Liberia, Cocaine, Piracy

[ edit Feb 5th - below is the Blue Atlantic captured with 2.5 tons of cocaine on board in barrells.  It sits right across from us at our port (already emptied of its cargo and crew but now with guards on board, the cocaine was removed and disposed of already)...you see it here in this picture where our arrival  ceremony set-up is in progress with the white chairs] 



We are currently sailing far off the coast of Sierra Leone due for arrival in Monrovia Liberia Monday or was it Tuesday?  Just in case we failed to mention that...

Things are still exciting in and off the coast of Monrovia Liberia such as the following news report:  Liberia in record cocaine seizure
"Barrels containing about 2.5 tonnes of cocaine have been seized from a ship off the coast of Liberia." ~ BBC NEWS

In other news, we had a combination *drill of fire, lifeboat, and pirate.  Yes, Pirate!  Piracy is still very real and present and it's not the funny 'laugh-out-loud' adventure from Disney.  Here is a current link:  Rise of modern-day pirates 
"Mr Singer, of Securewest International, says it is now commonplace for ships to take on security staff if their course crosses pirate territory - his own company provides teams of ex-servicemen, including former Gurkhas." ~ BBC NEWS

Guess who already has Gurkhas onboard (for years now)?   You only get one guess.

Yes, things are pretty exciting around here...

*  During our drills we had a real-life man overboard (MOB) procedure and had to turn the ship around to check and see, everybody was mustered and accounted for BUT ANYTIME someone reports something of that nature and are not sure exactly what they see we treat it as very serious.

The above pic is the actual cocaine boat that Tyrone was talking about, it is parked next to our ship on the opposite side of the dock.

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