The weather today is according to the weather forecast and thus everybody is happy. Very little wind to bother the ships arrival and nice and sunny during the day. At the terminal the temperature was even a few degrees lower than listed and that made for pleasant travel for the guests. Larger numbers always have to wait for the buses / coaches and it is never fun to sit in the roasting sun. Luckily Pier 26, the normal Holland America pier, is quite shaded on the East side. By the time disembarkation is in full swing the sun is still behind the terminal building and does not appear around the corner until well after 11 am. when disembarkation is over. For those coming the other way it is less of an issue and they can go directly into the cool terminal.

The ms Zuiderdam arrived a bit earlier than normal. If we are assigned at berth 21 or at 26 with nobody at 25/24 then the ship normally has the pilot at 06.15 hrs. Then it is docked by 06.45 and ready for business at 07.00hrs. Today the Celebrity Equinox was scheduled for berth 24/25 and thus the Zuiderdam was requested to arrive earlier. It saves sailing past the Equinox if she had come in first. There is enough room to do so but why make things difficult if there is an easy option. Captains like easy options as they are normally safer than difficult options; and so our pilot time brought forward to 05.30 hrs. And we arrived accordingly.

Today was also the changeover between Captain Bart Vaartjes and Captain Wouter van Hoogdalem.  I was asked once in the past if this was a highly complicated and top secret evolution with the doors closed and reams of papers to be signed. None of that at all. The (electronic) paper work is limited to an entry in the ship log denoting that the handover has taken place and that is about it. The only other thing is a handover report in a checklist format. (There would be something wrong if we did not have one) The checklist is a standard form which all captains use, to ensure all pertinent issues are discussed. Then there is normally an attachment with “other items” and those normally have more focus than the regular list as “other” also means out of the usual. And I almost forgot there are about 10 pass words or so to hand over which lock all sorts of electronic devices, to avoid any electrons from escaping.

And no we do not hand over keys anymore either. Even bridge access is by key code.

When two captains are rotating with each other, then a hand over is specified as having to last 4 hours. When nothing untoward has happened or is in the offing then 4 hours is more than sufficient with time to spare for gossip and multiple cups of coffee. If a regular rotation is not the case than we have other regulations. New function, New (class) ship. 14 days. So if a staff captain has been promoted and goes to another class ship that he (*) has been sailing on, then there will be handover of 14 days. If it is a new function, same class, or same function, different class, then there is a one week hand over period. This is also the case for other ranks.

The Zuiderdam is now going on a 10 day cruise, down to the South Caribbean and the Panama Canal. The only difference from the past 11 day cruise is that we will not call at Cartagena but go directly from Willemstad to Panama.

Thus our next call will be Half Moon Cay tomorrow as scheduled and we should make it as the weather is favorable.  A new cold front is already forming, which draws the wind towards the north but at 15 knots it should not be a problem. Temperatures at noon time 75oC or 24oC. with a sunny day, just pleasant for a day at the beach.

(*) sorry to say but we still do not have a female captain. We were all keeping our fingers crossed as we had a female staff captain who was gaining sufficient seniority to approach promotion but she recently decided to go into pilotage in England.  Bummer; now we have to wait a number of years again as the next female officers are all 2^nd officers so they have some time to go.

Today we are having our first day at sea and are sailing on a North Westerly course heading towards the Yucatan Channel where the Caribbean Sea meets the Gulf of Mexico. It looks like that we were lucky with our call at Puerto Limon as the weather has turned for the worse. A strong cold front is moving over, bringing lots of rain, lots of wind and only an occasional moment of sunshine. And it is all moving in the direction of Costa Rica and thus the swell will start to increase again and will not make for a happy stay in the port for the ships arriving after us.

We really were in luck yesterday, because the moment we left the port, the heavens opened up over the City and the rain came down in large quantities. To maintain the rain forest, they will need that rain but our cruise guests do not exactly need it, and yesterday they were lucky. But today we have to face the weather and we are ploughing straight into it as well. The ship is making 20 knots, the wind velocity is 35 knots and on the exposed areas the combined relative wind reaches 50+ knots. So if you wanted to feel what a heavy storm feels like you would have to climb on the bow and do “a Titanic”. We do not want that so we keep the bow closed and on the higher decks we have wind screens.

The red arrows indicate the main flow around this weather front.

It being winter means that cold front after cold front is coming over the area in a sort of washing machine pattern. Bad weather starts off at Cape Haterras where the cold air from the plains meets the warm air from the Gulf Stream. That gives a frontal system which moves to Europe or up to Iceland depending on how the Jet Stream flows.  When that wind flows away, it creates a vacuum and that is filled by air coming from North Mexico into the Gulf of Mexico. That creates a vacuum and that is filled by air following opposite, following the regular Trade Wind route.  On a sort of three day balance the directions move to and from which result in winter days of hot weather in Florida and days of cold weather.

