As planned we arrived at the fairway buoy at 04.30 in the morning and slowed down to 10 knots. That brought our squat down to about a foot (At full sea speed it can be over 10 feet in the stern) and then we followed the buoys over the shallow estuary. It is 20 miles from the fairway buoy to the dock and thus it took us 2 hours to travel this distance. Contrary to previous information received (Br. Admiralty sailing directions), all buoys were in position and all but one was also lit. That made life a lot easier. So with taking frequent bearings off the land, we sailed over the bar while keeping a close eye on the depth. We had calculated that the minimum depth under the keel should not go below 1.5 meters and with a lowest observation of 1.6 meters (just over five feet) we were not that far off. The pilot station is about 3 miles north of the town but we quickly found out that he prefers to board just before docking. Although we were here in the dry season, there was still a strong current running and together with an even stronger wind it was quite a challenge to bring the ship to the dock. However the compulsory tugboat helped out and by 07.30 we were happily docked. Continue reading

The total distance between Mindalo and the Banjul Sea buoy is 540 Nautical miles, while the shortest distance between the most Eastern Cape Verde Island and the nearest African shore is just over 300 miles.  We had to travel this longer distance, firstly to get out of the Cape Verdes as Mindalo is located on the West side and then go further South as The Gambia has a lower latitude than Mindalo. As a matter of fact tomorrow we will come the nearest to the equator on this whole trip. This is one of these distances, that if you sail full speed, you end up at your destination in the middle of the night and that does not serve anybody, so we crossed this part of the North Atlantic at a sedate speed of 15 knots. The wind had decided to remain breezy and shifted during the day from the NNE to the NNW and create a short swell hitting us on the beam. As the wind was from Northerly directions it brought with it cooler temperatures, which was quite pleasant on the deck, but will make for a very “nippy” arrival tomorrow. At least for African standards. Continue reading

After four days of seeing only blue water we had land again today. The Cape Verdes are basically two groups of islands lying about 300 miles off the African coast. So after our call here, there will be another day at sea before we will reach the African Continent. There are several ports that can be visited in the Cape Verdes and on our schedule today was Mindalo which is located on the island of Sao Vicente. This is the 2^nd island of the most northerly group when coming from the West.  The first island is Antao and by 05.00 hrs we were sailing under its coast on the way to the pilot station of Mindalo. The town lies on the North East side of a large bay which is facing west. The North East side being chosen to be out of the strong winds that can blow here. There are two main docks, some smaller ones and a large anchorage area. The whole area together is called the Grand Port. The place was of great prominence in the past, as a coaling station for steamships on Atlantic crossings or on the way down to the Cape Town area. Now it still acts as a fueling station for ships but it is of less prominence than it was in the old days. Continue reading

 As promised by the weather forecast, the wind and the seas diminished from wind force 5 to just over 3 in the course of the day and only picked up again in the evening. The latter was not forecast but then around “disturbances” in the ocean, there tends to be some local weather. The Cape Verdes islands are of course “a lot of disturbance” in the middle of the open ocean and the mountain ridges deviate the wind sometimes a little bit and can also influence the frontal systems coming by. Although the Cape Verdes do not get that much in the way of real frontal systems as it is a really dry and barren place as we will see tomorrow. So we plodded along happily for the remainder of the day on the same course we have been following since leaving Barbados. As explained before, the difference between the Great Circle and the Rhumb line on this latitude is only 1.5 miles. On a 3,000 mile stretch not something to be very concerned about. A little bit of drift causes more extra miles to make than what we can save by opting for the Great Circle track. The influence of the North Equatorial Current is much greater as well. Here we were lucky as that current remained steady only 0.5 of a knot in strength against us and thus it was not much of a problem either. Only in the evening when we came to the area where this current curves away from following the African Coast southwards and turns west, we noticed about a 1.5 knots against us. By that time I had built up so much plus on the speed that it did not affect our arrival time at all anymore. Continue reading

Today was our third day of the crossing and we reached the middle of this crossing. That is of course not the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean as such, as the Cape Verdes are an archipelago that is located quite a distance from the African Continent. However we covered half of our distance to Mindalo. Due to the bulge of Brazil with the Caribbean islands as a logical extension on the top, the Atlantic Ocean is smaller here than further North or further south. But our “middle of the crossing” did coincide with passing over the Mid Atlantic Ridge. This is a mountain range under water that pushes up quite high from the ocean floor. The day before the water depth was in the area of 20,000 feet, now it became as shallow as 6,000 feet. Still deep; but a lot less than before and at 08:00 we were right on top of it. Continue reading

