Veracruz to Jacksonville

M/V Noble Ace 15/08/20 Day 18 on board I think? The days seem to fly by yet joining the vessel already seem months ago. We are heading to Jacksonville and should arrive on Monday 17th. There will be a crew change of some engineers and deck workers. It seems everyone’s contracts have run out at the same time. By the time we leave for Africa in a few weeks' time it will nearly be a totally different crew. It has been the toughest week so far, a lot of heavy work needed done while we were still in port and since then we have removed numerous pipes to find them blocked end to end with different muck. Most days we remove them in the morning, clean them around lunch and replace them in the afternoon. My arms are covered in small burns and cuts from working around the steam pipes that run parallel to the cooling pipes we spent days working on. A much-needed day off tomorrow only to find I am replacing the engine trainee, who leaves in Jacksonville, as the “logbook person”. This means I will be up bright and early tomorrow to go down and fill out this logbook. It takes a little over an hour to fill out as of the past few days, but the crew tell me after a few weeks I will get it down to 20 minutes once I know what I am doing. I have also been taught how to start and control the incinerator by the 3rd engineer. He plans to teach me the boiler controls next week and then we will switch back and forth each week after that. Today the other 3rd engineer taught me how to carry out different tests for the boiler and main engine water, testing the alkalinity and what not that needs to be done once a week so they can be sent off to a separate company for further testing. Today was an easy day though, preparing to arrive in American ports means the boat gets cleaned deck to deck and fresh paint where its needed. We aren’t expecting an inspection at any time but this just seems to be protocol when you go into America. Life on the boat has continued to be normal, lost count of how many lightning storms we have sailed through at night. As soon as you hear there will be a storm you know you wont sleep much that night. Mix this with 3 days with little sleep in port and you get one very tired engine cadet. I am slogging through it though because the crew are trusting me more now and sending me off on my own to do jobs or giving me more important roles in jobs.