The AFM gets a Check Up!

Every two years the Africa Mercy needs to go to the doctor. Just like you and me, as the ships ages, it needs regular check ups. In order to have these check ups the ship needs to be lifted right out of the water to expose the hull. Unfortunately this cannot be done in West Africa and so we have to travel to a developed nation where they have special facilities for us to dry dock. Above is a birds eye view of the Africa mercy being pulled by tugs into it's dry dock berth.

The Africa Mercy high and dry.

Check out the huge propellers!

A close up of the tracks holding the Africa Mercy upright. they also allow the ship to be able to move forward, backward as well as left and right. After about a week and a half in dry dock the Africa Mercy had to move to one side to allow another ship into it's place.

One of the regular dry dock jobs is the cleaning of the barnacles off the hull.

On of the main reasons we went into dry dock this time around is to make essential repairs to the A/C units. To do this, a large hole had to be cut in the hull so the A/C units could be pulled in and out. We hope and pray that the holes were welded up very well-lol.

Andrew is so strong that he can hold up the ship by the propeller one handed!!! You can see how large the propellers are compared to the average male!

Just to get a better idea of the magnitude and importance of the dry dock phase, check out this clip!

What happens to the crew when he ship is in dry dock I hear you asking?? Well a large percentage take the opportunity to go on leave, many short term crew finish up their time and the remaining singles and couples stay living on board. However, maritime regulations state that children cannot live on board a ship when it is in dry dock due to the many occupational  hazards present.

The families who are left are board are required to stay in alternate accommodations. So we went off to a hotel which became our home for almost three weeks. The ship's dry dock berth was on another island of the Canary Islands called Gran Canaria. The Africa Mercy sailed from Tenerife straight into the berth, about a five hour sail. We took the Armas island commuter ferry (above) with all the ship's land rovers. The Armas ferry was just about the same size as the Africa Mercy but we made the sail in about three hours. The journey was a bit on the rocky side and I spent most of the time there and back feeling quite ill. Those on the Africa Mercy suffered more so with reports of hardened deckies throwing up.
 

The Africa Mercy land rovers all lined up ready to dive onto the Armas ferry.

Andy driving our landy on the ferry.

Relaxing on the ferry ride. Most of the mums who are ship's drivers drove one of the land rovers but they were short a few drivers so Andrew was able to take the day off work to help out. He looks very sad about it, don't you think??

Me as we sail out of Tenerife port right past the Africa Mercy which departed a day after us.



Goodbye AFM!

Jess.

What a fascinating island Gran Canaria was! From the lunar landscape to volcanic rocks and black sand beaches. We didn't get too much time to look around as Andrew had to make the two hour round trip to the ship and back to our hotel evey day along with the other technical family guys. They left around 5:45am and got back around 6:45pm. I am not a ship's driver so I had to rely on the generousity of others who were going out or wait until the weekends to do some exploring with Andrew. Above are cactuses that are a common sight around the Canary Islands due to it's temperate climate all year round.

On one of our drives we discovered this amazing, man made beach, Playa de los Amadores . Perfect white sand, aquamarine waters and lots of interesting people watching to be had here! This is where I spotted Academy award winning actor Forest Whitaker

Another unique feature of Gran Canaria was the tunnels. Why build a highway over a mountain or hill when you can just drill right through it??

More amazing landscape-the sand dunes. You could even go on a camel ride!

The families were divided up amongst several hotels. Much of the accomodation was donated to Mercy Ships. On a few occasions we met up with the other mums at a local park. The kids had a ball and it was great for us all to catch up. It was kind of wierd living apart from those you see every day of your life. We are really like a crazy kind of extended family!

Our home for three weeks. Jess slept about a metre from the foot of mine and Andrew's bed. It was very romantic!

Our hotel had a kids club as well as plenty of other acivities offered througout the day. Above Jessica and others dance at the mini disco which happened every night.

Last night of kids club. The ship kids grew pretty fond of the leaders and they grew pretty fond of our kids too! We had a wonderful time on Gran Canaria, definitely a once in a lifetime experience!

After much hard work by our technical department, Mercy teams and projects teams The Africa Mercy completed her big check up and passed her physical with the various surveyors with flying colours, ready to sail back to West Africa to do what she does best! A hospital ship filled with crew from all nations representing, through Jesus, the face of love in action.