Today we continued our North Atlantic crossing. We are still closer to the American side than to the African side but that will change by tomorrow. Little change as well in the weather forecast; the wind is consistently blowing from the North North East almost straight on the bow and the swell remains between 10 and 12 feet with an occasional hiccup of 14 feet. This makes the ship move gently up and down by the bow but it is not that noticeable. At least not in a way that it affects the activities onboard the ship. Sometime today was also the time that spring officially started. Although we normally use the day of 21st of March, this is not completely correct as spring really starts at the moment that the sun passes the equator, the vernal equinox as it is called. My 4^th. Officer calculated that moment and for our locatio it means that by 9 pm. in the evening, ships time, the sun moved over the horizon. Not that it was noticed as by that time it was already dark. So spring began for the Prinsendam today at 9 pm. Continue reading

Today was our first full day on the crossing and for a change the weather outside was in synch with the weather forecast. The sun shone, the wind was steady around 20 knots from the East and the waves were rolling at the correct height of 10 to 12 feet. The latter made the ship gently move but nothing to be bothered about or create an uncomfortable feeling. The long term forecast indicates good weather all the way to the Cape Verdes, although I am a little bit concerned about a wave field that is being created by a storm much further north moving in the direction of England. That wave field might run further south than normal and that means that we could feel some of it. That will not happen until Monday evening, if at all, and by that time I might be able to slow down the ships speed a little bit, to create a more comfortable ride if needed. This is a high speed run across the North Atlantic and the less current I have against me, the quicker the ship will start to run into the plus and the faster I will be able to adjust the speed and still maintain the average needed. Thus far the North Equatorial Current is doing great with only opposing us with 0.5 knots of strength. That is average but I had been expecting a bit more, as the winds have been constantly N.E to East in this area lately and that is normally “pushing” the current up a little bit. Continue reading

Thus we arrived, bright and early. By 04:30 my phone ran and 15 minutes later I was standing on the bridge looking at the lights of Barbados twinkling on the port side.  The radar screen revealed that the other cruise ships were also approaching but nobody had changed their ETA, so there was not going to be a fight at the pilot station about the proper line up. The pilot was already awake and he was shifting the Braemar from dock 2, in front of the cruise terminal, to the Breakwater South berth. She had to make room for the Azurra which with 2,500 guests onboard was doing a change over in Bridgetown. The Azurra belongs to P&O and mainly sails with British guests. They way they do it is, they fly in half the new guests with two or three charter planes. They are being transported to the ship while, the first half of the disembarks go the other way. Then the planes fly during the night back home to the UK and then return the next day with the 2^nd half of the new guests and on the return leg take the 2^nd half of the disembarks home. Quite a logistical challenge but they do it every week or 10 days and the routine works quite well. Continue reading

Today we had our third stop in France with a call at Martinique. This was my first call here; at least with going alongside. In the past we always had to anchor. The cargo port was there of course but tendering brought the guests straight into down town which was much more preferable than the long walk, or the expensive taxi ride, from the cargo port. Now they have built a cruise pier. Due to the shallowness of the sea near the coast, they had to build quite far out into the sea, so it is about 600 feet to walk from the actual pier towards the main land, but then the town centre is just across the square from the bus station. The pier itself is a 75 meter platform with a dolphin to the East and two dolphins to the West and in that way also large ships can be accommodated while at the same time this construction is very cost effective. For the Prinsendam it is a perfect size and I happily docked the ship there for a full day stay. Continue reading

 I always find this a most peculiar stop on a cruise and that is because I have to go to another island first to pick up the pilot. As mentioned yesterday, a pilot is compulsory for arriving in Isles de Saintes. They do seem to trust us to leave on our own, but understandably they like to have a pilot park the ship in a spot that is acceptable to everybody. There is not enough work for a pilot in and around Isles de Saintes to warrant a pilot in residence and thus a pilot from Point-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe has to come over. So he leaves Point-a-Pitre at 04.30 in the morning and then drives to Basse Terre on the SW side of Guadeloupe. Here a work boat, officiating as a pilot boat, takes him to the Prinsendam. Then the ship sails another 10 miles from Basse Terre to the entrance to the bay of Terre de Haut. Here the pilot sails the ship in, that takes about 15 minutes, indicates to us where he wants the two anchors dropped and then he has to get back to Point-a-Pitre again by means of a local ferry. When he comes onboard, the first thing I do is send him for breakfast so that he is a least well nourished before he commences work. We followed this practice again this morning and as a result were happily at anchor by 07.15, for a 08.00 start of the tender service. Continue reading