Oshima 2017 Day 6

6th October 2017, Friday.

Hello everyone!

Today is the day where we set sail to return from Shimonoseki back to Oshima.

According to the Chief Officer, the currents nearing Shimonoseki would be very strong and fierce at about 8.30am that morning. Hence, arrangement was made for departure from Shimonoseki to be at 8am.

Everyone got up bright and early that morning, and as usual, we had our roll call and breakfast, before assembling at our designated stations to prepare for departure.

During breakfast, we had the opportunity to try out Natto, which is fermented Japanese beans!

Breakfast!

Natto!

On that day, however, the weather was bad as it was raining quite heavily and the winds and currents were generally very strong!

Visibility is poor on the bridge

The visibility was only at about 6 cables at its worst, and 2 nautical miles at its best!

Sharp look-out is maintained in such poor visibility

Initially, most of us found the rolling and pitching of the vessel to be quite fun, considering that it was the majority of our first time experiencing such a situation. It almost felt like a constant roller coaster ride that would not stop! How fun!

However, after the vessel was accompanied by strong pounding, it was clear that many of us did not enjoy the ride at all. Many of us started feeling sea sick and were completely dysfunctional! Haha.

Benjamin, Salihin, Rifhan and Akari knocked out

Calista knocked OUTTTT

Salihin, Rifhan, Calista, Akari and Benjamin K.O

Sea sickness : Cadets = 1 : 0 :(

We were extremely thankful that the crew members were extremely understanding of our situation and gave us enough time to rest and recover from the sea sickness - they provided us with trash bags because many of us vomited multiple times! Many of us missed our watchkeeping / engineering duties in light of this :(

Here is a video depicting what the condition was like then:

The weather did not last the whole journey towards Oshima, though. After it calmed down a little, many of us started feeling better, some of us finally having the appetite to eat our lunch:

After lunch, we proceeded to our watchkeeping / engineering duties, after some of us missed the first half of our duties due to the sea sickness:

Rifhan watching and learning from the 1st Engineer

Sharif keeping an eye on the radar due to poor visibility

Nani monitoring the engines steadily

Calista reporting to the OOW the information on the charts

Nani, Koki and Rifhan carrying out their duties properly

Engineers in the Engine Control Room

Engineers relentlessly @ work

With everyone working together, it was not long before we were approaching Oshima:

Forward Station

Forward Station

It was certainly a good experience on board T.S Oshima Maru for the past 3 days. The training on board is both eye-opening and enriching and the SMA students definitely learnt a lot from our Japanese friends and the crew members. We are thankful for such a great opportunity and we thank Oshima College from the bottom of our hearts. :)

Closing Ceremony onboard T.S Oshima Maru

SMA + T.S Oshima Maru

Before dinner, at the guest house, Dr. John Park paid us a visit and it was our last time seeing him as he would not be at the airport tomorrow to send us off. It was a saddening moment as we said our thanks to him for his hospitality throughout the trip, and were excited for the next opportunity to meet up with him again in the future :)

We love you Dr. Park!!

Do remember us!!!

That night, it was a very special night not only for a fact that it was our last night in Japan, but our Japanese buddies negotiated with their dorm teacher-in-charge for them to come visit us at the guest house from 8pm to 10pm. Usually, the Japanese students return to their dorms at 8pm for roll-call, then their time is spent in the dorm itself where the students may study or have their own free time. However, that night was special indeed because permission was granted for them to leave their dorms after their roll call at 8pm!!

We had many tidbits and drinks at our guest house, courtesy of Yu Ogawa!!

All of us gathered at the Guest House!

Vlogs were taken using Salihin's camera

We shared laughter and memories that night - eating, chit-chatting and sharing ghost stories with everyone. It was a definitely a night to remember and I'm sure we would all cherish this memory close to our hearts for a very long time.. :)

Before long, it was 10pm and our Japanese buddies had to return to their dorms, however, we did not forget to gift them our unique items from Singapore! These include: Kaya spread, Laksa/Chili Crab instant noodle packet, as well as Merlion chocolate bars! On top of that, some of us also gave them our own individual gifts to our buddies. On the whole, the gifts were to express our gratitude and love to our buddies for taking such good care of us for the entire trip, always making sure that we are comfortable and ensure that we are having a good time in Japan. For that, we thank you! We hope you like our gifts!

Sharif with his buddy, Yuki!

Darwis with his buddy, Taka!

Benjamin with his buddy, Yu!

Nani with her buddy, Yuzuki!

Rachel with her buddy, Akari!

Calista with her buddy, Sarina!

Rifhan with his buddy, Koki!

Salihin with his buddy, Shin!

After the gifts were given out to our buddies, we called it a night and sent our buddies to the door, where we waved our goodbyes and said our goodnights.

With a heavy heart, we closed the door behind us and immediately, the guest house felt so quiet and empty. The only thing we looked forward to was to see our buddies again the next morning :(