After yet another rainy night we approached Puerto Caldera while the skies were getting slowly lighter. Sunrise was around 06.00 and that was also the time that we had to be docked as the tours were leaving around 06.30. Thus we approached the pilot station at 05.30 to find the pilot happily waiting for us. He brought some good tidings; during the time that we were in Alaska they had dredged the whole port basin to 13 meters, giving the larger ships (and the Statendam is a large ship for this port) more room to maneuver. Some old wrecks were cleared and the approach to the basin had been made wider. The area is prone to shoaling but for the coming two or three years we will be in good shape. The dredger was still there, working at the edge of the port basin but that was slow going as it had to work around the arriving and departing tug boats and the patrol boats of the Customs. Costa Rica is not much of a drug user country as far as I know, but Puerto Caldera is a container port and thus there is a fair chance of the stuff coming into the country that way. Once somebody gets it out of the container it only takes a fast boat to get it away and thus the Local Customs Officers have fast boats as well. Continue reading

Today was what one could describe as a rainy day. Shower after shower came on the ship and I started to worry about the visibility in Golfo Dulce. It is not a problem for me to sail there without seeing anything, but we go there to see something of the shore side. Luckily by 11.00 hrs. we could see the mountain ranges and that meant the Gulf was not completely clogged up. And so we sailed into the bay. Golfo Dulce is part of Costa Rica and we clear the ship here for today and for tomorrow (Puerto Caldera). This means that the agent, the local immigration officer and a lot of family come out to the ship. The officials clear the ship while we do our scenic cruising and the family eats ice cream in the Lido. At 16.30 we then return to the drop off point and everybody goes home happy. During last call my boatmen (the sailors who rig the pilot ladder) were also very happy. One of the visiting family members was a young and very well endowed lady and when she pulled herself up the pilot ladder, everything popped out, giving the boatmen a glorious view of all that Costa Rica can offer. There were of course plenty of hands available to help to put it all back.

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It was very busy at the anchorage with waiting ships, as well with ships going in and coming out. In the past there was only the West anchorage above the military area opposite Cristobal. But since they have built the Manzanillo container terminal to the East of Cristobal things are not that straight forward anymore. If you went through the canal and you had to wait you were ordered to anchor at the anchorage. Main reason for that being was Traffic Control at Cristobal signal station, then at least knew where you were and how to reach you. Now ships destined for Manzanillo do not anchor anymore but just float off the entrance area. Most of them are clever enough to stay out of the main approach and exit route, but not all of them. That can make it quite tight to get to the sea buoy on busy days. One day there is going to be a horrendous collision and then everybody will scramble to create another anchorage. At the moment the Panama Canal authority can only regulate what goes to or comes from the Canal and Manzanillo port does not get involved with what happens outside their port boundary. Continue reading

 Today we were under the influence of a minor weather system full of rain clouds. As there was no trade wind to push the Rain clouds from the Panama area up into the Western Caribbean Sea, the clouds kept hanging around in the Colombian Basin and on a regular basis emptied their contents on the decks. The clouds were too wide to sail around and thus people got wet if outside on a few occasions. Still the weather for tomorrow in the Canal is forecast to be quite good and any rain that falls now cannot fall tomorrow. Continue reading

This was shaping up to be a very good day. There was no wind, which pleased me, there was no rain which should please the Guests and there were two cherry pickers waiting on the dock for outside maintenance which pleased the Staff Captain and the bo’sun. The only thing was, we were the only cruise ship in port and that might not have pleased the local shopkeepers. But you cannot have it all. But we were definitely on the good side today. For the pilot it was an unusual day. Always used to having to battle against the wind to get the ship to the dock, this time it was prudent to stay more in the middle of the fairway. Lack of wind had turned the current around and now it tended to push the ship in the direction of the dock. The only thing I had to make sure of was to keep the ship under a slight angle so the current kept pushing, instead of getting in between the ship and the dock and creating a cushion that would push us off again. We were docked by 09.20 hrs giving the authorities’ time to clear the ship and the shorex manager time to count the buses. Continue reading

