It looked like it that the people from Ketchikan had exported all their rain to British Columbia. During the morning while sailing through Hecate Strait and Queen Charlotte Sound there was a steadily increase in wind but also in rain. The first had been expected the latter not. However it was there and it made the outside world look very gloomy. Luckily most guests spend the morning inside the ship anyway while the ship sped down towards the Canadian Inside Passage.

While coming closer and closer the wind reached gale force winds but by 2 pm. the ship came under the lee of Vancouver Island and then it was better. By the time we reached the pilot station it had diminished in strength but also had changed direction. This made making lee for the pilot boat an interesting puzzle. There was a swell running from the SW and one from the NW and the wind was blowing from the SE. Normally you turn the ship in such a way that you have the swell or the wind full on the beam. Now with opposing swell and wind it was not so easy. In the end the pilot boat and I decided on the “glue alongside manuvre”. This is best described as having the pilot boat come almost alongside and then moving the bow in the direction of the pilot boat. The pilot boat can then put its bow against the ships hull under the pilot ladder and the ships momentum in the turn creates a stable platform, as long as the ship travels just a bit faster than the waves. The stern in the meantime moves away from the pilot boat and that has the effect that the ship “irons” the waves flat.

It worked as planned and the pilot transfer went swift and safely. I had decided to go for the late tide. The early one would have been around 8pm at the latest and that would have meant racing down Johnstone Strait. With going now for the late tide we sailed with a normal sailing speed through the BC Inside Passage. That also gave sometime for some sightseeing. However the weather did not help very much here as it remained rainy and overcast. I took the gamble, hoping that the rain clouds would lift sufficiently, to at least have a look at Alert Bay and the totem poles.

By the time we reached Pulteney point the wind had died down, the rain was reduced to a light drizzle but there were still low hanging clouds. Basically it looked like BC in the winter time but with higher temperatures. Not what the cruise guest expects from a cruise but it did give a good impression. Luckily by the time we reached the Indian Village of Alert bay the clouds just lifted high enough to see the town. With the highest totem pole in the world and the concentration of totem poles around the village green my gamble paid off.

Sailing through the Narrows had been set for midnight and from 11.15 to midnight we had the first fog of the season. Luckily it cleared at Campbell River so it did not affect my short mornings sleep. We sailed through the Narrows just after midnight and by 1 am we had passed Cape Mudge and were in the Strait of Georgia. By 01:05 I was in bed because the phone would ring again at 05.30 for arrival Vancouver.

The people in Ketchikan must be wondering what hit them this season. So many nice days compared to an average year. It is all out of the ordinary. Great for the cruise ship business though. Too much rain does not make for happy cruisers. Thus I was glad we had another dry and even sunny day in Ketchikan.

Somehow it all looks different when the sun is shining. Sailing into Tongass Narrows on the approach Ketchikan was very beautiful. The sides of Tongass Narrows are covered with trees and now it all shone a sparkling green. Ketchikan has been sprawling outwards for the last 20 years and numerous large houses have been built along the North West side of the narrows. The SW side which is the North shore of Gravina Island has some industrial activity connected to logging and gravel digging and that is interesting to look at as well.

When you come closer to Ketchikan itself, Tongass Narrows becomes more narrow, mainly a result of human activity. First there is the ferry terminal of the Alaska state ferry system, whose piers must have once jutted into the Narrows. Later on the Ketchikan Drydock company was added and they have a dry dock that sticks into the Narrows. It is a small dry dock but can handle most of the craft in use in Alaska, such as the large fishing boats, the small ferries and the sightseeing boats both day and overnight. Things seem to be going well for the dry dock company as they have acquired another small dry dock that is to be moored next to, but alongside the other one.

At the moment it is moored on the outside of the large one and a bit of hindrance for the cruise ship traffic. It has reduced the width of the Narrows here even more, but it is supposed to be moved into its final position shortly. On the opposite side of the dry dock company is Ketchikan airport. Several flights a day from Seattle arrive here. The airport is currently being expanded with a longer and larger runway. As it is located on Gravina Island, all traffic to the airport goes via two little ferries which cross the Narrows all day long to keep the airport connected with Ketchikan itself. For a while there was a discussion about building a bridge from Ketchikan via Pennock Island further to the south to connect the airport with a main road. Federal money was made available but local money failed and the project became a bridge too far.

Southbound Ketchikan is an afternoon call and that is partly because of the schedule, even when going full speed I would not be able to make it before 12 am., but as all the docks are occupied, we have an afternoon arrival at 2 pm. taking the berth of the Amsterdam which leaves at 1 pm. She is to be followed 5 minutes later by the Infinity as both ships bound for Victoria and then the Veendam can slide in. The challenge is always to dock as quickly as possible. So I had the Veendam in position near the Infinity at 12.50, and the moment she moved forward the Veendam moved in as well. Luckily both ships left on time, the longshoremen were fast, the forklift driver with the gangway did a good job, CPB cleared the ship as soon as the gangway was out and the guests could stream ashore 20 minutes before 2 pm.

We sailed on time heading south towards British Columbia and towards a lot of wind according to the weather forecast. As most of it is supposed come north of Vancouver Island in the early afternoon, I hope to be able to be under the lee of Vancouver Island when that wind picks up.

Juneau turned out to be a decent day. There was a bit of drizzle in the morning and it remained chilly but for the rest it was a good day. We arrived bright and early and were the first cruise ship to dock, all in accordance with the schedule set up in the beginning of the season. During the past two calls, the Infinity went in first due to medivacs and when that happens the docking of the Veendam becomes a little bit complicated. With 800 feet of dock and 720 feet of ship it means that you have to approach under a wider angle and to be almost stopped in position before you can pull the stern in because of that other ship that is docked alongside already.

