Voyage - Why take the plane when you can travel by cargo?Grazia tried the experience and spent 19 days at sea.Narrative.
With its 200 meters long and its 30 meters wide, on paper it was a giant, but in the port of Le Havre just behind the Lapérouse, which is almost twice its size, Marseille has the appearance ofa small boat.And yet it is on this "rafiot" that I will cross the Atlantic.Maybe I should have taken more mercalm ...
First impression, the silence of the place.Relative, because even at the quay, one of the generators runs and the ventilation of the engine makes a hellish boucan.For the moment, there is no question of going for a bridge before the arrival of an officer who will guide us for our first steps on board.The castle, the “habitable” part of the cargo is made up of six floors which end with the steering gateway.There are kitchens and dining room, crews -there are 23 -passengers and several relaxation rooms reserved respectively for sailors, officers and passengers.The decor is unusual: a reproduction of an impressionist painter adorns each level and certain common rooms.
A comfortable 11 square meter cabin
From external bridges accessible at leisure to passengers connect all these spaces between them.But to get to the lower deck, two rules: put on yellow vest and site helmet and warn the gateway to our getaway.Security Question.The cabin is spacious, about 11 square meters.But on the largest container ships, they can be more than double.The great luxury.But with its double bed, its small sofa, your office and its bathroom, it is very comfortable.All furniture is screwed to the wall or the floor, in case of big weather.
Three "tourist" passengers on the cargo
After some 24 hours of an incessant ballet of the containers loaded in the holds and on the deck in a perfect alignment, it is the start.Direction Saint-Martin, Trinidad then Guyana and Brazil before leaving for Europe, a rotation of forty-two days in total.The bow of Marseille traces its furrow on the English Channel on a sea of oil and reaches the Atlantic the next day.Eight days of sea with the only horizon of the infinite extent of the ocean."You are lucky, announces the captain with the three passengers.No storm is announced.Only three meters hollows are to be feared.In winter they can reach seven meters.»The movements of the boat are well perceptible, but light.On the other hand, the vibrations of the engine and this ventilation of the blows which blows are more annoying.In any case, the fear of seasick is moving away.Two other passengers are traveling.We take our meals at the "Mess" (the room)) of the officers and we sometimes meet us on the exterior bridges.Already, the hypnotic sea absorbed me for hours.This trip is cut for solitary.During the day, the corridors of the boat are deserted and not a noise does not filter.Only the sound of Oleksandr's guitar, the second officer, pierces this silence from time to time.On board, discretion is in order and you have to know how to be small.Sailors are almost invisible.Once, their working day ended around 5 p.m. for those who are not a quarter to the bridge, they spin dinner or relax.In the kitchen, the chef and his assistant are very caring for passengers served as at the restaurant.
Meet the Ukrainian and Philippin crew
If the interior corridors are immaculate, the exterior bridges are salted by the soot that spits the engine chimney.Marseille is above all a workspace.Quickly the discussion undertakes.Even if they are used to it, difficult for these sailors to understand what idea struck these funny tourists who embark on cargos.If in the captain's family, Andrii Kuzmichov, we are a seafood sailor, the sea is not the first motivation of his teammates."It's money," said his right arm with a smile, Sergiy Kolomoytsev.In Ukraine, it is very difficult to find a job with a good salary.I didn't want to be a businessman or gangster, I chose sailor.In the navy too, globalization has played its role.On this ship, crews of two different nationalities share the work.The Ukrainians take care of navigation and the machine room while the Philippins are responsible for the maintenance of the ship.The language spoken on board, so it's English.
Total disconnection and small routine
Barely we left and the impression of being far away, already.We spend several time zones, for six days, the clocks of the boat are therefore delayed by one hour."It will not help us with the time that flows more slowly here," jokes one of the three tourist passengers, doctor.Time seems stretched.The days are organized around meals at 7:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 6.30 p.m., the only hourly travel constraint.The rest of the time, the doctor-passing has embarked on an intensive sports program (bodybuilding, bicycle and climb of the six-storey of the castle in no race)).A real battle against boredom.A man leaving for Guyana savor herself to no longer have to answer his emails or phone.And alternate reading and nap.It must be said that the roll and the vibrations of the engine are solid competitors to sleeping pills.Disconnection is total.What a pleasure to live without a watch.Every day, the captain still gives us a French newsletter compiled by the AFP.But this is our only link with the outside.The sailors pay an internet connection via satellite to stay in touch with their loved ones.But navigation on the web is too expensive and the crew remains cut off from the world.In the evening, it's DVD or karaoke evening in the Philippin clan.On the Ukrainian side, we play the PlayStation or we look at DVDs in the common room.The others isolate themselves in their cabin to send messages to their wives or to rest.The pace is wearing: sailors work seven days a week for four months for the Ukrainians, five more for the Philippins.A routine settles between the round trips on the external bridges and on the bridge, the reading hours and the attentive observation of the waves.Hyed by the wake left by the turbine or by the flight of seagulls or pelicans as the ribs approach and seduced by changing light, the appearances of a few dolphins and one or two whales, we discover the virtues of this tripslow.After several days on board, external bridges have no secrets for passengers.
Stops ... calculated to the tightest
After nine days on board, a small point of emotion points when the first piece of earth appears on the horizon.This is Saint-Martin our first stopover.The Atlantic is finished.it will have passed quickly.Not for the doctor-passage "who would not have spent a more day on board".Stops are calculated to the tightest, to reduce the time spent at the quay as much as possible.Less than 24 hours in general.In Saint-Martin, this time it will be a night for the chagrin of the crew who would have appreciated swimming in the turquoise waters of Philpsburg.Then barely 24 hours in Trinidad.And finally four days in Dégrad des Cannes, next to Cayenne.Entrance to the Guyanese port is the most tense moment in the journey.On the bridge, silence reigns in the dark night.A boat has just dropped off the port pilot on board and Marseille entered the Mahury River Chenal.Because of the low water depths, you have to arrive with the high tide.The channels are marked by flashing terminals and the progression is made at very low speed.The pilot gives his instructions to the sailor who executes.The captain and the second, who put on their uniform for the occasion, are screwed on their talkie-talkie.And on the lower deck, the men are ready to moor the boat.Once its flank has been installed, mooring maneuvers are millimeter.And again the operations at the quay will give the cargo a new face.
Cargo trip or the art of taming boredom
This whole free time can scare, it can be reassuring to take a cargo of books (the reader is a good option to have various works on hand)), music or films and prepare a list of stains for S 'occupy (artistic activities, meditation, muscle strengthening exercises, learning a new language, etc..)).A gym is also available to passengers.And on the bike with sea views, mounted and descents are linked according to the roll of the boat.Once you have taken its marks, you can also let the boredom stand because it is part of the trip.Having time is one of the travel goals and to achieve the distance that separates us from our destination, we must be bored a little.Disconnecting completely is also doing nothing at all, without feeling guilty.As for these purely contemplative moments to observe the trace of the turbines in the water, the movement of the waves and the blue of the sky, they are unique.The weather may slowly get lost, after more than three weeks on board, the buildings of Fortaleza, in Brazil, end up emerging in the distance on a sea with amazing shades of blue then green.Already ?!
Practical information
On the budget side, count around 100 euros per person per day by full board.For more information on cargo travel, contact The Traveller’s Club, 4 Quai d'Arenc, in Marseille.Such.04.88.66.65.02
