Chile/Strait of Magellan Round 2

On the morning of the 18th the Apollonia arrived in Quintero for discharging. We received pilots, moored, started the cargo operation, and then took some provisions from a small boat alongside. Once everything was running smoothly, we went ashore to visit the area with some of the ship's crew.

Tug boats doing their thing. The ship did a 180 spin and then backed into the mooring space on the jetty. There also were several tankers at anchor in the harbor.

The loading arms ready to go on the jetty as we slide into our mooring space. In the background is the city of Quintero and the harbor.

The water curtain used to protect the hull in the event of a spill during cargo operations.
The -160° C LNG could cause severe damage if it contacted areas not designed for it, so the water serves to wash the LNG away and accelerate vaporization. The liquid is closer to absolute zero (-273 C) than it is to the freezing point of water. There are many challenges associated with carrying a cargo at this temperature, one being that it can literally crack the hull open if containment is lost. Safety measures are strictly followed and thankfully there has never been a major accident with LNG in the 50 years it has been transported by ship.

Staring down the barrel of  a liquid line...
The ship's 162,000 cubic meter cargo capacity is emptied and filled through four of these 16" flanged connections, usually in about 15 hours. To put it in perspective, this quantity could fill a container the size of a football field 120 ft deep with LNG. Specific procedures are followed for cooling down the lines with small amounts of LNG before operations in order not to induce thermal shock and damage.

We had a great time ashore and visited the nearby coastal cities of Viña del Mar and Valparaiso. A delicious dinner ashore with some crew mates was a welcome change from ship food.

Near the exit of the terminal... our ship is on the left at the end of the jetty.

The long beaches are a popular place for the locals and visitors alike

#art

A sundial-like figure on the boardwalk in Viña del Mar... ironic for a place that is frequently overcast. The Andes mountains that run the length of the country often cause the clouds to stack up along the coast.

The next morning, after unloading was finished, the ship departed Quintero and headed south along the same route we took previously. The weather was clearer this time, giving us beautiful views of the coastline and the Strait of Magellan.

Out of our cabin window...

Thankfully we didn't up like these guys...

Now we are crossing the Atlantic again as we head to our next destination, Equatorial Guinea!

We hold drills while underway every Saturday for various emergency situations the ship could encounter. Here we practiced lowering one of the lifeboats for an abandon ship drill (it wasn't actually put in the water).