15 April 2008, Grand Cayman.

When I went to bed last night, it did not look like it that the frontal system was going to veer or dissipate. It blew too consistently hard and steady for that. So I had myself called at 6 am. to see what would ensue with the two Carnival ships who were spearheading the cruise ship convoy. When arriving on the bridge the air was filled with voices of everybody and all, talking on different VHF channels as Georgetown was indeed closed. The swell was rolling into the tender harbor and port security remarked “I am getting wet feet”. Well you do not want to be in Georgetown if Port Security is getting wet feet as their booth is on the dock but about 6 feet above normal sea level. Also all the diving, snorkel and swimming tours were cancelled due to the wind, current, swell and murky waters. Thus we had a lot of disappointed guests on board to start with.

However Spotts Bay was open. The angle of the wind and the swell had turned just far enough to the North during the night that the land could provide a good lee at the pier there. The next thing was who would be going there. Due to the difficult situation at Spotts and the small pier, the area has been limited to three ships. Grand Cayman Port Operations picks the three ships and I really do not know how the pecking order works, but the Veendam was in. Carnival Legend and Norwegian Majesty were out and were forced to cancel Georgetown altogether. The captain of the Norwegian Majesty was particularly unhappy as it was the fifth time for him this season that he did not get chosen for Spotts Bay. However he still came to Spotts Bay, briefly, to pick up some crew.

Thus we changed course and sailed 6 miles more to the East to the Spotts Bay location. The Carnival Valor was already in position and the Grandeur of the Seas showed up 45 minutes after we arrived. Now Spotts has a number of issues.
1. We are not allowed to anchor there, as anchors damage the reef, so we have to maneuver all day.
2. The entrance to the bay where the pier is, is very narrow with very shallow reefs on either side and not much room to maneuver inside.
3. The pier can officially take four tenders but the Mega ships use very big tenders and thus the pier is on the small side. Which means a very slow tender operation with all the tenders having to take turns.
4. It is a long way from downtown and the guests have to get a cab or shuttle bus to get to downtown.
5. While waiting for the cab, or coming back, there is nothing there, just a patch of sand, surrounded by a (security) fence.

The word “challenge” comes to mind, when going there. It is by no means perfect but there is no other option and as the local pilot said conditions were good, there I went. I parked the Veendam next to the Valor and we drifted for the day. Constant adjustments were necessary to the engines and the thrusters to keep the ship in position; and to keep the wind just on the port bow to provide as much lee as possible. Tender service went slow as we had to take our turn with the tenders from the other ships and the tender drivers had to be very careful with maneuvering in and outside the reef.

All I had extra crew on the tenders, extra crew at the gangway and extra crew ashore. It remained very breezy during the day and that kept me fully occupied with keeping the ship at the right angle. Things became easier ashore, when the Carnival Valor left in the mid afternoon and we could use the whole side of the pier.

The Security Officer reported that most guests were just very happy that we had made it to Grand Cayman and they commented on how fast our return line to the ship worked, compared to the one of the Carnival and the Grandeur. The good part of course was that the sun shone all day long and that we did make Grand Cayman. The bad part was that most of the tours had to be cancelled and that the tender ride remained a challenge. I also had to disappoint the ships crew by cancelling crew leave. 200 or 300 crew going ashore would have put even more strain on an already difficult operation and guests come first at all times. My wife was particularly upset as being classed as crew, she was not allowed ashore either, while there was the “urgent need” to buy a special perfume in Georgetown.