By 06.00 we came around the corner near the SW point of Haiti and went onto a South Easterly heading into the Caribbean Sea. The wind had now fully died down and we were observing a completely smooth sea surface that only had some movement due to a long languid swell coming from the South East. That meant that the ship was very lightly pitching and that was something we just had to live with. Although it was not noticeable on the lower decks and in the public rooms, on the bridge we could see the top of the bow-flag-post gently dipping, so we knew it was there. With no wind, there were also no birds, apart from the casual passerby, but none of them had any interest to swerve around the bow. I suppose the uplifting wind was not to their liking. Cannot please everybody every day. Continue reading

 It was still a windy morning, courtesy of dissipating Patty but by noon time the wind started to abate. For the coming days we should have nearly wind still weather, even in Aruba. This is caused by a new tropical storm called Rafael, churning away in the sea area above Puerto Rico. Without going into too much technical weather details, in a simple way, a tropical storm or hurricane sucks all the wind away from an area like a vacuum cleaner. As a result a wide area around it is nearly wind still. That is in our case the greater Caribbean Sea and that is where we are sailing. So I am all for it. So while Patty is keeping Rafael company on the other side of the Bahama Bank, the Statendam will slip into the Caribbean Sea for a few days of smooth weather. Continue reading

 It was indeed very breezy when we arrived; there was so much wind that I had ordered a tugboat just for the case of. Then at the pilot station the wind went into another gear, now blowing 23 to 35 knots so after the Master – Pilot Conference we went for a 2nd tugboat. Part of the reason was that we had to dock “in the hole” of berth 4. All other cruise docks are under refurbishment for the coming season. The governing authority is investing $75 million in the terminal buildings to improve flow, handling and general facilities. As the Statendam was the only cruise ship in today we had to go to Pier 4 as that one had been spruced up during the last season. When there is no wind, it is not a problem, but with a lot of wind, plus the necessity to go stern in, it becomes an issue of intense focus. So two tugboats was our plan B and all went well. With another 6000 HP available for the stern and another 3500 HP for the bow, we had time to line up perfectly without the fear of not being able to control the drift in the basin. Then slowly but steadily we inched back into the basin of berth 4 & 5  with the pilot controlling the tugs and me the ship. By 06.30 we had half our job done. Continue reading

The frontal system laying over the Bahamas is intensifying and will continue to slowly gather in strength over the weekend.  Not really stormy weather but very strong winds; strong enough to be called a tropical storm now, one with the nice name of Patty . That has caused an instant change in the surface current running through the Straits of Florida. The axis of the Gulf Stream has been pushed further to the West, e.g. closer to the Florida coast and that means that the counter current which normally flows south along the rim of the Great Bahama Bank has more room. More room gives more push and so the current managed to get into Old Bahama channel, and that is not really nice for us. Normally we have about a 0.75 of a knot of current with us but now it was the other way around. We had nearly 1.5 knots against us. The wind did not help either, due to the weather front it was not from the East pushing the ship forward; now it was from the NNE, pushing full on the Starboard bow. In the end it meant that I had to put an extra engine on line to ensure that we kept our average speed to arrive on time in Fort Lauderdale. Continue reading

 Today we crossed the middle part of the Caribbean Sea on our way to Florida. The stretch of water north of Aruba and south of Haiti. Although we are thus in the middle of open waters it was amazing to see how much traffic there was still out there. This area is a sort of cross roads for traffic to and from the Gulf of Mexico and destinations in south America ; ships going SE or NW. Secondly there is a stream of ships coming into the Caribbean Sea through the opening between the islands such as the Windward and the Mona Passage. Thus we saw ships everywhere today and although there is plenty of room here for everybody, we even had to change course to avoid some of them. In a way amazing as the sea is so large; in a way understandable as each ship sails the most economical courses possible and then you end up on each other’s track line.  At least it keeps the navigators from getting bored. Continue reading