Are you ready?
"Yes, thank you for the COVID test."
Before getting off the ship
it's important that you get tested for COVID
because during these times, if you don't get tested
you simply cannot sign off.
You could've opened your mouth to breathe!?
"You okay?"
"How are you feeling?"
"Very uncomfortable!"
"But..."
This was our ship's second officer Harsh Solanki.
He also signed off with me
and this is our ride, "Oryx".
This is our new captain, Farrukh Mukaddam
he was previously the Chief Officer here with us.
I pestered him incessantly right before I signed off
because he made me sign off on an Oryx.
Subrat, please remind him every day.
"Yes!"
You signed off your reliever on an Oryx.
"An Oryx!"
Are both bags already there?
"Yes, already there."
Now, let me tell you what the deal is with an Oryx
and why we dislike it so much.
Firstly, it's a tug boat
hence, it isn't comfortable to sit in.
And secondly, the speed is so slow
that it takes 3-4 hours to 15-16 miles.
What are you all so happy about?!
And it looks like
Devraj, Sabrut, Farrukh
everyone's enjoying the fact that I'm
going in an Oryx.
(Sarcastic) Alright, I get it! No problem!
They're really enjoying this.
And finally, it's time to say goodbye to my ship.
ALLAH protect you.
Okay, boys! Thank you!
I really was happy this time around;
because on ship
I spent almost 8 months.
I say "almost" because
it was 3-4 days short of 8 months.
But no matter what anyone says, in the end,
having spent 8 months on a ship
that ship is like a second home to you.
You take care of the ship
not leaving anything out,
you're bound to fall in love with it.
At least that's the case with me
I don't know about the rest.
I saw some people who were very happy
to sign off from the ship, and-
please don't get me wrong,
I am, as well.
But, at the same time
it feels like leaving home.
Bye-bye!
This ship had been my home
for the last 8 months.
We had good times on this ship, bad times.
Had some vetting inspections done.
We had tough times;
there were some people stuck on the ship
while they had troubles back at home
and they couldn't go home because of COVID.
Including me.
I also had issues but I could not go home.
But still,
this was my home.
And in a way, it'll always remain like that.
Thank you, boys!
By the way, this is a "personnel basket"
which you climb on to get off a ship
because a ship, remember, is quite high.
All this talk made me forget to tell you something
I was basically signing off from Fujairah.
Fujairah is a port of the UAE,
i.e., United Arab Emirates.
And believe me when I say:
we were thrilled to find out
that Fujairah finally made it possible to sign off.
I spent 8 months on that ship!
"8?"
8 months, yes.
I'd never felt this much love for Fujairah
until that day.
This is probably the worst thing that could
happen to anyone who's signing off:
I had a feeling I'd get a Star, which is a speed boat
It's obviously very fast.
But an Oryx came to pick me up.
An Oryx is a slow-moving thing
and it's almost been half an hour already.
It's going to take another 2 hours to make it
Very slow.
A pleasant surprise for me after signing off.
This ship you see (which) is called "Felicity".
I've been on its sister ship around 2014.
The name of that ship was "Commander."
And "Confidence".
It was two ships, actually.
They were very nice at that time and
I have some really good memories of those ships.
Not sure what they're like, now.
As they always say:
"At last, the obstacle has been overcome"
And finally, we are able to see
the mountains of Fujairah.
All these mountains you see are a part of Fujairah.
All Fujairah mountains are dry.
And talking about not so long ago
my shore leave there was not all that fun.
It was very hot. Not very populated either.
But in recent years, things have changed quite a lot.
Fujairah is a lot more developed now.
It's developed into quite a big port.
There's more room for storage.
Ships to and from the Persian Gulf, or Arabian Gulf,
(whatever you'd like to call it)
like to stop here, replenish themselves,
bunker.
Ships from the Indian Ocean, even China,
stop here for bunkering.
A lot has changed.
Fujairah has really developed a lot.
I told you this would take another 3-3.5 hours.
It's been 3 hours
and we're slowly, gradually, nearing the port.
This foiled a lot of post-signing-off plans.
Because of this, I won't get a lot of time to
explore Fujairah, as well as some other things
I wanted to try.
Not possible.
The Fujairah Breakwater is finally in view now,
as you can see in this video.
And, finally, we're entering Fujairah port.
But since it took so long to get here
I can't even go out to shop,
I might not be able to meet my friends there, either,
who I wanted to meet so much.
And at the same time, I really have to hurry up
because there's a 2-hour drive from here to Dubai.
And that's exactly what happened;
a lot of running around,
went through immigration,
finished some documentation,
and quickly made my way towards Dubai.
Because there was still a long way to go
and not enough time.
Never in my 20-year career have I ever
seen Dubai Airport so empty.
All thanks to coronavirus.
It was an Emirates flight,
Boeing 737, the usual stuff.
Nothing exciting, it was all just normal.
Here's a funny story
as usual, I went to the Emirates counter
and I showed my passport there.
I showed them my ticket
and asked them to upgrade my ticket,
as soon as possible,
to business class.
And you know what?
It was shocking to me to know
they charged me $900 for a
business upgrade to Lahore.
900 dollars!
No airline has ever charged me this much
for an upgrade to business class,
that too on such a short flight.
Again, all thanks to corona.
And like the idiom goes, "Fools return home",
I went straight into economy class,
silently put my mask on, and sat down
to spend 2.5 hours.
The rest of the flight went well, Alhamdulillah.
It was all nice and fine, and I was really excited
to land at Allama Iqbal International.
After landing, the family was there
I just sat down in my car
and drove straight home.
It was my brother who came to pick me up.
And it felt really nice to meet my family
after such a long time.
Made it home, the kids were beyond excited
they had decorated the house completely.
And they put a big sign at the entrance that read
"Welcome Home, Dear Father."