Hello Internet

Long time no see. How's it going for everybody out there? I trust all is well? Good, glad to hear it. So again I've been busy as you may have gathered by the lack of anything being uploaded in a long time. But, this is the last year of a university course, so it's expected. So anyhow things have been going on as they do.

The big event so far since I last said anything was the end of March where I came to sit what's called the SQA exams, named SQA after Scottish Qualification Authority as they are the exam board that run the written exam's for the UK Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA). It's 2 exams, one being Navigation with chartwork questions and calculations with some talkie talkie questions thrown in for good measure. The second exam is Stability & Operations, that involve stability calculations and some talkie questions about Officer of the Watch duties on board ship. They should be simple to do, but they are much harder than you may think. I should know as 8 weeks after the exams the results were both FAIL.

So I had to resit them, so with £200 out of pocket I resat them a week ago and this time I may have passed them, but I won't know till the middle of July. A whole load of coursework assignments were required to be done. One had to be handed in a week late yesterday and I almost missed that week extension deadline. I know this may sound like a lame excuse, but I had exams to deal with. 

And even right now I'm in the middle of exams, just had one this morning. This entire week is an exam every morning at 9 o'clock. These however are not contributing for qualification as a Officer of the Watch as these exams lead to a Part 2 HND (Higher National Diploma) in Nautical Science and gives an exemption for doing the Chief Mates and Masters course I plan to take in a few years time. If I pass these exams it means I only have to come back to college for 1 term and not a whole year if I wanted to progress as a Chief Officer. This would make me more employable in this harsh economic times where jobs are harder to get, so this is important too.

But also really hot off the press because only just last night I received a message from the MCA saying that I am now eligible to sit the big one, the orals exam. This is it, it is going to happen. In sometime in August I will be booked in to take a one to one examination with an MCA examiner who will quiz me on everything I've learnt in the last 3 and a half years to determine whether I am competent and trusted enough to be put in charge of the worlds largest ships carrying millions of dollars worth of cargo, or thousands of passengers. So, it's not a light-hearted affair, they will fail people for anything that they deem is unsafe or if they think the person doesn't know enough. It's tough, but it's the main reason why a seafarer with a certificate from a country like the UK carries so much weight behind it, because if you have one, you know your stuff. 

So that's it for now, only a few more months to go, and maybe, just maybe I might have to change my Account name from Merchant Navy Cadet, to Merchant Navy Officer. Who knows? 


Oh also while I have your attention I found this not too long ago. While I was on Hyundai Splendor a camera crew was making a corporate video for the security company that was on board. Check it out... and yes before you ask I am in the video, for a moment at least.