By 6 am we were making the approach to the far end of the Bahia de Banderas where Puerto Vallarta is located for a 07.00 pilot boarding time. Normally the sailing into the fairway to get into the turning basin is quite uneventful as it is basically one course to follow while slowing down to about 2 knots. This time the operation was made more exciting by two whales. When the pilot was approaching we saw them swimming sedately from port to starboard and they were well clear by the time we lined up for the entrance. The first peculiar thing was that it was two Fin Whales. They are seldom seen near the coast and even less often in shallow waters in the far end of a bay. But they swam to the East and away from us, so all was well. Then suddenly they surfaced near the bow after having made a U-turn under water. So I stopped the ship and waited from them to gracefully move away to the West and hopefully to open sea. An unusual experience as you seldom see Fin Whales; let alone so far inland. Continue reading

I forget yesterday to put in the chartlet of the cruise we are currently doing. So here it is. This is our regular East Panama Canal cruise of which the ship has done 4 this year. Last year it was six but as the company is phasing in longer cruises, the number of trans canals are getting less. For the coming year 2013/2014 it will be less again as there is an extra South Pacific cruise, and a long cruise down to the west coast of South America with a three day stay over in Callao; and also a Mexican cruise going into the Sea of Cortez. So it will not be until 2014 that we are going back to Florida. The requests from guests living in the San Diego area are getting louder and louder for more cruises from their home port and the company is obliging. We have now two ships calling there in the winter; the Statendam and the Zaandam and things are going well. At least as far as the occupancy rate goes. We are full each cruise. I have no insight in the pricing  as such, but I do not hear too much moaning and groaning so marketing and sales must be reasonably pleased. All reasons to be very happy. Continue reading

The first sea day is always used to clear up the left over’s from embarkation day. The loading of provisions, stores and spare parts takes place in such a high tempo that after departure nobody really knows where the regular spare parts, what we call consumables, have ended up. Frozen goods, perishables and other food stocks go straight away into the cool rooms and freezers but other items are kept stored in the ships Marshalling area until they are sorted out. For this purpose we have various persons on board. For the Hotel side there is the Provision Master with his store keeping team who receives and issues any item needed in the Hotel operation. For the deck and engine side there are two persons who are in charge, the Special Service Engineer (SSE) and the Special Service Technician (SST). For these two guys changeover day is a real headache. Continue reading

All the weather predictions bore out and we arrived with beautiful weather at the San Diego pilot station for a 05.00 pickup. The bay was totally devoid from any moving object except for a big auto boat behind us, the Rigel leader, which was bringing much needed pickup trucks to California. They sailed out at the same time as we did and they were scheduled to arrive at Yokohama, Japan, on the same day that we are completing our next cruise April 12 in Fort Lauderdale. So 14 days to cover a distance of 6,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean. If they are going the Great Circle route, which brings them further North then they might be in for some very bad weather. The area under the Aleutians is still producing a new storm every three days and its wave patterns are rolling quite far south. The Great Circle route is shorter as it is a real straight line on the earth’s curvature, while a straight line on our flat chart (called a Rhumb Line) is in real life longer as it has to be projected onto the curved earth’s surface. Thus I expect that the captain of that Car-Carrrier would spend a considerable amount of time deciding between the various options. Continue reading

The weather on the North Pacific side is holding nicely. Hardly any wind and that helps to keep the waves down as there is no energy to sustain them. This weather is to last at least for another two days and that means a very nice call in San Diego. So I am expecting nearly wind still weather with the temperatures coming up to the mid 60’s, which is more than we have at the moment. Although there is very little wind, the 5 to 6 knots that are blowing are coming from the North West, and bring a cool flow to the area. Sailing on top of the cooler California current does not do much either for keeping balmy weather and thus noon time high was 57oF / 14oC. A nice “warming up” for the coming Alaska season. We are the 3rd ship to arrive there, with the Volendam on May 1st, the Oosterdam on May 4rd and the Statendam on May 5 in Vancouver. This will mean that in Alaska it will still be quite nippy with lots of snow left in Glacier Bay. Continue reading

