We had everybody back on time and thus we could sail as scheduled from the pier. As we were departing in the middle of the afternoon we could see the port at its busiest. Containerships were coming in and going out, or shifting berth. The latter was done by a Hapag Lloyd container ship and meant that she was moving about 300 feet forward along the dock. For that reason a tugboat was used to pull the stern off the dock while the bow came off with the bow thruster, all lines were let go and so I thought that she was going to leave at the same time as we did. That might mean delay; not good for us. However the pilot confirmed that the ship was only shifting. I have done that in the past as well but we just pulled the ship along by moving the lines along the dock. That reduces cost as you only have to pay for linemen. Here in Cartagena they are afraid that you will damage their dock fenders and thus they require you to have a pilot on board and come completely off the dock. Without a stern thruster you then need a tugboat and that makes it a very expensive 300 feet. On the way out we saw even more discolored water from the rain fall of the night before and I really wonder if one day that whole bay is not going to silt up. There is some tide in the bay but the current that sustains it is not really strong enough to churn the mud away and carry it to open sea. So there is reason for concern. I will have to ask the pilot next time if they are dredging here on a regular basis, as I did not see any dredger in or around the whole bay area.

The night & day was spent sailing on a straight northerly course crossing the Caribbean Sea. That will bring us at 1800 hrs. to the Jamaican channel, the stretch of water between Jamaica to the left and the southwest point of Haiti to the right. Once through we enter the area that we call the Windward Passage with Cuba to the West and the North West point of Cuba to the right. Then by midnight we will turn into the Old Bahama Channel and follow the North coast of Cuba until we reach the Straits of Florida. In the mean time I am keeping an eye on the weather. It will remain nice while we are in the shelter of the Caribbean islands and the Bahamas but when we reach the Straits by late Thursday night, things might start to change. There is a Tropical Storm developing called Sean, located South of Bermuda and that will also affect the sea area around Florida. I am expecting a strong northerly breeze with wind of up to 25-30 knots during Thursday night and thus a windy arrival. I do not expect that this storm will change direction, so apart from a breezy day it should not affect us too much.

Most of my day was spent looking after “the cargo”. We had a Mariners luncheon for almost half the ship, the other half will be tomorrow. More than a 1000 out of the 1200 guests on board this time are a Mariner. This is a percentage that we normally only see on world cruises or on the Prinsendam. A good reason to be grateful and to sit down for lunch. In the afternoon I held my Holland America history lecture, which I can luckily do on these cruises due to the many sea days. Then the day was concluded with the captain’s photo shoot. This is a bit of the “the devil you do and the devil you don’t” as I think the American expression goes. If you do not offer the opportunity for a picture taken with the captain then you get complaints, if you do then you get a whole slew of guests coming by, saying “oh poor man, that the company makes you do this”. You can’t win either way. However there are always 10 to 15 people showing up and it helps to boost the photographers turn over. I do not mind doing it as it is a great way to meet the guests and have a bit of a longer chat, than just Hello in the corridor.

Tomorrow will be our 2nd sea day, sailing along the North Coast of Cuba through the Old Bahama Channel. We should see some cruise ships, those on the 10 day cycle and no doubt a whole number cargo ships as it is a busy shipping lane.