
Bought snacks in a convenience store from an extremely happy Egyptian who loves speaking to Americans. He gave us free gifts.
Witnessed New Zealand madness during the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
Learned that my contract will be finishing on January 17. Niamh and I will be flying to London.
Uploaded more photos to my photo gallery.
Well that’s a pretty good list of what’s happened in the last month and a half. Please check out the photo gallery for a few photos that I took. All of the square photos were taken in Fiji and the other 4 were taken in New Zealand.
I’m Going To Hawaii Yay!
by Ian Kee on Sep.08, 2011, under Australia 2011
I’ve been having a lot of fun in Alaska, but I’m so glad it’s over now. Yesterday was our last embarkation in Vancouver and we are currently somewhere along the coast of Oregon. We’re on our way down to LA, where we will embark a few hundred more guests, and from there we’ll make our way over to Hawaii. We’re gonna have 5 days at sea straight, so it’s gonna be a little boring. I think I’ll be able to catch up on a bit of sleep. After that It’s Australia and New Zealand for the next 3 months or so until the end of my contract.
I Drove Something!
by Ian Kee on Jul.16, 2011, under Alaska Summer 2011
It’s been a long time since I’ve driven, and during my last contract I didn’t drive at all for the entire 8 months. Well I just had the opportunity to drive what is called an Adventure Cart! It’s like a dune buggy, and it’s extremely fun. Apparently they are modeled after an Israeli attack vehicle that can go up to 100 mph and has a machine gun on the back. Well mine only went about 20 or 25 mph and didn’t have a machine gun. Oh well, it was still fun.
Also, besides getting to drive something, I had some AMAZING food last week. We had a team meal at this Italian Mexican restaurant. Being in Alaska however, they had some really great crab. So I ordered King Crab. One pound. That’s a lot of food. I also ate clam chowder, some spaghetti, garlic bread, meatballs, and some kind of desert. I don’t know how to spell it, but it was something like baclava. It’s a Greek desert and it tastes great. So that was lunch around 2. Then a couple hours later at 5:30 I went to the Pinnacle Grill on the ship for dinner with Niamh. If you’ve ever eaten at the Pinnacle you know that it’s extremely good food, and they also give you large proportions. I ordered some kind of beef. It turns out it was on a kabob, and the way they prepared it was really interesting. They held it up on a plate and then literally poured fire over it. I don’t know what it was doused in, but the fire just kind of fell onto the kabob and the whole thing went on fire and then went out. It was super tender and very tasty. I almost finished it even after that whole pound of crab meat just a few hours earlier.
Anyways the Alaska season is still going great. Time is going pretty quickly though. The season is already half over and it seems like we just started. We’re making lots of money, significantly better than last season. When we leave and go to Australia it will be much less, but I’m really looking forward to going to that part of the world.
New Yet The Same
by Ian Kee on May.28, 2011, under Alaska Summer 2011
It’s kinda like saying “The road is smooth except for where it’s bumpy.” Well that’s what my life is like right now. I’m going to all the same places in Alaska as last year, and I even have the same boss. There are several other people on this ship that are the same from the Ryndam. But boy is life different. It’s so strange to think that I’m sitting on a park bench next to the Skagway library, doing exactly the same thing as a year ago. It feels so normal to be doing this and yet I would never in a million years have thought that this is something that I would have been doing. Last year at least it felt weird to be doing this. hahaha.
I don’t plan to go on so many excursions this year – last year I went on like half of them. There’s just a few that I wanna go on now that I wasn’t able to hit last year. So dad I’m sorry but there prolly won’t be all that many photos from Alaska this year. I do expect some though of course. Next week I wanna go on the Bering Sea Crab Fishing tour. Apparently there are hundreds of eagles that come around trying to catch the crabs that get thrown back into the water. Tino went on it last year and got some awesome photos. I want that.
Here’s a photo of some downright beautiful people. From left to right it’s Dorrance, Beth, Hana, Amber and Zach. Unfortunately Beth, Hana and Zach have all finished their contracts and are now either on vacation or on another ship. Dorrance and Beth were both with me on the Ryndam. It’s likely that as long as you’re working on ships you’re gonna meet someone you know on your next ship. And the longer you stay on ships the more people you start to know.
