Indeed the winds stayed away and we sailed through nearly flat seas towards the pilot station.  This morning we were called by somebody who called himself Port Control. That was a new one as we had never heard about Huatulco Port Control before. It became very quickly clear that this person had been planning this conversation far in advance as his English was very basic. Your could almost “hear” him going through his notes and the questions he wanted to ask before starting the call. Confusion arose at once, as he had not counted on two things: a. being answered by an Irish officer, who pronounces things slightly different, b. Instead of get answers, he was getting questions.  That had not been in the preparation and thus the conversation died away quite rapidly. But he was shortly after replaced by the pilot who had the good news, that he was on station and that it was beautiful weather inside Huatulco Bay. No other ship was scheduled; I could do anything I wanted.  Knowing that the weather would stay nice, I opted for docking on the West side, nose in, so that the gangway would be in the shade of the ship for most of the day and at the same time reducing the walk into the port for our guests by about 600 feet –  ¾ of a ships length. More I could not do and it remained a very warm day. Continue reading

The rising of the sun was eagerly awaited by us on the bridge so that we could see the breakwaters and how the swell was affecting them. Sunrise was at 06.50 but we do not need the sunlight to have a good look. For the sailor sunrise exists in three stages. First there is Nautical Twilight; the moment that you can still see the stars but also the horizon, so you can take star observations for your position fix. Then there is civil twilight; the moment that the stars are too vague to still use the sextant on them and that period lasts until the sun comes above the horizon. Each period lasts about 20 minutes. Thus by 06.30 when civil twilight started we could already see enough of the breakwaters to get a good estimate of how the swell was running. Was it going inside the breakwaters or staying out? To my relief it looked well. Although some heavy rollers were hitting the breakwater on the East side, it all hit on the outer side of the breakwater. The breakwater was doing its job. It was –breaking the water—. Thus we let the pilot hop on board and I proceeded cautiously towards the entrance. Carefully watching if the ship was not starting to pitch. We were going in at low tide and that meant that would have no more than 12 feet under the keel. For quiet seas not a problem but with a swell letting the ship pitch, that 12 feet could easily be reduced to 5 and that is too close for comfort. But the ship only lightly rolled and with both stabilizers out it was not very much. Although stabilizers need speed to fully function, just by having them out they do have a dampening effect and that was very handy today. Continue reading

 Puerto Quetzal is a fair distance away from Corinto so we put the pedal to the metal once clear of the shallows of Corinto. Luckily we found a nice bit of current that pushed us in the right direction and so during the night the bridge could easy off on the engines and still arrive nicely on time at the pilot station. Puerto Quetzal is the main entry port for Guatemala on the Pacific side and a very busy port. Apart from the cruise terminal, there are two tanker berths and four berths for large cargo ships (and of course more if there are small ships). When we arrived, all the cargo docks were full and only the 2 tanker berths and the cruise terminal were still empty. The two tanker berths are close to the cruise terminal and thus I did not mind it at all if they were no tankers there. Less traffic going past the ship and as one berth is opposite the cruise terminal, more space for me if that dock is empty. Today we docked starboard side alongside on request of the 2nd officer training. He had scheduled a boat drill for the portside and wanted portside boats in the water. Who am I to refuse? Quetzal is a very nice sheltered port and a great place to lower the boats. Tomorrow we are in Puerto Chiapas and then we will do the Starboard side boats. Continue reading

Arrival in Corinto always worries me. And that is due to the long swell that can run into the port entrance. The closer we come the shallower the water gets and the more swell can build up. If the swell is in line with the approach course of 077o then it will catch the ship under the stern, making it very difficult to steer.  If the swell it too high, then there might not be enough water under the keel and the ship could touch bottom. So it is always with a certain trepidation that I go here. This morning there was a considerable swell running, but it was under an angle to the course line. That meant that the ship would be swaying to either side of the course line a bit but not to the extent that it would endanger a safe entry. And so we sailed in, swinging on arrival and were happily docked at 0900 hrs in the cargo port of Corinto. Swinging on arrival was preferred today, as we were coming in with the following flood and it makes life a lot easier to dock with the nose into the current than with the stern. Plus the flood helped with pushing the stern around during the swing and some free thruster power is always appreciated.  There was a gentle breeze blowing today and that meant that it was not so hot as it can be. Continue reading

 Puerto Caldera Port Control is the authority that looks after the port operations. With two ships alongside and 6 at anchor it is not that much of headache to deal with it all as far as I think. Still it seems that each time when we arrive we cause a good deal of confusion and excited conversation on the VHF. This morning they were all in fine form again and in the end the agent called to obtain the necessary answers by means of some simple questions. I think he relayed those answers by phone to Port Control as it remained quiet from that moment onwards. When we came closer we could more or less reconstruct what it was all about. There was a ship alongside that had to leave for us. That meant a pilot and two tugboats; the pilot could not reach us as he was standing with his handheld radio in the steel-hull- lee of the cargo ship and thus Port Control in their mighty tower high aloft had to relay and did not do that very well. With only one pilot on duty, the big question was DID I need a pilot? When the answer was no, it solved a lot of logistical problems as the pilot did not have to split himself in two and could now sail the other ship out. Port Control then had to deal with a Tuna fisher which was also alongside and who also had to leave. He was pulling out, while we were coming in. So he cleared the berth but then dropped anchor, right in our preferred approach line. Fishermen think about safe passing distances on a totally different level than deep sea ships. So it was a bit tighter than normal but that is all part of the equation. By 06.00 we were docked and all was right with the world. Continue reading

