05 February 2010, At Sea, heading West.

With high hopes in my heart I woke up this morning to see what the weather looked like outside. It was very good. Exactly conforming to the weather forecast. The sun was shining, hardly any wind and only the long running swell was still very evident. There is normally an ocean swell running here but with the constant series of depressions moving by just to the south, the swell can be very pronounced here and it was. So we moved up and down on the swell and occasionally slammed on the waves when two waves merged and created one big wave. Still the sun was shining and the whales were playing around the ship and the pitching of the ship was a minor hindrance in relation to all the good weather. I hope the weather will hold for tomorrow as well when we are in Isla Robinson Crusoe.

Thus far we have only seen fin whales and they act differently than Humpback whales that we see continuously in Alaska. Humpbacks stay quite often at the surface for a longer period after they surface for breathing. Fin whales tend to spend shorter periods on the surface and hence it is really difficult to make announcements of “thar she blows”; because when the guests start looking, the whale is already gone. If that happens a few times you get more bad comments than good ones, so it is a bit of an issue for us. Thus we have to be really certain about a whale before we call people out of the bingo or wake them up from their deck chair. I am hoping for the humpbacks which in my opinion are the show –offs among the whales or the blue whale, as they tend to leisurely swim along at a steady pace in a fixed direction and on the surface for a long time. The latter are so big that you can see them from a good distance while safely staying out of their way at all times.

Yesterday we boarded two Chilean Pilots who will guide us through the Chilean Inside passage from Puerto Montt to Cape Horn (weather permitting for the last one) and we spent the morning going over the charts to decide the best route, with several variations depending on the weather. I introduced the bridge team, as the pilots will run watches and will work together with the navigators to ensure a safe passage. The chief officer or I will only be on the bridge during the more narrow passages. It is basically the same system as we have in Alaska, where we also have two pilots alternating throughout the cruise. Only here we are more relying on the pilots as we visit these areas less often than we do Alaska but also there is the language challenge with shore side as few of us speak Spanish and none of us Chilean Spanish. My dock worker Spanish is certainly not fit for official communications. So we embarked Captain Fernando and Captain Morales who are very nice gentlemen and their focus is really to support us with our cruise as much as they can, while at the same time doing their job as required. I really appreciate that, as a good atmosphere on the bridge creates a safe atmosphere.

So while this was going on, we trundled along with a speed of 10 knots that will bring me to the Cumberland Bay anchorage at 06.30 tomorrow morning. Our official arrival is at 08.00 hrs. but I going to be early to see if the anchorage I have picked by studying the chart is going to work. The two pilots have been there in the past (especially in their navy days) although the island is not part of their jurisdiction. They agree with my plan which helps of course. The problem is, is that the best anchorage has been occupied by the light German cruiser Dresden (since 1915…….) so I have to stay away from that spot.

Weather should be good as there was no change in the weather charts at 1800. hrs. today. Maybe just a little wind shift to the NE. instead of the SW. We will see. This a new port for me as Holland America has not been calling here for very long.