The pilot was scheduled for 05.00 hrs in the morning as it takes about 90 minutes get to the dock in Ketchikan. Ahead of us was the Star Princess, one of the shopping trolley Class of Princess Cruises. Most of the ships in that same class have had their observation bar on the stern (that horizontal bar that makes the ship look like a shopping trolley) removed but the Star has most probably not gone into dry dock yet. All the ships have more or less the same pilot station time here and who goes first depends on which dock you are going to. Princess goes to four; we go to two, so the Star Princess goes in first. In that way we do not have to pass each other while approaching the dock. It is all very well organized here in Alaska. All companies have the same agency which has been around for nearly 50 years in the cruise ship business and they regulate and organize everything to everybody’s satisfaction. Occasionally there is a captain who has not been on the coast, or does not understand the routine and tries to go against the flow and then finds out very quickly that that was not such a good idea. Fifty years of experience has to be respected and they really ensure that we are well prepared for the season. If each agent in the world would be like that, the world would be a better place and our lives a lot easier. Continue reading

With a 14 knot speed we pottered through Georgia Strait, north of Vancouver Island up to Seymour Narrows. Slack tide was at 00.40 in the morning and so we aimed for the entrance to the actual area for 23.15. This is called Cape Mudge. From there it is 45 minutes with 12 knots to get to the actual Narrows itself. When we pass Campbell River with its town and pulp mill we have to stay below 13 knots anyway to prevent wake and the pilots and ships together decided a long time ago that it is much easier for everybody if we do the whole stretch at slow speed. So the tradition and routine has become a ‘ you aim for Cape Mudge at a time 45 minutes before the actual Narrows passage time’. The Narrows are so important as it is the only way to get up and down the coast without having to go around the whole of Vancouver Island. For most cruise ships there is no other way of getting to Alaska than by going through. Occasionally there are ships who take the outside route (especially if you are doing Sitka – Seattle) in high summer when the weather is nice. It has the advantage that you get set an average speed, you do not need pilots for the inside passage part and you do not have to deal with Seymour Narrows. Continue reading

With wind still weather but threatening skies we sailed under Lions Gate Bridge. The weather forecast was predicting rain later in the day and it indeed started at 11 am. For engine maintenance I had to dock starboard side alongside today and thus I went early under the bridge. To swing around takes more time than to go straight in. Following us was the Celebrity Summit scheduled to dock behind us, and inbetween the Disney Wonder came in, docking on the other side at Canada Place East. So a full house today. All the ships line up for the bridge about 10 minutes apart so they can all have the first line at 0700 hrs. Docking earlier causes extra overtime for the longshoremen, and thus we are all counting down on the clock until it is 07.01 and then the messenger line goes ashore. In a way a bit silly but rules are rules and contracts are contracts. If one side would start to tinker with it, you will not know where it will end. Now the boundaries are clear and both sides abide by them. It means that we are fully docked by 07.20 then the gangway is connected and the day can start. On departure it goes the other way around; we have to ensure that all the mooring lines are off the dock by 16. 58 hrs. It is always a difficult decision for the captain to decide to wait past 5 pm for late buses and or luggage as there is quite a heavy penalty for the post 5 pm stay. Continue reading

During the night the wind died down completely and the swell which had been subsiding since yesterday afternoon reduced itself to almost nothing. Strait Juan de Fuca was on its best behavior. There was also hardly any traffic around courtesy of the fact that it was Saturday going on Sunday. Cargo ships prefer to stay at sea during the weekend when everything is triple overtime or nothing happens in the ports. Thus the rush will be tomorrow evening with the incoming ships for Vancouver, Victoria and Seattle –Tacoma all trying to enter port and dock around the time when the normal longshoremen shifts are starting again. The biggest exemption to that pattern are the cruise ships which are all now lining up for the start of the Alaska season. As a result it was one of the busiest days of the year in Victoria with four ships in port. When we arrived the Disney Wonder was already docked. She left at 17.00 and shortly after, her place was taken by the Norwegian Pearl. She was followed around 19.00 by the Oosterdam also coming in for an evening call. The weather was holding; dry and windstill and with the sun out as well it made the visit to Victoria a sheer delight. Still the summer it just starting and it became very chilly the moment the sun went down. Not that I minded that, the cooler it is, the less chance of “low hanging clouds”.

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And so the good ship Statendam with 1,360 happy campers on board sailed for Astoria. Happy campers in the ship and a worrying captain on the bridge. Astoria, Portland, the Columbia River, great place to visit and great scenery to look at but to get there you have to cross the Columbia Bar at the entrance to the river. It is similar to what you can have at Corinto Nicaragua, only worse, as here you get the undampened Alaska swell. Pilots board ships with a swell of 21 feet running and literately rock-and-roll the ships over the bar. The rock & amp; roll is of great concern to me as it would not be the first time that a wheelchair, with contents, would take off from one side of the Lido and get smashed into the windows at the other side. A reason to be very careful. The ship was already slightly rolling when we approached the area as the swell was ¾ on the stern and then you get a corkscrew motion that is hard to deal with even with the stabilizers. However the pilot was attentive and came far, far out, to have sufficient time to set up a plan and not to delay our sailing into port. The shopkeepers were eager to receive us.

