We slipped into Key West just before the cold front could make its way down to the Keys. By the time we sailed the wind was starting to pick up and we sailed through the exit channel with about 40 knots of wind on the beam. However Key West was a good day. The temperatures were still on the chilly side but that will not change until these cold fronts stop from coming down from the North part of the Gulf of Mexico. Continue reading

Well it was very quiet with the wind at the pilot station. At least for Tampa standards. It only blew a wind force 3 that is 10 to 12 knots. So for change it was easy to sail into the fairway and pick up the pilot without drifting all over the place. Checking the real time weather on the computer gave wind still conditions at the dock, so I thought for once all is well in Tampa Bay. However as we say in the Dutch language “the venom always sits in the tail” thus it was also this time. Right at the one location where we really can not afford too much wind, in Sparkman channel, the wind picked up out of nowhere. Continue reading

A beautiful day at sea. The sun shone all day and there was very little wind for most of the day. That very little wind got me worried about arrival Tampa. Normally when there is no wind in the Tampa area there is a heightened chance of Fog in the early morning hours and that could endanger the docking of the ship if the port closes. The only thing you can try to do is to go as fast as possible and hope that you are so early that you beat the fog to the dock. Thus I kept full speed until I had confirmation from the pilots that they concurred with the local weather forecast as published by the local metrological gurus and there would not be any fog during the coming night. Thus I was able to set my normal arrival time at the sea buoy for 01.30 am. I found out that the Carnival Legend, who is always one hour behind us, had done exactly the same thing. Continue reading

Being the only ship in port gave me the opportunity to park the Veendam at the best location for the day. In this case that was berth 1, the outside of the pier which faces north East. Although the weather forecast had been NE winds force 5, it was blowing NW force 4 but it still meant the NE pier for docking. Berth 3, which I prefer, was not suitable today as the swell was running under the pier and would have caused the ship to roll alongside the dock. Now the Veendam only moved slightly up and down along the dock. During the day the wind died down as we are right in between two little fronts again. Continue reading

I picked up the pilot at 04.00. to enable a docking of 05.30 so the tour could leave by 6 am. For the locals it was winter time. Not in the last 20 years had it been so cold. They were even afraid about fog at the airport. That did not materialize but the noon time temperatures were about 12oF below the regular norm for the time of the year and thus it was cold for the locals. For those coming from the cold north it was a really pleasant temperature with very little to complain about. The cold front did however bring a bit of drizzle in the late afternoon and when we sailed it just looked like an autumn evening in Vancouver. (The dark days before Christmas……..) instead of a tropical nightfall. Continue reading

We overtook the “Tampa” cold front during the night and by the time we arrived at the anchorage the sun was breaking through the clouds and there was a nice gentle breeze blowing over the water. That lasted until just after lunch time when the frontal system caught up with us and the wind increased and it started to drizzle and rain. Luckily most of the clouds missed the ship and thus it was not so bad after all as most rain fell at a distance. Continue reading

The wind kept blowing from the West, North West and that meant that it was partly with us. Also the waves and swell generated with this wind were ¾ on the sb. beam and could thus be taken care of by the stabilizers. The ship still moved a little bit but it got nearly to zero in the later part of the afternoon when we moved more and more away from the wave field that was generated a few days ago by the cold front. Had we traveled directly to the Panama Canal or to Roatan then we would have been in that wave field all the way. Now we hugged the coast of Mexico on a South Westerly and the wave field moved in a South Easterly directly. Continue reading

With mixed feelings we approached the Key West pilot station. Two days ago the pilots had already arranged with the port authorities to change our berth as the weather forecast indicated the passage of a cold front during the course of the day. Great was everybody’s amazement and relief that when we arrived at the pilot station and saw the wind dying down to 14 knots and near the berth to less then 10 knots. The Weather front could be seen on the radar about 20 miles away but only very slowly coming closer and so we could dock without any problems. Continue reading

The frontal system was only slowly moving forward and there was the normal 25 knots of wind at the pilot station. Normal, as in the past weeks we had not seen better, only worse. However the wind was from the South South East and that meant it was blowing straight through Sparkman and Ybor channel towards the berth. With the American Victory in close proximity I decided to use a tugboat as an insurance against the wind catching the funnel while we swung around in the turning basin, thus preventing the chance of bashing into the Victory. That way we happily and safely docked at our regular time. The local weather forecast indicated that the frontal system was now supposed to come over Tampa in the early afternoon and thus I could have an undisturbed few hours sleep. Continue reading

After the small frontal system that brought rain over Costa Maya, we had a good day at sea. The Wind was from the South East so partly on the stern and that meant that there was not that much wind on deck. Also it was not slowing the ship down, something we had gotten used to with the North Westerly winds that normally blow against us. It looks like it that the cold front currently laying over the USA will reach Tampa in the morning hours so we might we able to dock before it really starts to blow. Continue reading