It was indeed a breezy day and it remained that way. The pilot was worried about the current and the wind and the Carnival Freedom, thus I came up again with my plan B theory. He did not like that either as they do not like it when ships anchor in the harbor but what can you do. Plan B is the emergency option and that is still better than to suddenly have a new Holland America hotel on Mallory Square. It might be highly successful in taking bookings when located at such a prime spot but I do not think that I would enjoy life as a Hotel manager very much. Continue reading

Nice arrival in Tampa this time. Still 25 knots at the sea buoy, but only a light breeze when docking. Wish it was like that each call. The coming days Tampa is supposed to have mild weather, which is of course the period that we are away from the port. However today was good and thus we enjoyed it. Going in, we did not see any ships at all. Even the docks were empty apart from two tankers and three ships at the Tampa Dry Dock and Repair Yard. Continue reading

It was indeed wobbly and it remained so for the whole day. However as the cold front had moved so rapidly into the Caribbean, the winds which had been whipping up the waves; were abating slowly but steadily. Although we had a strong breeze blowing for most of the day, it was less than the day before and thus the wave heights dropped below 10 feet. That meant that the Veendam was riding the waves quite nicely, sometimes going up and down a little bit more than usual, but mostly with a steady motion. That steady motion did not cost us any speed and so we could make the schedule for Tampa quite nicely. Speed we only loose when heavy pitching occurs and the bow is completely lifted out of the water and then slams back onto the waves. For the guests it gives quite a spectacular view as the bow causes sea spray to fly all over the ship but it makes for an uncomfortable motion and it slows the ship down. Two items that I like to avoid. Continue reading

Well, we were in luck. The Cold front, much diluted by now decided to make it a fast one through the Carib and came over us during the night while we sailed from Santo Tomas. By the time we arrived at Costa Maya, we had clear skies, lights winds and a very low swell. The wind, although strong in open waters, blew from the Mexican land side and thus it was very light in the port itself. Wind over the land means it blows in line with the main pier and that is berth 3. My favorite dock and thus I grabbed the chance to go alongside there. The Westerdam scheduled to arrive at 10 am., had the choice of berth 1& 2. That is perpendicular on the wind but berth 1 is the fastest for docking if you are in a hurry. The Westerdam was coming from Grand Cayman and that is a tight schedule to arrive on time, thus the faster you can dock the better the chance not to be delayed. Continue reading

Well a pinch of salt was not enough to apply to the local weather forecast. More a bag of salt. It was blowing 25 knots full on the beam by the time we entered the fairway instead of nearly wind still as was predicted. The channel into Santo Tomas is not very wide, approx. 300 feet in the deepest area and with the Veendam’s beam of 105 ft. it does not leave much room to drift. Luckily the channel is so shallow that the water can only flow with difficulty under the bottom of the ship and thus the drifting is much less than would be the case if the ship had been in deep water. This was a day to count little blessings. The pilot who normally likes to con the ship “steady on 188o” all the way, was now more interested in the coffee machine and left it all to me. Something I prefer anyway. Continue reading

The wind from the cold front of yesterday was still with us when we arrived at the Belize pilot station and the weather forecast indicated that there was going to be very little chance of sun during the day. The only good thing was that it would mean that the wind would blow the rain clouds away. Clouds that were hanging above the Belize jungle. Thus with a strong North Easterly wind on the beam we sailed into Belize. Normally we have the channel to ourselves but this time we had one of the little feeder container ships coming out. There is a regular service of small container ships that run from Miami up and down the West side of the Caribbean. The ship that came out was on its way to Santo Tomas so we will see it again there. Continue reading

There was a strong wind blowing all day long and pushing full on the portside of the ship while we sailed through the Yucatan channel. So we had to pump a lot of ballast water from port to starboard to keep the ship upright. In the end the wind reached a top force of about 8ft. and to get the ship completely right up again, we even had to adjust our water consumption. Not in reduction but by using water from starboard tanks and adding the fresh water that we make all day to portside tanks. It is also a form of ballasting but then with fresh potable water. It was only towards the evening that the wind abated from about 35 to 20 knots. That strength will remain the same for tomorrow as the cold front will lie over the east coast of Mexico and thus also over Belize. Continue reading

We slipped into Key West just before the cold front could make its way down to the Keys. By the time we sailed the wind was starting to pick up and we sailed through the exit channel with about 40 knots of wind on the beam. However Key West was a good day. The temperatures were still on the chilly side but that will not change until these cold fronts stop from coming down from the North part of the Gulf of Mexico. Continue reading

Well it was very quiet with the wind at the pilot station. At least for Tampa standards. It only blew a wind force 3 that is 10 to 12 knots. So for change it was easy to sail into the fairway and pick up the pilot without drifting all over the place. Checking the real time weather on the computer gave wind still conditions at the dock, so I thought for once all is well in Tampa Bay. However as we say in the Dutch language “the venom always sits in the tail” thus it was also this time. Right at the one location where we really can not afford too much wind, in Sparkman channel, the wind picked up out of nowhere. Continue reading

A beautiful day at sea. The sun shone all day and there was very little wind for most of the day. That very little wind got me worried about arrival Tampa. Normally when there is no wind in the Tampa area there is a heightened chance of Fog in the early morning hours and that could endanger the docking of the ship if the port closes. The only thing you can try to do is to go as fast as possible and hope that you are so early that you beat the fog to the dock. Thus I kept full speed until I had confirmation from the pilots that they concurred with the local weather forecast as published by the local metrological gurus and there would not be any fog during the coming night. Thus I was able to set my normal arrival time at the sea buoy for 01.30 am. I found out that the Carnival Legend, who is always one hour behind us, had done exactly the same thing. Continue reading