Because things are quite forceful in the North Atlantic there is a strong weather front moving to the North East and thus also a strong counter flow under it. And we are right in the middle of it. The good thing is, we are moving, and our course is going right through it and thus we will emerge eventually at the other side of it. We expect that to happen when we come north of the Yucatan Peninsula which will be late tonight.

The Gulf of Mexivo. The blue red curve right under, laying over Grand Cayman  indicates the edge of the frontal system. The blue arrows are wind. The word Gale at the mid bottom is the Tehantepec wind which is blowing very strongly at the moment.

That should bring the wind down from 35 knots to about 20 knots. And then for Sunday, when we are in Fort Lauderdale it should come down to 10 knots.  In the meantime the seas which we are in are being pushed up by the winds and that makes the ship move a bit. Not rolling as the wind is nearly on the bow but more shuddering as the ship wants to pitch but does not know how to.  Not that it has any effect on the guests, according to reports received, the bingo was well attended.

Courtesy of both pictures, NOAA.  THANK YOU NOAA WHAT WOULD THE SEAFARING COMMUNITY AROUND NORTH AMERICA  DO WITHOUT YOUR WEBSITES ??

Indeed the weather was with us today. Yesterday in the Canal the wind was already getting less and less and when we arrived this morning at the pilot station, there was no white cap to be seen. Just a little ripple indicating a wind force 1 to 2. That meant that during the night the waves had lost a lot of their height and strength and that made for a good day. Last cruise the swell had made it impossible for the ship to dock alongside the pier, this time there were no worries.

And thus the good ship Zuiderdam met a smiling pilot at 06.00 hrs. with only good news to bring and the ship sailed in at once. Puerto Limon is one of the more simpler ports to dock in (if there is no swell of course) it is just  matter of sailing in and then deciding if you want to go portside alongside or starboard side. Starboard side is preferable as A. it takes less time to leave and B. if there is swell, the bow of the ship is better in dealing with it than the stern. The bow can ride on the waves and also cut them apart, but the stern being square, gets the wave every time under the square end. Then there is the danger that the swell will lift the ship up and start riding along the dock. Not good for the ropes and even worse for the gangway and the guests.

The approach according to the electronic chart. The black shape to the right is the Celebrity Equinox approaching the container berth.

Thus we swung on arrival and went astern alongside. Later on the Celebrity Equinox arrived and she went nose in. I think because she was on the late side. But today it did not really matter for her, what side was chosen.

Puerto Limon as seen from starboard bridge wing. The country is low and flat, except for the middle part where there are high mountains.

Puerto Limon is a tour call for us as with the beautiful hinterland it is a great place for seeing wild life and the tropical rain forest.  It is a country which is really trying to preserve nature and there are extensive nature reserves both on the Atlantic and the Pacific side. If you cruise on the Pacific Side then Holland America takes you to Golfo Dulce and Puerto Caldera /Punta Arenas where things are similar. Guests came back today with stories about having seen monkeys and “lots of noisy birds” so I assume the tours were a success.

With modern projection you can now simulate near real fires.

I threw one of my specials today. Set the show lounge on fire and then have 30 or so casualties for Medical to try and save. We have an official disaster plan for this called the Mass Casualty Response Plan which provides guide lines of how too few doctors should try to save too many injured people. With a majority of entertainers as casualties (Natural Actors / and Actresses) there was enough mayhem created for the Medical Staff to be really focused and involved.  A major part of the evolution is the transport away from the disaster area to a safe location where a second triage can take place and from where the the final disposition is organized. (Either back to the cabin, stay in the hospital or be medivac-ed ashore.

Doctor, Nurse, On Scene Commander, Stretcher Team and a Scribe for keeping track, all part of the machinery needed to make it possible.

My challenge is that I can only train on the flow of the drill and point out pitfalls to avoid. For the rest it all depends on the focus and organizational skills of the participating officers and crew. Today we had about a 100 crew involved varying from Fire teams, to wheel chair pushers and the very important stretcher carriers and casualties.  Hardly any of the crew had ever done a drill like this, so the focus was there and so as long as you have that, then the drill is already a 50% success. Plus you do not always get the chance to run a drill in the main show lounge, which is the largest public room on board.

The Gents and Ladies from Housekeeping had a heavy job today, carrying stretchers up the stairs and then to the medical centers. But they did very well.