With the absence of the regular Carnival ship, we were assigned anchorage nbr 1, which is always nice. It offers the best shelter from the ocean swell and it has the shortest tender distance to the shore, unless you stay on the engines and creep all the way in. If you want to anchor with a ship which needs a reasonable size swinging circle, you have to stay further out as the water near the Cape is very deep. Even at anchorage nbr 1 it is over 150 feet before the anchor touches the ground. I have been staying on the engines, e.g. drifting, here but only when I had been assigned anchorage nbr 3. That is so far out, that unless we start sending guests ashore at 5 am in the morning it is impossible to get them all ashore in time for their tours.  In such a situation I drift in, south of anchorage 1, and stay there until all the tours and the rush is gone and then slowly move towards my assigned anchorage. If you do that very slowly you can continue your tender service safely, as you do not increase the current/flow along the tender platform that much. It is often even much easier for the tenders to remain alongside the platform as there is a steady flow for the tenders to sit in.  Today none of that was necessary and we dropped the hook at 06.30 and were in operation, five minutes later. Continue reading

By 05.00 we sailed into the Bahia de Banderas at which end Puerto Vallarta is located. We were leading the invasion as behind us was the Sapphire Princess with an ETA of 08.15 at the pilot station. Followed by the Zaandam going for 09.00. hrs. We had scheduled ourselves for 07.00 which is just before sunrise and gives the best view for getting into the harbor. The Sapphire Princess had the worst time this morning as on her approach everybody on the bridge would have to glare into the rising sun. By the time the Zaandam arrived the Sun would be high enough for it not to be a problem any longer. With three ships the whole harbor was going to be full as there are three docks now. Berth 1, closest to the flea market; berth 2, closest to Wall Mart and berth three with the best parking area for the tour buses and access to the shopping Mall. (That one is not as popular with the crew as the prices are quite high; it is quite a posh place) We were assigned berth nbr 3 which required a 90o turn in the middle of the harbor so we could dock sb alongside. By 07.30 we were happily alongside and the guests streamed ashore. Continue reading

Today we sailed along the coast of Mexico, about 10 to 12 miles off, and enjoyed the most perfect weather you can have. The sea was as smooth as can be with only a low rolling swell coming in; the sky was partly cloudy and it could not really have been better. The only thing that marred our perfect day was the presence of six pack navigators, right on our track line. The moment we came close to Zihuatenego they all came racing out. On good weather days the sport fishermen come out to about 15 miles from shore for Marlin and other fishing. I think it has to do with the fact that a bit further to the West we have the Middle American Trench, a sort of canyon under water where the sea depth goes down to about 15,000 ft. that means colder water that is then pushed up from these depths and it brings up nutrients and other things fish really like, and that means Fishermen. That means paying extra attention on the bridge, as they normally don’t. When a fisherman’s mind is on fishing there is not much room left for other thoughts. So we zigzagged safely through the area and then continued unhindered up the coast. Continue reading

A sight that is seldom seen was the Golfo de Tehantpec being completely smooth. Just a long underlying swell made the sea surface wavy but for the rest it was as calm as could be.  Different from at any other time. What we would learn shortly after was that when this happens the bay of Hualtalco is also different than at other times. That is why being at sea never gives you a dull moment.  But first we enjoyed the picture perfect weather and approached the Mexican coast line from the south East.  About 10 miles out we were greeted by a fast patrol boat of the Mexican Navy who escorted us all the way in. I have never seen them coming out that far but maybe it had to do with the fact that the sea was so smooth. It made for a pleasant ride for a change, and then…………boys with toys………… you grab your chance. The pilot was waiting at the correct location and after he hopped on board in we went. Continue reading

When coming from Puerto Caldera you have to sail by a whole group of countries to get to Mexico and Hualtalco. During the course of the day we passed Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala, until by midnight, we will pass the border with Mexico. Then the crossing of the Golfo de Tehantepec will start but as it is nice weather for a change it will be no different from the sailing mode. That current weather is more or less wind still and very warm. Today we did not have more than a wind force 1 most of the time. Just a small ripple on the top of a smooth sea. The sea was smooth but not flat, as a long low rolling swell was coming in from the North West, all the way from Alaska. The area west of Kodiak is still processing a nasty storm every three days, something that will not change until the end of April. Hence the fact that we are not sailing with the ship to Seward until the middle of May. Part of it is the fact that the Alaskan Interior only starts to open up in early May. All the Holland America Hotels, buses and trains have to be gotten out of hibernation and the roads have to be fully passable again. The other part is that it is not really a bright idea to sail with the ship through a Gulf of Alaska storm as part of the cruise experience, if it is not necessary to do so. Continue reading