03 June 2012; Vancouver, Alaska.

Today is the day that is dictated by large currents. This afternoon the strongest current of the year will be running through Seymour Narrows. It is expected to reach a maximum velocity of 15.8 knots and that is a lot. There is a big difference between the momentum of somebody on a bike doing 20 land miles an hour and trying to stop him/her or going against the weight and force of millions of tons of water coming through at that speed.  I do not think anybody will be near the Narrows this afternoon when this current starts to run. It will not affect us as we are going through tonight. Still, with the full moon out there the regular tides are strong as well and this morning we sailed under the Lions Gate Bridge with 3.5 knots of Ebb current against us. This afternoon when we leave it will be 4 knots of flood against us. These velocities we can deal with but they have to be handled with caution to ensure the ship goes through on the perfect course.  If you err a little off the perfect track, the ship will be caught in a back eddy or get the current under the stern under the wrong angle and the ship will veer off the intended track very quickly. The pilots are very alert to that and we are standing right on top of them to ensure that they do the right thing.

Of course they did the right thing and we arrived nicely on time at Canada Place. Today we settled down into the regular routine Alaska routine by having two gangways out. We have the option here to send Americans home without much of an immigration and customs issue. The ship is coming from the USA/Ketchikan and for the ease of procedure we turn part of the Canadian Pier into “American soil” for disembarkation purposes.  Disembarking guests who go to Seattle, either to the airport or home by other means from there, walk through a screened off area directly to the buses that take them across the border.  The buses do not stop anywhere and thus effectively the guests on board are considered not to have been in Canada at all. To make it all possible we hook in a 2^nd gangway, so that the separation flow starts on the ship.

As we send all the manifests ahead of time, disembarkation is really easy here and starts almost at once when the ship is docked. Canadian customs and immigration have scrutinized the manifests already before arrival and thus know what to look for, if anything. Dis-embarkation then only has to hold pace with the speed that the luggage comes ashore. With that pace the ship empties out quite quickly and that again makes for a busy terminal as on the other side of Canada Place the same process is going on. Here the Celebrity Century disembarks about the same number of guests as we have. In the terminal the first guests are already arriving as embarkation on the Statendam starts again at 11.30 am.

Less in the public eye is the crew change that is going on as well. On average each Vancouver call there are about 50 crew coming and going and no doubt it is the same for the other ships as well. They all have to be taken to and from the airport and for that small shuttle buses are used, which add to the flurry of traffic inside the terminal. In conjunction with the authorities, new boarding crew comes on board as soon as the ship is cleared so they are out of the way before passenger disembarkation starts. Crew that leaves the ship is normally cleared after all the guests are gone.

My thoughts today were more with the puzzle of our coming nightly passage through the Seymour Narrows and Johnstone Strait. We will have the tide against us all the way as soon as we clear Seymour Narrows and while trying to run the most economic speed all the way to Ketchikan, I also have to set a time for the pilots to go off at Pine Island tomorrow morning.

Vancouver turned into quite a nice day and by the time we left the sun came out and we had a great sail away. Tomorrow the weather is supposed to turn rainy but that might mean that it will be drier up north and that is where we are going.

Lions Gate Bridge spanning “2nd Narrows”. Canada Place cruise terminal in the background. A stock photo showing  a beautiful windstill evening. But tides can run strong here and be very treacheous to those who are not aware and do not prepare.