Tomorrow we have our first of two days at sea and then we are back in Fort Lauderdale. If things go according to the last plan, then I will remain a few more days on the Zuiderdam before transferring to the Westerdam. If the cabin situation works out I will train 6 new navigators for 14 days while the Westerdam sails to Europe.

Weather for tomorrow: wobbly but not too bad.

Note: Under the Current Captains section, the Biography of Zuiderdam captain Bart Vaartjes has now been uploaded and also the sailing schedules of the Captains has been updated.

As was expected the wind disappeared the moment we curved southwards and followed the Colombian coast down to the Boca Chica pilot station. But because the cooler North Easterly wind had already been reducing itself in strength, it brought also less cool air to the area of Cartagena and thus the warm tropical air could re-establish itself. Also the clouds decided to disappear and we had a sunny day. Together with the warm tropical air and the sun beating down, it was not only sunny, it was positively warm. For those on tours, the half size busses were sort of air-conditioned so the guests could survive and for those on board it was a good reason to find the shade wherever it was available. But before departure it was distinctively quieter on the outside decks than was the case in Willemstad and Oranjestad.

My day started early as I was on the aft mooring deck at 05.30 to follow proceedings there.  Safe Working is Holland America’s main priority and those who are to enforce that, Captain and Staff Captain can never go there as their place is on the bridge during arrival. Standbys are also something you cannot learn from a book; it is pure hands on skills. Observing, learning lessons from the Bo ‘sun and at the same time applying common sense as the Bo ‘sun might also make mistakes. Some of our newer officers come from other companies where the  ships make less port calls, when they do they use fewer deck hands and some of them do not observe the standard safety practices that we take for granted.

Thus arrival Cartagena I was present on the aft deck.  Although handing out ropes does not look very difficult; “as in just roll them off the mooring drum and bring them tight again”; it can be a very dangerous affair. Sailors might be obscured by one of the winches, the winchman might “pull instead of push”, you have to keep an eye on the linesmen ashore and you have to make sure the ropes do not get sucked into the propellers/Azipods.  A good deck officer has eyes in the front, in the back and in the side of his/her head.  The biggest secret to a safe operation is =====taking your time. Slow the process down until every move can be anticipated and then indeed it goes as it was anticipated.

A photo of the good old ms Statendam seen here in 2012 at the same dock. Only the Zuiderdam went starboard side alongside, nose in. Note the dolphins.

Docking at Cartagena means that the stern of the ship is sticking out, causing long spring lines to go forward to a dolphin and the stern lines to run aft to another dolphin. To get the ropes there, we use a mooring boat provided by the port. In this case it is not a particularly specialized boat but more of a small ferry which is used for the purpose. It works but the working platform for the line handler is not as good as it could be. Each time we lower two lines into the water which are then being pulled to the dock with the boat. Sometimes in quite a complicated way as the Azipod wash makes it difficult to maneuver. The Deck officer now has to watch this boat, watch the ropes in the water, watch the sailors paying out the rope and talk to the bridge to let them know what is going on as from there you cannot see very much.

Our lines boat pulling ropes 3 and 4 from the ship to the dolphin.

Quite often the linesmen can be problematic, as they have their own ideas about ropes and what to do with them. (Very little if they get the chance)All this is being watched over by an officer who is often the youngest of everybody involved in the whole operation. Today we had a Lady 3^rd Officer aft and she did a very good job. When she joined Holland America, she missed my school class as the cabins were cancelled, but somehow she had figured out that “slow – slow” is safer and often faster than just throwing all the lines over the side at the same time in order to save time.  Today we docked with six mooring lines and 2 spring lines as the weather forecast was good and every rope was given out and handled exactly according to safe and best practices. Always good to see something like that.

We left at 13.00 hrs.  and put the pedal to the metal to make it on time to the Panama Canal. Because we land the tour while in Gatun Lake, we need to be in the Locks as early as possible. Thus our ETA will be 05.30 at the pilot station and then we ………………………..hope……………… for…… the following:

Pilot on board                    05:30hrs

Gatun Locks (East Lane) SB Passage

Arriving                              07:30hrs

Departing                           09:15hrs

Anchoring                          09:40hrs

Reassuming NB Passage11:00hrs

Gatun Locks (West Lane) NB Passage

Arriving                               11:35hrs

Departing                            14:00hrs

ETB Colon 2000                 15:30hrs (Terminal # 2)

This is by no means certain. Last cruise was the first time in a year that the Zuiderdam and the Panama Canal Authority was able to stick to the schedule because there was a gap in the convoy coming from the Pacific. Maybe we can repeat that feat again tomorrow.

Weather for tomorrow:  You need a Hat, you need sunblock 50, and you need at least a pint of water every hour………….. Need to say more???  I will hide inside until it starts to cloud over or the daily rain shower.