Captain Albert Schoonderbeek

This was the second full day at sea and again we had glorious weather. A gentle breeze was blowing from the southeast, a low swell was running from the northeast and there were just a few clouds to the North of us. As we were heading into the wind with 20 knots (that is a wind force 5) it was a bit breezy in the bow area but it was perfect at the stern. Everybody was settling down in a nice routine, enjoying the ship and its amenities, and I was hoping for a “boring” day so I could deal with the last of the hand over paperwork. However sailing a cruise ship is never boring, even when you hope for it. Murphy is always around and as we sail with people things will always happen un-expectedly.

So it was no different today and suddenly I had a medivac (shipboard medical evacuation) on my hands. In the course of the afternoon a crewmember had been submitted to the ships hospital and his situation was so serious that the doctor requested to have him disembarked as soon as possible. That is not so easy in the North Atlantic when you are far away from land. You cannot just request a helicopter to coming flying over. If you need a helicopter you will have to be inside its acti-radius and that normally means changing course. This is called “deviating” at sea and that might even mean sailing the opposite way, back to where you came from, until you come to a port or are within helicopter reach. Thus a decision to approve a medivac is sometimes difficult to make as it quite often has a big impact on the cruise schedule. However a captain will always agree with the doctor’s request and arrange a medivac unless it would endanger the ship itself or it occupants. If this danger is not present then the medivac will take place even if it means that one or more future ports of call have to be cancelled because of the delays caused by it. Human life takes precedent over all.

However in this case I was in luck as we were passing by Bermuda in the course of the evening. As explained yesterday I had chosen the Great Circle route to Punta Delgada to save time and fuel and that route was taking the ship just South of Bermuda. So I only had to change course a bit to the North and head for St Georges sea buoy. The local agent was called and he set all things in motion. The pilot boat was arranged to come out and take the patient off. Only thing I had to do was to get as quickly as possible to the sea buoy which was our rendezvous point. With the pedal-to-the-metal we arrived there at 10.30 hrs. in the evening. I had advised the guests early in the evening about what was going to happen as it would have been a bit strange to suddenly see a fully lit up island passing on the portside while you are convinced that you are in the middle of the ocean; miles way from civilization.

Also Bermuda had beautiful weather and by keeping the wind on the beam of the portside of the ship; the sea was as smooth as a mirror on the starboard side, making it perfectly calm for the pilot boat to come alongside and do the transfer of the stretcher. Everything, clearing the ship, the ships doctors discussion with the shore doctor and the transfer was done within 20 minutes and before 23.00 hrs, the Prinsendam was on the way again. I lost in total about 2 hours of steaming time, so 40 miles to make good due to the deviation but with more than 4 days of sailing still to come, I will be able to make that up. We have a bit of Gulf Stream current pushing us in the back and with the very smooth weather that we have, I will be able to compensate for the lost time/mileage very quickly and thus I expect to arrive on time in the Azores.

Now we are all keeping our fingers crossed that everything will go well with our crewmember. We should get an update tomorrow, when the hospital in Bermuda has had time to evaluate the patient.

Tomorrow is again a sea day with expected good weather and we have now started loosing an hour each day due to the time difference between the USA and Europe. We do those time changes at noon time, clocks going forward, and I will explain the why behind that tomorrow.

Captain Albert Schoonderbeek

This morning at 6 am., we left North West Providence Channel in the Bahamian chain of islands and entered the North Atlantic on our way to Punta Delgada in the Azores. We are supposed to arrive there on 7 May, so we have six beautiful sea days ahead of us. The weather is cooperating with partly cloudy skies and a gentle breeze and the North Atlantic is letting its presence known with only a very low swell. It just makes the Prinsendam move a little bit. Just enough to let everybody know that they are on a ship but not so much that it is really noticeable when you go around.

When you cross the ocean you have the option to do that in various ways and that has to do with the fact that the earth is a sphere. Normally it is a given that a straight line gives the shortest distance between two points. However as the earth is curved, it is not the case when the distance becomes longer and longer. Due to the curvature of the earth, a straight line is not the shortest route; it is a curved line or arc that follows the path of the smallest curvature of the earth; we call this a Great Circle line. A straight line is called a Rhumb line. The difference between the two lines is that the Great circle line closely follows the curvature of the globe and is therefore the shorter route, but it takes the ship on a higher latitude. A Rhumb line is longer but stays more to the south.

As a captain I have the option to choose which route I will take. The shorter Great Circle, which will save time and fuel or the Rhumb line, which is longer and costs more time and fuel, but as it stays further south it might bring better weather. Therefore it is important to scrutinize the weather charts in the northern parts of the North Atlantic with great intent, as that is where most of the bad weather is coming from. Not only wind and rain but also wave fields left behind by storms, storms long gone, but which can still make for an unpleasant ship movement.

An example of the difference between Rhumb Line and Great Circle in distance.

This time all looked well on the weather charts and thus I decided on the Great Circle route. This route is about 35 miles shorter than the Rhumb line and so I save nearly two hours in steaming time. As we have a set arrival time, I can now sail a little bit slower and save some fuel. If the weather would suddenly change then there is always the option to change from Great Circle to Rhumb line and from that moment follow a more southerly route again. However the weather looks good, so I think we will be ok.

One thing that I always find a pity is that we cannot look under the water when we enter the North Atlantic. The Bahamian chain of islands is nothing else than the tops of mountain ranges at the edge of the North American shelf. So when we sail away from them, these mountains slope down to what we call the bottom of the ocean. Within 12 hours of entering the North Atlantic that bottom is over 15000 feet away. Then the ocean floor becomes flat. Well relatively flat in comparison with the height of those “mountains”. This flat area is called the Hatteras Abyssal plain. There are still height differences here of around 1500 feet, but compared with the 15000 feet average depth that is relatively flat. I always find it a pity, that we cannot see that, because just looking at a sea chart with the depth contours, does not give you a good idea about the immensity of it all. 15000 feet is a very long way down if you have to swim it.

Yesterday; was the 30th. of April which is the official birthday of the Dutch Queen. Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. Normally we throw a nice party on the ship in her honor but due to the change over day in Fort Lauderdale we could not do that. As you will have read in the news, the festivities in the Netherlands were cut short as a lunatic driving a car plowed through the spectators who were watching the Queen in the royal coach going around the town. As far as I know 5 spectators were killed and numerous severely injured. The lunatic himself also died from his injuries so we will never know why he did it. Our thoughts here on board are with the bereaved family’s, and in a way I am glad we did not have the chance to throw a party as it would not have been right to do so. Most of the festivities in the Netherlands were completely cancelled and the country is currently in mourning.

Tomorrow will be our second day at sea and the weather is still holding well.