Although this island is much closer to Nicaragua than to Colombia, it is part of the latter and as such we sailed from Santa Marta to Isla de Providencia while staying inside the same country, at least on paper. The weather forecast for yesterday had been extremely good with hardly any wind but by the time we arrived this morning the regular trade winds had returned and it was blowing 20 to 25 knots. However as the swell of the Caribbean Sea was stopped by the island; the seas were good enough to conduct a tender service and thus we parked ourselves as close as possible to the town. It turned out a windy but sunny and warm day.
As close as possible was still a two mile tender distance away due to the extensive reefs around the island. Opposite the main town area, there is a gap in the reef and once inside there is a space of about a mile by a mile to park a ship. The trick is to get inside the reef. It looks like an Atoll in shape but is fully underwater and thus I had no reference point for getting in. However I had set my arrival time during sunrise and so with the navigator taking bearings from the mountain tops I went through the opening reef and then let the wind blow the ship side ways towards the best anchor position in the middle. I had asked the pilot to come onboard, which after some reluctance he did (it was way too early for him) to discuss the tender route towards the dock and to verify if I had indeed picked the best anchorage available. It turned out that we did have the best anchorage location and that we did choose the correct tender route. For the rest the gentleman followed the proceedings with great interest. The Prinsendam is by far the largest cruise ship that has ever visited the island so the bridge activities must have looked to him like something out of Star Trek.
As I could not bring the ship closer to the coast, due to the reefs, the guests had a bit of a bumpy ride for the first five minutes until the tenders arrived under the lee of Santa Catalina; a little island on the NW side of the main island. The whole tender ride took about 20 minutes to get to the tender landing. Isla de Providencia is the most un-spoilt island in the Caribbean; the way the other islands must have once been as well. That is before Columbian Emeralds, Kontiki and Diamonds International took over. That is also exactly the reason why we called here, to show Caribbean life in its un-spoiled way of laid back tranquility. I hope that the guests appreciated it.
To clear the ship we had no fewer than 11 authorities coming onboard. Normally you only need one, so I suppose the rest just came along for the ride. It seemed that their main interest was to meet the captain as they could not wait to get upstairs to my quarters. Due to this “public room” that I live in, they could leave suitably impressed as there are no other captains quarters afloat that come even close to it.
My main concern for the day was to get out again as I now had to make the opposite maneuver while sailing into the wind and making a 90o turn full beam to the wind to avoid the reefs at the entrance. On arrival we drifted with a pace of a 3 miles an hour and that is unpleasant if you have reefs nearby. The amazing thing is always, that you can have a completely empty sea but if there is one fishing boat around, it is bound to sit on the intended course track. Today it was no different. There was that one single fishing boat sitting exactly where the gap of the reef was but as soon as they saw the Prinsendam moving, they thought better of it and motored away. Then with the wind remaining steady on the starboard bow, I could push the ship up into it and we sailed out nicely on the dotted line, as we had planned before.
Tonight we will sail along the coast of Nicaragua and Costa Rica at a distance of about 20 miles and then tomorrow we will be in Puerto Limon. The weather forecast calls for sunny skies and little wind, so it could turn into a very warm day. As a small comfort we will not be the only one’s suffering. The Carnival Freedom is bringing in another 3000+ “volunteers” for the same weather.
January 20, 2010 at 10:23 pm
Thanks so much for your fine description of your arrival to this unspoiled island. Had to get our atlas out and find the isla. Never knew it was there and I hope many other people never find it.
January 20, 2010 at 11:53 pm
This is interesting to me, Captain; coral reefs, gaps in the reefs and unspoilt tranquility. I wish I could attach pictures to my comments … You should see how one Fijian Captain sails from Viti Levu to Treasure Island (3-mast clipper ship). You would need no gadgetry nor a pilot. HE stands at the bow and just gestures with his one hand “where to go” ☺ I could also attach an old picture of the 1958 Rotterdam still docked in front of the original Holland America Line Headquarters taken from the other side of the harbour (alas, the view is somewhat blocked)
January 21, 2010 at 6:46 pm
Your comments on the Captain’s Quarters reminded how intriguing and mystic that sounds. I, for one, have always wondered what the Captain’s cabin would look like. If in the future you get to post a few pictures, without invading your privacy of course, I know many readers that would love to see them.
I did sail with you on the Veendam back in November 2008 and I must say you are just as personable and pleasant in person as you appear to be on this blog. I wish some other Captains would take public relations lessons from you. 🙂
Thanks for your insightful and fascinating posts!
January 23, 2010 at 12:19 am
If I may, Captain;
Bret Bradford – a ‘coupla’ glimpses of the Captain’s cabin you can find on the Prinsendam’s web pages dated 1 October 2009.
I also meant to comment on the cute picture you posted, Captain, of the robot-looking fire hydrant with aan elke kant ‘n vuistje opgestoken to flex its biceps (ship’s magnetic compass); grappig hoor!