Normally you talk about romantic sunsets and at the same time you do not equate romantic with getting up early. However this was a romantic arrival even if it was early. Although we try to arrange our time changes in such a way that we keep sunrise in synch with the ships clock (or better said the other way around) it does not always work out that way.  The whole of Europe went to summer time a month ago and Madeira is just too far west to be completely in sync yet.  Another week or so and here also the sun will rise around 07.00 hrs as well. Thus at 05.00 hrs it was still night but the local authorities in Madeira had taken care of the fact that it was not a “dark night”. The whole south side of the island was ablaze with lights. Each street seemed to have a light pole at very short intervals, laying out the winding roads in a very clear pattern. Beautiful to see, especially as the weather was very clear.  Today was a wind still day but they had a lot of colder air a few days ago and that had cleared the skies nicely.  It was just pure pleasure to stand on the bridge and see the Prinsendam gliding as a serene swan over a wave less sea towards the port. Continue reading

The Atlantic showed itself from its best side. Sunny and hardly any wind at all. Just a gentle breeze from the North East and thus a following wind, as we were going South West. Madeira is located considerably closer to the equator than Spain and Portugal, although it is part of the latter.  The nearer to the south the ship starts the crossing, the more comfortable I am, as the bad weather is created much further North. It might come more south on occasion but at least it will have by then lost some of its intensity. The only thing that marred a perfect day was the fact that the current was not with us, or on the beam, but for some un-explicable reason against us. That meant that I had to run an extra engine for a few hours to stay on schedule and that was not nice for my fuel budget. It was only late in the evening that the current finally behaved according to what was expected and I could stop that extra engine.  Three engines on sea speed then brought us comfortably us to the Funchal pilot station. Continue reading

One nice thing about an overnight call is that the ship is so quiet. No movement at all from sea and swell. No wind whistling around the superstructure, only the white noise of the air conditioning in the cabin. With the ship docked by 8 pm and cleared shortly later by the authorities, there was the chance for guests to go ashore if they wanted to. Some did, the majority however was quite happy to be outside and look at the skyline of Cadiz.  I had the ship docked at the cruise terminal, which is the berth closest to the city, and most of the old town is situated directly on the other side of the road. So it looks quite scenic, both by day and by night. On arrival we were the only ship in the port but today we were joined by the L’Austral from the French cruise company Iles du Ponant.  In one of my previous blogs I mentioned that the French cruise market is not served by a dedicated French company with a big ship. There is however this French company and it operates a number of smaller cruise ships including a sailing ship that was hijacked awhile ago off Somalia. There were no guests onboard and the French Navy librated the crew and arrested the pirates.  Now they have commissioned two small very luxurious cruise ships. A bit in the style of Seabourn but then in the French-only- way.  She called into Cadiz on her maiden voyage from Ancona, Italy. Getting used to the fact that quite often the Prinsendam is the smallest ship in port, it is always interesting to see when a smaller cruise ship is parked behind you right under the stern. Also for Cadiz, the summer season is just starting and in the coming months, there will be days that the whole port is full of cruise ships with all berths taken. Luckily for us, this was a quiet day. Continue reading

I was called out of bed at 01.30 in the morning due to a developing traffic situation while the ship was passing the South West corner of Spain. As mentioned yesterday, the traffic flows from East and West meet here and diverge or converge.  50 ships on the radar screen and 49 were behaving themselves and one was not.  So the navigator slowed the ship down and called me out to witness further developments. After our troublesome friend was explained that we expected that he would follow the Rules of the Road, he changed course and passed us at a safe distance.  I always like it when I get called for these things. I fully trust my navigators, otherwise they would not be standing a watch, but it does make sense when there is an unusual development, to get the captain out. It brings more authority into the equation and a very valuable witness in case something would happen. So while we were watching our errant friend safely pass us by on the portside, I had a good look at the weather and it was not good. The wind was still blowing with us, while the weather forecast had planned that it would turn to the West around 10 pm last night.  That meant that the whole weather system was delayed and that meant trouble.  Still nothing we could do but wait and see how it really looked when we approached Motril. Continue reading

Today we crossed the middle part of the Mediterranean; the area located above Malta. This brought us automatically on the Northern side of the sea as our next port of call, Montril, is located on the Southside of the Spanish mainland. Our last port Cagliari is a bit off the beaten path as far as shipping is concerned and thus for most of the night there was not much traffic.  That changed in the early morning hours when we started to catch up with the various traffic flows, coming from or going to the Northern ports of Italy and Southern France.  All that traffic has to bend around the South East point of Spain.  So automatically all these ships that would normally be spread out all over the place have to come together to line up on this one south westerly course leading towards the Straits of Gibraltar. Traffic coming from there is doing the same thing the opposite way, and can only disperse in various directions as soon as they are past the corner. Now with the embargo placed against Libya and it’s no sailing zone south of Malta there is even more traffic pushed to the Northern side, so for the late morning and the remainder of the day there was a lot of traffic coming by. Continue reading