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For me the best part of an Alaska Cruise is still sailing into Vancouver. Together with Sydney and Hong Kong I find it the most impressive port to sail into. Plus it is nice and sheltered and that means that if it is really blowing in Georgia Strait, then most of the time there it is only a gentle breeze in the port. Such was the case today. Georgia Strait was suffering under a real “funnel wind” exactly in line with the NW –SE direction of the Strait. Over 40 knots of wind on the beam, which must have woken up the balcony cabins on the portside of the ship quite nicely. However as soon as we lined up for the bridge and had passed Point Atkinson on the north shore, it became flat calm. We had overtaken the Amsterdam during the night as we had to go to the Eastern side of Canada place and then it makes sense to go under the bridge first and be out of the way for the other ship which has to make a shorter and earlier turn. Thus we passed under the bridge at 06.20 hrs with a scheduled first line ashore at 07.00 hrs

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By 06.00 hrs we were well and truly inside Strait Juan de Fuca. Carefully being watched over by various VTS stations. When you approach Cape flattery there is a Canadian station near the entrance called Tofino Traffic that ensures that all the ships going in and out of the strait are behaving themselves and then when inside, Seattle Traffic takes over. To keep them apprised of what is going on, there are various reporting points along the route so that the operators know at all times where the ships are. When I started sailing, Seattle Traffic was fully manual. At the control station they had a model of the whole of Puget Sound and its ways in and out, and there were people moving ships around the model so that the controllers had an overview at one glance. Now there are Radar stations, the ships have AIS and everything can be done from a computer monitor. When you call in, you receive advice about what the other ships are doing and if any ships will be leaving a port. For us approaching, traffic from Victoria and Port Angeles are of the most interest, as they are approaching the VTS system and are not yet in the regular flow of traffic and thus can have unpredictable courses.

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This morning around 08.00 hrs we passed the border between Oregon and California. Now we are truly getting in northern waters. The temperatures remained today at a nippy 55o F but that is still a lot higher than what is going on in Alaska, where Skagway reported one degree Celsius today. No doubt that will improve greatly in the coming days but for the moment the change is hitting hard when coming from warm Mexico. The “low hanging” clouds lifted this morning around 03.30 and just after 4 am I could go back to bed again. The wind started to blow a bit harder and will cool down the ocean surface more than enough, so I am not expecting anymore hazy weather until we get a wind still period again. Since passing Cape Mendocino on the Californian Coast we are steering one straight course following the 125o 11’ West meridian. That keeps us away from all State boundary’s, exclusion zones, marine sanctuary’s and coastal traffic near Cape Flattery. That is the entrance to Strait Juan de Fuca. We will start approaching that area around 02.00 hrs and be inside the strait around 05.00 hrs Continue reading

For most of the night we sailed in the area under the Catalina’s. The navy was not shooting and thus we could take the straight route. By 05.30 we were in the open waters of the North Pacific and sailed North along the coast of California, at an average distance of 30 miles. This for a specific reason as there are numerous marine sanctuaries along the coast. Monterey Bay, the Farallones and Cordell Bank, just to name a few. Ships are requested to stay out of them if they do not need to be there. To comply we have put our courses a bit further out and that brings the distance to the shore up to 30 miles.  It also means that we do not see very much of the coast line. Right in the beginning of my Holland America career, when these sanctuary’s were not there yet or there were no specific rules that governed the area’s, the captains laid their courses closer to the shore and I even remember one occasion that we went close enough to see the Golden Gate bridge in the distance, without going to San Francisco.  But that is long time in the past and now we sail more out in the open. Continue reading

 I arrived 30 minutes earlier at the pilot station than normal because we were going to the other pier. Long time experience has taught me that the moment you do something other than routine, you have to allow extra time, even if the whole world says you don’t. Murphy (always on board) jumps to the challenge when a ship goes out of routine and he will always find a spanner to throw into the wheel. (By the way, I wonder why Murphy is a HE ?) With a 05.30 arrival at the pilot station, we always have everything up and running by 06.30 at B street pier for an official 07.00 start. Now by arriving at 05.00 pilot station I hoped to achieve the same for Broadway Pier. Coming alongside by 06.00 and then having 30 minutes up my sleeve to let everybody fuss around and then still be ready to start around 06.45 – 07.00. It would not be the first time that bringing the ship in position alongside, that the bow suddenly has to go 1 foot forward and then stern 2 feet aft or that shore side has 4 feet in the meter and ships side only three. I was glad that I did arrive earlier as we needed those 30 minutes. As soon as we were inside the harbor entrance, coming into the shelter of Punta Loma, the wind died off and we sailed straight for the dock. 45 minutes behind us was the Amsterdam who was going to our regular dock as that ship is about 30 feet longer. According to the planning we were going to stick out already by 15 feet at the Broadway pier so if the Amsterdam had gone there she would have been sticking out even more. Getting into Broadway North is entering a much tighter spot as you have to go in between B Street pier and Broadway; while at our regular dock you have a vast open expanse of water to the North. Still nothing to worry about; I have docked in smaller gaps. Continue reading