Today we were following the coast of Peru on a South Easterly course. The continent is starting to taper off now and will eventually end at the point of Cape Horn. With going more to the East you get the time changes. We gave one hour forward last night and there will be one more the coming night. That will bring the ships time to GMT – 3 hrs. or onto local Chilean time. GMT stands for Greenwich Mean Time and on that standard time the nautical world is based. In Greenwich is also the Zero meridian which divides West from East and from there we count minus hours to the West and plus hours to the East. The zero meridian was an artificial decision to sort out the world’s times issues. They could as well have chosen Amsterdam or Stockholm and for awhile the French had their own Zero meridian which of course ran over Paris. However the nautical world has settled on Greenwich and the shipping fraternity works with GMT. Continue reading

Today we were visiting one of the most peculiar ports of our cruise. Our official call was for the Pisco area to give our guests the option to visit the Nazca lines. However neither Pisco nor its little neighboring town Paracas has a harbour and thus we docked at General San Martin or Puerto San Martin at the other side of Paracas bay. Due to long ocean swells rolling in, it is not possible to tender either into Pisco or Paracas. San Martin is the only option as it offers some shelter against this swell. We were calling on a good day. The expected wind did not come through but still the ship surged against the dock; occasionally sending a shudder through the ship when the ships rubbing stroke bumped into the dock. In dry – dock we had given the hull a new blue coating but at the end of the day nothing was left and the bare steel on the rubbing stroke fully exposed. And this was a good day…………….. Continue reading

During the past night and this morning all our embarking guests made it safely to the ship then still having the chance to go ashore during this 2nd day in Callao. The weather remained the same as yesterday and that made more or less perfect sightseeing weather. The chemical tanker in front of us departed during the night and was replaced in the morning by two Chinese fishermen, who started discharging their catch. These are not small boats but floating fish processing plants with up to a 100 crew and the catch that was being off loaded was already chopped up in parts and deep frozen in the holds. While alongside the deep frozen catch was loaded into freezer containers and transported inland. I do not know where it was sent to but there are large processing plants in the Callao area so the fish might have been taken there. Continue reading

Callao is the port for Lima, Peru. The capital of Peru is just up the road but the fisherman’s place that Callao once was kept its name when the whole area rose to prominence and Callao and Lima got linked up together. As explained yesterday the whole port is under reconstruction now containerization has also taken over South America as the preferred mode of transport. The cargo sheds (Bodega’s in the Spanish language) from the old general cargo days are disappearing to be replaced by flat concrete surfaces for container stacking. As a result the old passenger dock, pier 5, is now not in use as such any more and the Prinsendam will dock at 11, which is a general cargo and bulk dock but which is made passenger friendly by adding some souvenir shops and a taxi parking. Part of it has not been completed in the area where were docking; the pillars of an old breakwater have not been removed yet and that means that I did not have the whole basin to play with. Continue reading

The weather did not change very much and it was a really pleasant day at sea. Partly cloudy but with temperatures in the mid 70’s so perfect cruising weather. The only thing was a slight increase in the movement of the vessel, mainly the pitching. Although the weather charts do not indicate that much of a wave field, I think this swell is coming through all the way from the Southern point of South America, where the weather is truly atrocious at the moment. However it looks that it will slowly get better and thus we could be lucky by the time we leave Valparaiso. Continue reading

The mileage to make between Manta and Callao is one of those distances that do not work in 24 hour sailing periods. It is too long to do it in one proper 24 hour section and too short to race full speed and arrive at a decent time. Hence we have two leisurely days at sea while we follow the coast of Peru on the way down to Lima. With a Grand Voyage cruise it is not only about visiting ports but also about the life on board with its parties, good food and entertainment. The latter is not always about just sitting back and watching somebody sing or dance or joke but also about learning something about where the ship is, about were we are going and about things of general interest pertaining to the area. Continue reading

Approaching Manta was an interesting affair, as we could not see the port at all. Looking towards the horizon we saw a brilliantly lit up sky line full of yellow city lights interspersed with the clear white deck lights of the Tuna fishers at anchor. As the port only consists of a few very low piers, the radars did not reflect a very clear picture making it hard to pin point the harbour entrance. Thus we relied on the GPS for our initial approach and when coming closer tried to recognize the lighthouses on the coast to take bearings and to find the exact spot of the harbour entrance. The light house on the corner of the port was supposed to be visible from a distance of 6 miles but it was not until we were less than four miles away that the red light came through and we could steer for the breakwater. Suddenly the pilot called; and this was a new one for me in South America, that he wanted to come onboard earlier than was arranged. Well no objections there, so I kept the speed up. However then he could not keep his own time schedule and by the time he stepped onboard; I was already turning the Prinsendam into the harbor. Continue reading

If you look at the map of South America you will see that Panama is sticking out on the left hand top side like a branch from a large tree trunk. As a result it is one straight course from the Panama Canal sea – buoy down to Manta In Ecuador. No reason to change course; the bulge of the Western side of South America comes closer and closer to the course line and the only thing you have to do is brake on time and you are at the pilot station of Manta. It is very quiet in the Eastern Pacific at the moment and as a result we had very little wind, very low swells and mainly overcast skies. The latter kept the overall temperature down and that was appreciated as today we had the King Neptune festivities onboard. Continue reading

Fuerte Amador is just around the corner at the end of the Panama Canal and is located on Flamengo Island. The latter is very well-known to sailors going through the canal as it is also the call sign “Flamengo Signal Station” for all traffic on the Pacific side of the Canal. On the Atlantic side it is called “Cristobal Signal Station. Fuerte Amador is not really a town as such; it is a Marina with some shops but as the island is connected with the main land by a causeway it is a perfect stop to make a landfall for exploring Panama City and surroundings. None of the problems that go with calling directly at a big city and all of the conveniences to get to where you want to go. Panama has more of these hidden places. On the other side of the Canal entrance is Isla Taboga and Isla Taboguilla. These two islands have very nice but small resorts. But they have no connection to the main land and are thus a bit limited for a cruise ship call. However Fuerte Amador has the causeway and that makes it work very well. We were not the only one who thought the same way, the Seabourn Legend showed up as well for a similar call. Continue reading

We had a rather bumpy night while we sailed for the Panama Canal entrance. It puzzled me a bit as this wave field was not to be found in any weather forecasts that I had pulled off the internet. However as it was more waves than wind, it turned out that it was the remnants of the wave field generated by the bad weather we had a few days ago and whose waves now finally made it to the Middle American Eastern shores. As we were heading straight into them it caused the Prinsendam to pitch a little bit through the night. I could not slow the ship down for a more comfortable ride as I had to keep the speed at 17 knots in order to make my deadline of 5 am. at the Cristobal breakwater. Arriving too late would severely impede a timely transit of the canal. I was right on time and then started an unusual but also the best transit of my career. Continue reading