11 April 2008, Cozumel.

I check about twice a day the weather forecast. Both on the NOAA National Weather Service and on the local, national, forecasts of the country that we are visiting. Normally that gives a good indication of what to expect. This time all the forecasts were wrong, very wrong. All were predicting South Easterly Winds to 10 to 15 knots and that would have meant a smooth and pleasant ride to Cozumel with the relative wind providing a gentle breeze over the decks. Wrong predictions occasionally happen when something develops locally and the weather models of the meteorologists do not simulate it.

When sailing out of Santo Tomas, the wind started slowly to increase and by the time we were exiting the bay, we had 40 knots of headwind with gusts up to 50 knots. The wind whipped the sea up and that resulted in a very bumpy ride during the night. So much strong wind and so many high waves slow the ship down and I started to fear for a late arrival in Cozumel. However as the wind settled in the early evening to a steady South Easterly direction, which was ¾ on the stern, it started to help push the ship. Also it enhanced the Gulf Stream current that finds it origins near Belize. It is normally not very strong there but the wind helped the momentum and by early morning we here doing close to 23 knots. That extra speed cancelled out the time we lost in the first few hours, when we were coming out of the bay.

With the stabilizers in operation we could reduce the motion of the ship to an acceptable level but the Veendam was still moving a bit around so we wobbled all the way to Cozumel but we made it on time. Charging full speed into Cozumel channel; the stretch of water between the Mexican mainland and Cozumel Island. The wind was still blowing about 25 knots and thus docking was also a breezy affair. We were scheduled to dock at the International pier which is about 15 minutes away from down town. At the other side was the Mariner of the Seas docked, which with its 140.000 tons towered over us. Our bridge wing is about four decks below theirs. The Veendam docked inside the pier which is a bit tricky as I have to find a balance between the wind pushing on the portside of the ship and the current pushing on the starboard side of the ship. Then there was the fact that as soon as the current fell away, blocked by the Mariner of the Seas, the wind set me towards the dock with a considerable speed. The best thing to do was to stay as far from the dock as possible so that you can let the ship drift slowly towards the pier, breaking the sideways movement by the thrusters. However that is an issue with docking inside, as the 10 meter depth line runs fairly close to the pier. With other words there is not much room to play with.

So while the pilot kept an eye on the depth of the water, I brought the ship around from a North Westerly heading, as we were coming from the South, to a Southerly heading, moving into the basin along the dock. By nudging the Veendam along at a very slow speed, it was possible to maintain a nice balance between all these forces playing on the ship.

The last few feet are always very interesting as well, as then Mexican confusion erupts about the location of the gangway. It is not unusual to receive instructions from the dock advising the bow of the ship to go 3 feet forward and the stern to go four feet aft. As we all know, the ship is made of steel and not of elastic, and thus an impossible order to fulfill. However after some shouting between chief officer, pilot, security officer at the gangway and the docking master a consensus was found. If it had not, then it was even simpler, I just park the ship where I want it to go and the rest can take a hike. However today a quick consensus was reached by all the members of this docking committee and right on time the gangway was out and the guests were streaming ashore.

The Weather we experienced finally showed up on the weather charts about 12 hours later. At least now I had proof that it had really happened.