02 April 2012; OranjeStad, Aruba.

It was very windy upon arrival OranjeStad. Luckily the wind direction was in line with the approach to the harbor entrance and meant that the drift was controllable. Because the harbor entrance is nearly perpendicular to the direction of the current you are always set one way or the other. If the current is the dominating force you are set to the West, if the wind is stronger you are set to the south. One to 2 knots of sideways set is not unusual. Today is was only 0.7 knots and with steering a course of 105o against the entrance course of 110o I was able to sail in exactly on the dotted line. The pilot had more problems with the weather than I had this time. Even with the best lee possible, there was enough swell along the ship to making boarding an acrobatic adventure. By the time he made it to the bridge I was already entering the harbor. Not my fault for not waiting but the pilot station is so close to the entrance that by the time that you are there, you cannot stop or abort anymore. 

Abort is a standard phrase that we have in our voyage planning. We mark it in the chart to indicate that that is the position of no return. No more course changes are possible without running into something and stopping by means of a crash stop would be doubtful as well. Once passed that point you are fully committed to your planned maneuver. There are some ports such as OranjeStad were it creates the peculiar situation that the pilot station is passed the abort point. Maybe not always on paper but if the pilot boat cannot come out further due to weather then the situation does occur. My philosophy has always been that if I cannot do it without a pilot, then I better have a long and deep thought whether I want to go there in the first place. So a good planning is of the essence. There is one advantage with the port of OranjeStad, the Paardenbaai (Bay of Horses) as it is called. If you cannot get to the dock, you can always just sail out again through the exit. That is plan B so to speak; and a plan B makes every captain happy. Today we did not need plan B and by 0945 we were happily docked. The Zuiderdam showed up at 1 pm and thus it was a Holland America Line day in port today. 

We left by 1800 hrs. to start our crossing of the SW part of the Caribbean Sea and now we had the wind behind us, which helped with the speed and created a much more pleasant atmosphere on board. That gave us the option to throw a crew party. The crew has had a very hard time of extra duties behind them, on top of their regular work, and thus a good reason for some R&R. We had several audits; USPH, ISM, HESS, we had extra cleaning duties to battle due to the Noro Virus, plus this is a 14 day cruise with many sea days and that asks for a 120% effort from the crew all the time.

Barbeque on Deck with the cooks eating their own food……. so it can’t be bad.

Thus for one night I blocked off the Navigation Deck aft and the Tennis court. Two areas that are never in use by the guests in the evenings anyway. The hotel manager and his culinary team created a barbeque and we built a disco on the tennis court. The latter has the advantage that there are no cabins below it and thus the crew can make as much noise as they want. Sort of management induced stress relief. For most of the regular crew, a cook-out on a passenger deck is a great experience.

Navigation Deck aft. Open Pool area. For one evening transformed into a large crew mess. Folding tables setup by housekeeping and to the left, just out of view a Bar for softdrinks, light beers and wine. When all was over, volunteers cleared away and the next morning, the bo’sun and sailors scrubbed the decks, before the guests would awake. 

Normally the passenger area’s are off limit to them and their normal food staple is rice based. So to enjoy a dinner on a passenger deck and to have a full steak cook out is something to very much enjoy.

The disco being built up. We have an inflatable movie screen that we also use for Crew movies under the Stars.

That was followed by a disco under the stars with all drinks paid for by the captain (I have a magic number for that…..), is not something to say no to either. All in all it was a great evening and my thanks and compliments to all who organized it and also to the volunteers who manned the food stations and the complimentary bars.

Tomorrow we will be at sea, sailing on a southwesterly course over the Columbian Basin. Then I will also hear what our schedule will be for the Panama Canal. And while the crew was happy with their steak dinner, I am happy with the weather forecast, as the weather looks really good for the coming days.