As approved by the local authorities I aimed for the pilot station at 06.45, which was going to be the earliest time that there was enough water in the port to enter. The pilot came out early, stepped onboard before 06.30 and then started a serious of complicated calculations which resulted in the announcement that we could not approach the dock until 07.30. Not good news for a captain who likes to be on time; but not much that I could do about it as the port depths do vary from the chart. Thus I could not say whether my calculations which coincided with 06.45 were correct. So I made a 360o turn to kill some time and then slowly steamed into the port area. The main issue was that there would not be enough water near the dock where I was supposed to swing around in order to dock starboard side alongside. So I said: why not dock portside alongside and swing on departure. That really stirred things up as it turned out that they had prepared a shore gangway for the ship which could not be moved. Last call we had to use our own gangway, as the shore side contraption was not fit for the ship but now they had converted a very good dry dock gangway. They just had forgotten to tell me about it in advance.

zzz falmouth depths The depth in the approach channel is about 5.5 meters. The Prisnendam draws about 7.3 maximum should we have to wait until half tide before we can get over the shallow area’s.

So I had to park the ship were the gangway was, instead of parking the gangway where the ship was. That entailed swinging around and that meant waiting for enough water. After another calculation the pilot was happy with 07.15 and then I went for it. The turning basin has with half-high-water a diameter of about 300 meters and that is more than enough for the Prinsendam with a length of 204 meters. I stopped the ship in the centre and just pivoted around and then backed up to the pier. This is a nice strong dock, with good fenders and built for the navy shipyard in which territory we were docking. The only thing is; it is too short. The bow overhangs about 50 meters. The head lines are then hooked up to chains anchored in the ground ashore. Five chains were visible for a nice spread of lines, only to find out that we could only use two as the rest where not considered strong enough. So I dropped the anchor as an extra. Falmouth arrival, really made my day, and as a result we were docked 25 minutes late.

zzz falmouth chains The chains for the head lines of the ship. Hopefully they will be fixed.

However it was a bright and sunny day and the tours into Cornwall are great and that is the only thing that really counts. Later in the day I had a visit from the Member of Parliament for the area of Falmouth (The Honorable Sarah Newton; the equivalent of a congressman/woman in the USA) who wanted to discuss with a sea captain what was needed to improve Falmouth harbour for cruise ships. A very sound idea; as the shipping aspect is quite often forgotten when ports are discussed and people only look at how lovely the tours are. However getting the ship there might be a minor but never the less an important detail. They are planning to build a new dock in about two years from now and (hopefully) get funding to dredge the harbour. In the interim the MP wanted to know what was needed in the short term. Well the mooring chains were high on the Agenda. No safe docking due to wind and each cruise ship captain would cancel Falmouth and proceed to a more sheltered port in the area, of which there are several. So I pleaded to spend 50,000 pounds or so on either bollards or new mooring chains. An investment that would already be earned back with one cruise ship call. She was well impressed, really loved the Prinsendam and hopefully my concerns will be followed up upon.

The feedback from the guests was great and a good time was had by all. A really nice thing of Falmouth is that there is a group of local people who are on the dock side all day long, to meet and greet all the guests. A sort of very personal Office of Tourism. Much appreciated by the guests onboard and a very personal touch that I have not seen in any other port.

Departure was at 19.45 in the evening as it was the first moment that the water was high enough again for leaving the dock. The port of Falmouth is located at the entrance of the River Fal estuary and is quite scenic with houses dotted on the hills at either side. Once outside the next thing you see are several tankers at anchor. Both here and in Torquay, the bay is used either for transferring oil or just for waiting for the oil prices to go up before the load is discharged. One of the few jobs in the world, when money is made by doing nothing, I suppose.

Tonight we are sailing into the North Atlantic Ocean and turn around the South West tip of Wales into the Irish Sea. We are to arrive at Dublin Pilot station at 10.30 in the morning. We expecting again a sunny day and that means NO rain in Ireland this time.

zzz falmouth gangway The new Falmouth gangway was prepared for rain but the weather remained glorious. As the canopy also offered shelter against the sun when stepping out of the ship, it was still very usefull. We were docked in the naval repair yard where work on minesweepers and other vessels was going on