It was bad, very bad on arrival. While approaching the pilot station it was blowing over 50 knots from the East.  Not exactly the sort of wind that makes you feel happy; and certainly not when having to sail with slow speed through a narrow port entrance.  Luckily the reports from inside the harbor were better, 25 knots of wind, in line with the dock.  The harbor basin is quite wide and once we had swung around, we would not drift. I had ordered one tugboat to control my stern in case the wind decided to changes its mind and thus with that plan of action ready, we approached the pilot station.  Fully in compliance with Murphy’s Law, the pilot was late and we were requested to slow down and wait, right at a moment that you do not want to do that, as the slower you go, the more you drift. Had the pilot advised earlier that he was delayed, and then I could have slowed down in more open waters. Thus the best solution was to go as slow as safely possible and “drift” around the breakwater in such a way that the centre of the ship would stay in the middle of the fairway.  That looks a bit strange when you are standing outside and looking at the bow. That bow is constantly pointing towards the land, almost as if hitting it but then slowly but steadily you see the ship drifting by and clearing the port entrance. By the time that the pilot was onboard I was just pointing the nose between the breakwaters and drifting in.  Once the tugboat was secured it was a quick spin around and then going astern towards the berth. Near the dock, the wind was blowing from a different direction than had been predicted by the pilot so I was very happy with my tugboat.  It was windy, rainy and chilly. Still we made it and that is all that counts. Continue reading

Today we sailed westbound from Katakolon towards our next port of call, Cagliari located on SE Sardinia. To get there you have to sail by Sicily. As it is an island you can sail around it and thus you can go North or South.  Going North means going through the Straits of Messina and by going south you sail along the south side of Sicily for most of the day.  Our cruise brochure indicated that we were to go south of Sicily as we had done the Strait of Messina the evening that we left Lipari.  There was also a second and very convincing reason not to do Messina for a second time and that was the Royal Wedding.  Most of our guests were looking forward to the happening which was going to be screened fully onboard the ship. Then it does not do, that the captain decides to do scenic cruising Messina, right at the moment that the happy couple are exchanging wedding vows.  So we stayed away from Messina and followed the Sicilian coast at distance varying from 4 to 12 miles.  You cannot always sail close here, as especially on the southwest side, there is a shallow bank with the name “terrible bank”. Such a name is not given without good reason. During bad weather it is a dangerous place to be with ground seas and swells breaking over the bank. Today we had sunny and wind still weather and the bank was not a problem. Still we stayed clear as a lot of fishermen had parked themselves there, indicating that it must be a good fishing ground. Continue reading

 I am always amazed at what other captains sometimes do with their ETA’s. When I send one, I try to stick with it and only weather and engine malfunctions will make me change it. Once you have set your ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival) then everybody involved, ashore and on the ship, starts planning accordingly. Deviate and you get delays and confusion. So in answer to the local agent’s instructions I brought my ETA forward to 06.15 so I could sail into port directly behind the Azamara Journey. My bridge team was prepped accordingly and kept a sharp lookout for all the cruise ships expected today; so that the Prinsendam could line up according to the sequence announced by the port authorities. However when I arrived on the bridge, the Azamara Journey, scheduled to be ahead of me, was nowhere to be seen. The Orient Queen, scheduled after me, was already going in. Not a problem as such but it always baffles my mind why this happens. The Orient Queen was scheduled to anchor and did so accordingly. However that meant that I had to sail around her, to enter the port. So all its guests got a very good look at the Prinsendam; as I had to sail by quite closely due to the shallows to the North. The captain of the OQ had of course anchored in the best spot for his tender service and that is right on top of the breakwater. Continue reading

In the early morning I was woken up by the harsh sounds of crackling thunder over the ship, and when the bridge called me, the message was:  it does not look good.  Still we approached with hopes in our hearts, as Monevassia is basically a steep and wide mountain that offers good shelter on the lee side. Provided the wind is exactly under the right angle. And that you only find out by parking the ship at the anchorage. The wind and the accompanying rainy weather were all coming from the North East and thus I brought the ship to the South anchorage.  By 07.15 we were in position and I was not a happy camper. The wind just curved around the edge of the East side of the mountain, gusting between wind force 4 and 7 a bit more than the maximum five that had been forecast. However that was not the worst of my concerns.  While we had had a nearly windless day in Piraeus, it had been blowing here already for a while longer and the wind had managed to whip up the waves quite nicely. So nicely that long waves were running into the harbour and crashing against the inner breakwater of the Boulevard. Apart from the fact we would have a hassle with lowering and retrieving the tenders in those waves, we were also facing the problem of a very bumpy tender ride, to and from the port entrance.  Not a good prospect. Continue reading

Just after midnight I was back on the bridge for the crossing of this traffic intense area that I mentioned yesterday. It was not as busy as it could have been so we had very little to worry about. Still it was interesting to observe some of the antics of the other ships.  We observed two to the North us, agreeing on passing starboard to starboard, while they were already clearing port to port in fully open waters.  That meant that they decided to cross each other’s bow at a short distance and that is something that you normally try to avoid at all costs. Here we saw (on the radar screen) this maneuver carried out as if it was a routine exercise.  Of even more interest was the passing of two fast ferries next to us.  Fast means in this case, making speeds a lot higher than the 20 or 22 knots which is maximum of most of the faster merchant ships out there. We had one opposing ferry doing 26 and a ferry that was overtaking us doing 30 knots. They both passed to the south of us on opposite tracks, so their combined relative speed was 56 knots and that makes them move very fast in opposite directions over the radar screen, especially as we normally work with our radar screens on a setting of 6 and 12 miles for the plotting of other traffic.  With these speeds it is for the faster ship much easier to change course, then for the slower opposing vessel. That happened in this case as well.  The 30 knot Ferry had been approaching us from our starboard stern direction and knew that eventually we would change course to starboard and be in his way. So he made a wide turn to port and was gone before the other ferry came even close.  It gives a whole new dimension in running a large ship; it is just like a speed boat in this case. Continue reading