Indonesia Independence Day

To commemorate the Indonesian Independence day on August 17^th, the Volendam Indonesian crew members had some cheerful activities such as the Flag Raising Ceremony, Sports competition, Karaoke Contest, Gala Dinner and also Crew Party.

Flag Raising Ceremony

Thanks to the Volendam Management, Captain Pieter Bos, Chief officer Gerard Teensma, Hotel Manager Wilhelm Van de Poll and all other Ship Staffs that giving us Indonesian crew members, the time to have the flag raising ceremony.

This sacred moment was held in the marshalling area that attended by most of the Indonesian crew members and also some invitees.

New Zealand Journey, February – April 2009

It’s been proven that New Zealand is a clean country, green and naturally breeze. From my friends’ story, even the video that they took until I stepped on my foot on this tropical land, it’s still exciting place, unspoiled nature….amazing!

Picton

A quite town that nestle in the beautiful Queen Charlotte Sound near the north-east corner of the South Island, named 1859 to honor Sir Thomas Picton a commander under the Duke of Wellington. It has a lot of cafes, restaurants, art galleries, museum along its waterfront. Across the footbridge in the marina is the restored ship Edwin Fox, a 19th-century fascinating wooden vessel.

Australia Journeys, February – March 2009

Joined in Melbourne January 31st after a nice long vacation (married and honeymoon), 5 months, and overnight in Ibis hotel, was a nice story to begin.

Arrived around 8 am after long flight from Jakarta – Kuala Lumpur – Hongkong – Melbourne, with 35 friends along, it’s not that tiring though compare to the last contracts that took days flew from Jakarta to Europe or US.

Volendam, one of the R classes of Holland America Line’s ships is such a beautiful ship.The Ship has enormous architectures ornament in the railing and ceilings, outstanding paintings, even beautiful and antique furniture all around the ship. Its length and width makes it easy to maneuver in a small ports that suitable for her itinerary, Australia – Asia – Alaska in this year 2009.

Indonesian Presidential Election

In this special occasion that held every 5 years - Presidential Election, we the Indonesian crew members in Ms. Volendam also has to use our vote. The Ballots, the voters list, pens, the guideline to vote, and the voters forms had delivered by Consulate General of Indonesian in Vancouver BC on July 1st and kept by the Human Resources Officer. The casting of the ballots was on the ship's discretion but had to be returned to the Consulate General on July 8th when Volendam docked again in Vancouver.

Grand South America & Antarctica - 2

Grytviken South Georgia

Grytviken the whaling station was set up in 1904 and in operation until 1964. Its part of Cumberland Bay in the West Arm, along the northern coast of South Georgia, was rediscovered and named by British Expedition led by Captain James Cook in 1775. But it’s first sighted by a London merchant in 1675 and was named it Pepys Island in 1684.

Grand South America & Antarctica

Prinsendam on January 3rd – March 10th 2008 was sailing to South America and also Antarctica. In total 68 days with 32 ports and 36 sea days, was really unforgettable experience. Some ports due to lack of time and other reason, I could not go out to explore in the short time I got as crew member. But luckily I have some to share, so here they are:



Fuerte Amador – Panama

It’s the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal jutting out from Balboa. Nice place with sparkly restaurant, souvenir shops. Yachts are shown to have special spot in this port.

places I've been visited - part 2

Some other pictures you can see at my photobucket or my flickr for the Carribean and Alaska experiences.

With God's will, soon...Europe is coming to explore :)

Key West
This is one of my favorite places to see whenever the ship sails in Caribbean. The central shops in the downtown, its unique souvenir spots, the museum, the culinary…never getting bored of them. May be, because of the downtown is not so far from the harbor, the friendly tram’s drivers who pampers us to explore the downtown, some cheap souvenirs differ from other places and a lot more things. The nice harbor angle to shoot, especially when the sunset happened, kept me to stay.

places I've been visited - part 1

I would like to share pictures about some places that I have been visited in my last two years working overseas, seeing the Caribbean and Alaska. The lack of time mostly – as an employee – bound me not to explore or even went to see the place when the ship docked or anchored, some other reason I did not bring my DSC-H1 Sony semi pro camera to shoot but thanks to my friend for the help with his camera. I hope that these amateur pictures with short explanation base on my own experience at least, can depict the places well. To see more amateur photos or activities, please visit my flickr or slide.

Costa Maya – Mexico