After a long but good day in the Panama Canal, it was time for some relaxation and recharging of the batteries. Starting tomorrow we will have five ports in a row to call at. Warm ports as well, so today was a day to recuperate and get ready.  We had the regular “Pacific” –Ocean weather with a nearly windless sea to look at. Wind velocity did not go above the 6 knots and that is what the Beaufort scale calls a “Light Air”.  We saw turtles paddling by, dolphins showing off, and a few flying fish trying to “take off” but due to the lack of wind, that did not work very well and they all fell back in the water after a few feet. We trundled along with the sedate speed of 12 knots to maintain our schedule for an early arrival in Puerto Caldera.  So the navigators had the unusual experience of being overtaken by cargo ships, which were not going that fast either. We had left the Canal yesterday in the company of a small cargo ship the BBC Ganges which was doing 13 knots, so after 24 hours she managed to overtake us finally on our portside. Today time was flowing by quietly.  Continue reading

 Late evening we left the windy area behind and we had very quiet weather sailing towards Panama. The 140 year ball was a resounding success and with the hour back everybody could still get a goodnights sleep for the Panama transit. We had been ordered to be at the Cristobal breakwater at 0500 to line up in the convoy but somewhere a muddle must have occurred as at 3.30 we were advised to drop back and arrive 30 minutes later. I wished they had done that last night and I could have stayed in bed those 30 minutes longer. So we slowed down and I was going to fear that it was going to be a very long transit as a delay in lining up the convoy normally means that there is a slow boat in the convoy which holds everything back. In accordance with the new ETA I drifted at 05.30 through the breakwaters at Cristobal and then the whole clearance circus started. Boarding Agent, Ships agent, Fumigation officer, Panama Canal Technician, Ships Chandler, Narrator and eventually also the first Pilot. With him on the bridge we could slowly move towards the first locks. The other two pilots joined just before we entered those. Continue reading

It is 677 miles from Aruba to Panama and thus we have a day at sea while we cross the Columbian Basin. This is the bay like indenture, where the narrow strip of land that is Panama connects with South America.  We are sailing on a south westerly course and thus we had the North Easterly wind and current in the back. Still a considerable wind of 27 knots, which gave a relative wind of 10 knots over the deck, as we were going with a speed of 16 to 17 knots.  Thus with the sun shining it was a pleasant day on the ship. Had we been going the other way, it would have been much less pleasant as the 14 feet high waves and strong wind would have been full on the bow with rather nasty results. But we are going the right way and thus all is well on board. And I needed nice weather as today is our birthday. The company exists today for 140 years. So we wanted to pull out all the stops and for that we needed nice weather and a steady ship and both were achieved. Continue reading

The three A,B.C islands are located nicely in a row, although the sequence is B,C,A and today we completed that sequence by visiting A. That is the island of Aruba and located 89 miles away from Curacao. At least the 89 miles is the distance that we use to get there. We normally travel with a large loop, first going south and away from Willemstad and then curve back onto the Westside of Aruba so we end up in the leading lights heading into the Paarden Baai of Oranjestad Aruba. For the navigators it is an interesting night as they have to dodge around 20 to 30 tankers who are all floating south of the islands waiting for their turn at the Refineries on the islands. They all drift on the wind and current and when they have drifted away too far, they all start up their engines and return to there point of departure and then the whole process will start again.  As they are drifting they all ensure that they keep a fair distance from each other as none will drift with the same speed as the other (due varying drafts, and size of superstructure). That makes it quite easy to sail through them but close attention has to be paid as you never know when they will start moving again. Continue reading

Willemstad is a very interesting port from a navigator’s point of view as it is quite a challenge to get in there. The port entrance, St Anna Baai, is perpendicular on wind and current and that means that when you head straight in on the course line, you run aground. Wind and current will push you onto the west side of the channel. As the current is never the same and the winds tend to be gusty it is not one of the easiest ports. Today we had the additional challenge of having to dock about 2000 feet inside the port entrance, just past the floating bridge. That means that as soon as you are out of the current you have to start giving full astern, to slow the ship down otherwise you over shoot. If that happens the only option is to continue by passing under the Koningin Juliana Bridge and swing around in the inner harbor, which is called the Schottegat and then return. As a result you end up docking starboard side alongside. The port prefers s portside alongside, so that on departure you just back out into the Caribbean Sea again. Continue reading