Sitting on the dock of the bay...

That pretty much says it all.  I arrived down in San Francisco about 2 weeks ago to start my hitch onboard the Sause tug "Cochise".

 She's a good looking boat, built in 2007 and very comfortable with regards to the interior.

The boat was actually up in Martinez that day, so I shuttled it up there and checked onboard. We finished up in Martinez, then headed down to Richmond to fill up for a trip to Eureka.  Our job down here is to move fuel and oil via large tank barge to various facilities in the Bay Area and occasionally up to Eureka.  It's not a hard job, but sometimes we stay on the move for a few days straight between docks down here.  

Last week, we did a Eureka run and then came back down to pier 50 (next to AT&T park) in San Francisco where we have been tied up ever since.  Our next run isn't scheduled until this coming Sunday, so we've just been doing maintenance and cleaning aboard the boat and enjoying some free afternoon/evenings to get out into the city.

I've been lucky enough to meet my family for lunch, go for a bike ride (we have a bike that stays onboard the barge), catch a movie and see some sights here and there.  It's pretty boring being tied up to the pier for so long, but sure beats getting tossed around in Alaska somewhere in between heinous cargo stops.

The boat is nice, the crew is good, the food is great and the weather has been amazing to say the least.  The view from my stateroom looks out at the San Francisco skyline and the Bay bridge.  Pretty hard to beat a view like that!

I've taken a few coffee breaks out on deck and just enjoyed the view while we have it.

We will be heading over the Richmond in a few days and then make another run up to Eureka.  From there, I'm sure we will be back down here bouncing around the bay from dock to dock. 

 

We did nearly a full crew swap today, so I've got some new names to remember. Everyone seems cool so far!  Anyhow, thats all I've got for now.  2 weeks down and about 3 to go!  

Back to my duties...

Change Course: new job!

I haven't written anything for a while, so I thought I'd take a minute to update anyone who might wander across my blog now and then.

The past few months have been pretty quiet. I finished up a couple hitches on a dredge job down in San Francisco and then went home for Christmas, New Years and all of January. 

I received an officially layoff in the beginning of January, which was to be expected.  I was hoping to avoid the "job hunt dance" with unemployment, but ended up having to put out some resumes and applications here and there in order to receive benefits.

In the process, I did a little networking and talking with friends in the industry and with some solid referrals, landed a job with a new company.

So, I'm currently on a plane, enroute to Coos Bay Oregon for a new-hire orientation at Sause Brothers Towing.  They do mostly cargo and petroleum barge towing up and down the West Coast and Hawaii. 

I have heard really good things about the company and am looking forward to learning more over the next few days.  The dispatcher told me to bring my gear and be ready to ship out after orientation. The typical schedule with them is 6weeks on/off steady rotation from what I've heard.  I don't yet know where, when, or how long I'm heading out on this first hitch... So let the adventure begin.  

I'll make more entries after I learn more and get my first assignment.