My other vlogs might seem all rainbows and sunshine

They are intended for your entertainment purposes but in this one I want to talk about the reality

and the difficulties of working at sea I want to advise people who are interested

in maritime that it's not all that easy … by giving my personal experience

It's not to discourage anyone from the maritime industry

in fact, I feel it's the best possible career opportunity one can get

especially after you get a captain license you have so much options at sea or on land

So let's dive into it Number 1 Lack of Medical Care

This one haunts me the most because I've had a traumatic experience with it

Even though it is mandatory for ships to carry powerful drugs that are found in hospitals

Sailors we aren't trained to do anything more than first aid

Let me describe an incident that happened during my time as a cadet on my 2nd ship

A crew member he got very very sick when the ship was halfway between Christmas Island

and Western Australian Something to do with his pancreas or liver

we weren't sure because we couldn't diagnose what it was

He had to suffer 48 hours of excruciating pain before we could get our ship to a location

where the helicopters could pick him up And during that time we administrated heavy

doses of morphine to him Even with the morphine it was still unbearable,

he was PASSING out from time to time from the pain

And His whole torso was swelling Honestly we weren't sure if he'd survive

It was a scary moment We were lucky it was near Australia, if it

was in the middle of pacific it would have taken maybe 5 or 6 days to get help

By that time, I don't think he'd survive So my point is, on land you can get medical

help fast but at sea on the ship sometimes you won't get help until 5 or 6 days

So in this industry so you really have to take care of yourself while working

Number 2.

Lack of diverse food The food on ship is prepared by the Cook which

we have no choice over It gets boring when you work with same cook

for 9 months After months at sea everyone starts to crave

for food from land especially Fast food or junk food

Remember the scene from Iron man where first thing he come back from captive was ordering

a burger

Once you are on the ship the desire for different

food is unreal The crew jump on food like zombies once someone

bring back something from ashore

Depending on your luck, most cooks at sea aren't the best cook either, so don't

get too high of an expectation

Number 3 Politics & conflicts When you have 20 people living in one confined

ship, it's impossible to stay away from professional or personal conflicts on board

It makes it difficult to work and socialize Not to mention It's a very thin line between

professional and personal life on the ship since your co-workers literally lives in the

next cabin On top of that…

Cultural awareness and equality is actually very behind compared to land base organizations

Sailors we aren't educated or trained in organizational behaviors

The leaders, Officers Captains, Chiefs, they are promoted based on skills not leadership

And to complicate things even more You have got people from different countries,

different education, different personality, age, sex and religion all living together

in the same ship With so much diversity, conflicts are bound

to happen Ultimately to do well at sea, you'd have

to be aware of cultural differences maintain an open mind

and be able to take shit from your leaders

Number 4.

Unsettled Lifestyle & Short Shore leave Having a traveling or “nomadic” kind of

lifestyle there's a certain romance about it, you

know… explore the world while getting paid meeting different people and sightseeing

commanding large ships across the oceans The thing about traveling to places though

is that compare to the past we have much faster turnaround time

And that means less time go ashore And between work and rest

sometimes you just can't afford the time or too tiring to go out

A side note…

VLCCs and large capacity ships don't even come to the port for discharging or loading

they do all that at a remote facility so you can' go anywhere

Jumping back a bit After years at sea, you'll miss the stationary

lifestyle A town or city in which you can “ground

yourself” For example, myself.

I can't even get a gym membership at where I live because is a 6-month contract

It's not worth it when I am only 2 or 3 months at home on my holiday

You start to wonder …When you spend more time on ship than at home, is home really

what you call home?

Number 5.

Lack of Social Life We all grew up in a social environment, it's

how humans were meant to live So when staying months on ship with restricted

social life negative effects such as depression, loneliness,

and homesickness start kicking in As time passes a sense of emptiness starts

creeping in, eventually you feel miserable You see the same people at work or off-work

every day you might or might not like them but you have

no choice you are stuck on a ship Depending on your personality and attitude

Some might not be able to stand it For Myself, I took advantage of this solitude

and focus more on building myself, on my work, video editing and exercise

So a lack of social life is not necessarily a bad thing

Number 6.

Away from the Family and everything Although most can digest the fact of away

from friends parting away from family for months is what

tears their hearts apart marriage or parenthood, missing those precious

moments with their loved ones for whom they care the most

is what pain sailors to the core On top of that, not being there for personal

and family problems put a person in a constant state of worry

which increases stress and affects the work You are physically on the ship but mentally

you are back at home And that could endanger yourself or others

at work A co-worker of mine his father passed away

when the ship was in the middle of Pacific Ocean

he didn't' know about it until we reached America

and the funeral was planned at a time when he couldn't sign off

Greeting him every day in the hallway, he had to put up an uneasy smile

but you could sense the despair depression and sadness within him, consuming him

And that affects the whole ship, as a co-worker as a friend you get affected too

So that's always a burden sailors will have to endure

Number 7.

Pay and Benefits There are crew members onboard my ship right

now that are stuck working at sea for years because they can't find a better job

There's multiple reason for that, other jobs don't pay as well, they have mortgage,

loans, their kids, their education expenses etc.

Back when my father sailed 30 years ago he was making almost same amount in the early

80s compare to now But think about the inflation for a second

Merchant Mariners used to sail for 10-20 years and retire easily with nice house & money

in the bank It was a fair trade of time and lifestyle

Now days.

Prices have been inflated so much You can no longer retire after 20 years

so it's extremely hard to JUSTIFY or RATIONALIZE the time spent at sea into your 60

My advice is to plan ahead and ask yourself Where you want to be 10, 20 or 40 years later

Number 8.

Reducing crew members or reduce manning 20 years ago, a 200-meter will have 40-50

people working onboard And Nowadays a 400m ship only have 20 people

With the economy slowing down Companies they want to cut cost, cut manning

while demanding us to be just as efficient Needless to say ships are getting bigger

There's more work more responsibility more overtime for each crew

No one cares about us, they only care about the oil being delivered on time

The iPhone or shipments arriving before the holiday sales so that they can make money

It's not improving anytime soon

Number 9.

Hectic Life & Work Every year new regulations come into

sailors we have to fetch out money for endorsement on new certificates, new license

more paperwork, more checklist, new codes, new safety procedures, new environmental laws

Combine with reduce manning, it is quite overloading And it's becoming more hectic every year

We are paying to get certified for what we've been doing for hundreds of years

It almost like the government or marine schools are milking us for money

There's no end to that

Last one is Limited entertainment, especially Internet

You have to ask yourself, can you live without internet for a month?

Some of my classmates they quit after their first ship because they just can't take

the boredom Some people are so accustomed to internet

they cannot live without it and you have to figure if that's the case

for you Ultimately it's how you personally embrace

it you could turn the situation on its head and

use it as an opportunity to build yourself to accomplish things

So these are the 10 reasons why maritime sucks Some might not be negative at all it depends

on you, how you approach it and external factors such as your company,

your ship, the country you're from, inflation etc

I've only given you a heads up and ultimately you'll have to discover if maritime is suitable

for you Ending the vlog here, if you got any questions

leave it down in the comments below and for sailors who have internet access right

now please try and help out to answer some of the questions

With YouTube as a platform, I hope to build an audience base that connect sailors around

the world online for sharing information and discussion

So thank you for your support and see you next time 