Today the ship and I, visited a new port; Puerto Chiapas, located close to Puerto Medan in the province of Chiapas. This is an attempt from the local Province to attract (cruise ship) tourists to this area and since last autumn cruise ships are starting to call here with greater frequency. The port is a nice alternative in case other ports are overbooked, which quite often happens during the spring and autumn migration of the cruise ships to and from Alaska.
The port is so new, that the American nautical charts that we use have not been updated yet, so we sailed towards the harbor entrance and then the pilot brings the chart on board.
Also there is nowadays Google Earth and local websites that help a lot with our passage planning, if the Hydrographic agencies are running late with updating the charts.
The newly constructed breakwater
Thus we sailed into Puerto Chiapas just after sunrise and it now has a nice wide breakwater and is dredged to 11 meters depth. In the middle is a turning basin, so larger ships do not have to back in or back out of the port anymore. I swung the ship on arrival, as we are on a slightly tighter schedule this evening and docked at a nice new pier, with plenty bollards on the dock to secure the Veendam properly.
The new cruise pier
There are a number of tours to choose from, including a mangrove boat tour and a city and archeological tour. For those not interested; the authorities had built a terminal in Mayan style with inside a dance pit and plenty of local craft shops around it. Also there was the option to go to the larger city of Tapachula nearby, by taking the hourly shuttle with a transit time of about 40 minutes.
The cruise terminal
As with each maiden call, the authorities came out in full force for the traditional plaque exchange ceremony. They produced four big ones this time and the ship replied with four framed and dedicated photos. After a few speeches and drinks they all marched into the lido to enjoy some good Veendam cooking. The forward staircase of the ship is getting fuller and fuller with these plaques.
As there was still hardly any wind blowing, it was again a very warm day, officially 92oF. but it felt close to a 100. The weather is not supposed to change very much in the coming days, which is nice as it provides a smooth ride through the Pacific but it makes the days very warm for our mostly very mature guests. What is also good is that this weather normally means that there is no Tehantupecer blowing in the Gulf and thus we should have a smooth ride during the coming night.
We left exactly on time, with the last tour hopping back on board at exactly 17.00 hrs. and sailed out of the port the same way as we had come in, with two course changes and a pilot who used his PDA with GPS module to see where he was. I prefer to look out of the window and keep the ship in the centre between the buoys but he tried to stay on the red line shown on his PDA. Result was the same and thus we ended up safely in open waters. After the pilot disembarked, we got an escort from the Mexican Navy while we sailed deeper into the open Ocean.
Tonight we cross the Gulf of Tehantopec and tomorrow we are in Huatalco de Santa Cruz. Again we are the only ship, so I will have the difficult decision to make on which side of the pier I will dock. Maybe the pilot will have a preference.
April 23, 2008 at 10:23 am
Captain Albert, thank you so much for this blog! In just 4 days, my husband and I are sailing on another one of Holland America’s ships, Amsterdam, traveling through the Panama Canal on a very similar itinerary to what you are doing right now. It’s been great to get a heads up on some of the ports that we will be visiting, including Puerto Chiapas. Thank you again for taking the time to share your thoughts and impressions!