I knew all year that it was my turn to do the Christmas / New Year swing on the vessel. There were a few hopeful windows that glimmered throughout the second half of the year that would have kept me at home. A vessel transit, bad weather and some time spent in the St. Johns office all dangled the carrot in front of me but my boss offshore had the final say in putting me on a flight to Norway the week before Christmas. Unbeknownst to me, the girl had arranged my present before I left in the form of a vicious stomach bug that had me stuck on the floor of the hotel for a couple of days. Thankfully it occurred the day after my travel and the boat was delayed sufficiently to allow the worst to pass.
I eventually made it on board and the whole crew dug in to wait on the weather. If we had of been offshore working like expected, the Christmas may have passed a bit quicker but being stuck in port with nothing to do really bites the big one.
Eventually that Christmas night I dragged a few of the crew downtown for some well deserved pints - and when I say downtown I mean a small quaint watering hole that services the likes of a Norwegian country town. Never the less we had our share and headed back to the boat.
The weather was howling (wind up to 100 knots) by the time we arrived back and we ascended the gangway. A few minutes after we had arrived the boat got blown off the quayside and the gangway ended up hanging into the water. This created a problem for the remaining guys who hadn't been on the ride home in the first bus, who now had to go find a hotel to stay the night.
By the next morning we had secured the gangway and were keeping station by running 4 of our thrusters. The guys rejoined the vessel and were looking much worse then we had anticipated. Unfortunately for me I had gotten in the first bus and missed the unplanned activities...