Now with the normal arrival sequence the Veendam could just sail in and approach the dock under a small angle sailing over the spot where later the Infinity would dock. The angle of approach in Juneau is important because of a water cushion that tends to build up between the ship and the dock. At our dock, The Alaska Steam dock, we sometimes have no more then 10 feet of clearance under the bow during low tide. If you then have to push the ship sideways to the dock, a wall of water builds up between the ship and the dockside and that water has great difficulty in flowing away, as there is hardly any space between the ships keel and the sea bottom. Thus if you can approach under a bit of angle you can push that water away from the dock, using the ships bow as a knife that “cuts the water”. The amount of angle is the subject of a lot of discussions among ship handlers but I find that about 20 to 30o of angle in relation to the dock normally does the trick. A large angle works as well, but then you have to pull the stern all the way in at the last moment and that takes extra time. That you do when that other ship is there. So it is handy that the Veendam sails into port first and we then can approach the dock under this smaller angle as there is no other ship blocking the approach.

The name Alaska Steam Dock is a left over from the old days. Until 1964 there was a company called the Alaska Steamship Company who maintained a regular passenger service on the coast. They docked at this dock, which was the nearest dock to the town. After 1964 they continued with carrying cargo only and in that period also the Alaska State Ferry system came to prominence, which took over the passenger business.

As an example a photo of one of the steamboats of those days.

This ship is best remembered for the fact that it sank in seven minutes on May 26,1929 after hitting a submerged rock. Of the 116 onboard only one perished because that crew member went back to his cabin to get his lucky charm. The rock which it hit is now called the Aleutian rock. The wreck was found in 2003 and there were activities going on to salvage most of the contents as everything, apart from the wood of the superstructure, was still present. With a length of 375 feet it could carry several hundred persons. Its full time capacity was sometimes reached when it was time for personnel changes at the salmon canneries in the area.

Ships like the Aleutian formed the lifelines of small and remote communities along the coast carrying peoples and goods to and from the major cities. The terminus of the voyage being Seattle and or Juneau. They often sailed in-adequately surveyed waters and regularly touch bottom or hit a rock that was not charted. In this case for the Aleutian they hit it with the full speed of 14 knots and it caused its sinking. Quite often if such a ship would run aground it would just wait for a higher tide and then sail away again. These ships were very strongly built in order to survive the Alaskan winter storms.

The Veendam only sails Alaska in the summer and luckily we now have adequate charts, at least for the areas that we sail in. We also sailed on time, had our USCG escort again and headed south to what is supposed to be a sunny day in Ketchikan.

Alaska is known to deliver four seasons in one week and if possible all four on Monday morning. Thus the weather forecast was way off. Based on my best estimates I thought we would have a dry day and the local weather station backed me up on that. But rain clouds are only one mountain range away and today the rain clouds decided to come around the mountain ridge and visit Skagway. So it was a cold, rainy and windy day. It looks like thought that it will only be today and tomorrow it should be dry again. Juneau is across the next mountain range to the East and that will hopefully keep the rain away.

We were the last ship on the schedule to come in as we were docking at the Ore dock. This dock is used for loading ore ships with ore coming via the Skagway railroad out of the interior. For the summer time they clean the dock up and it is used for cruise ships. There is a clean and nice walkway to downtown and the big advantage is that the tour busses can stop right outside the gangway. Also the helicopter tours are less then a 3 minute walk away. For those who choose not to leave the ship, it is interesting to see what is going on with the helicopters all day long. The Skagway train, which one of the most popular tours in Skagway, can get very close to the gangway and that makes life easy as well.

The funny thing is that while Skagway had rain, Juneau and Ketchikan are going through a drought. Although it is great for the cruise ships to have all these dry days while cruising along, for the locals it is not much fun. Juneau now has a full on hose-pipe-ban. No more water for the cruise ships to load and even the town consumption is closely followed to see if further cuts are necessary. Ketchikan is a town without a town water supply. Each house catches its own water from the roof and leads it into cisterns under the house. If you happen to have a house with a small cistern capacity then after three days of no rain, things can get a bit desperate. It means that you have to buy water from a local supplier who gets it from a nearby lake, but has to filter it and of course charges for this.

Ketchikan is not desperate yet but as they say “the natives are restless”. Looking in my crystal bowl, it seems that it is going to be a dry day as well during our call two days from now. Not good for the water level in the cisterns.

Sailing away from Skagway goes via the opposite routine. The ships leave all around 8 pm. which has to do with the returning of the last tours, and then with 15 to 20 minutes gaps, one after the other leaves the dock. We came in last and so we left last. The Veendam is only going to Juneau, which is just around the corner and even with the early arrival we have planned it is a slow run. Thus we let all the other ships go ahead and then sedately follow the parade down the Lynn Canal.

For those who had been with us on the northbound leg, they now could see Haines from a distance as we passed that port about 2 hours after leaving Skagway. You could still see the town and the scenery around it, as sunset was at 22.11 hrs. (Although this time that took place behind the rain clouds) and it never gets really dark, as the sun rises again at 03.56 hrs. in the morning. The nights at the moment are more a prolonged dusk. I am waiting to see the first signs of the Northern Lights, or the Aurora Borealis, but nobody on the other ships have reported any sightings yet. However we are not even half way through the season, so there is more than enough time for them to appear.

We are scheduled to dock in Juneau at 5 am in the morning and that means that standby starts for me at 3.30 am. It is indeed a short run to Juneau.

What was supposed to be an overcast and gloomy day, turned out to be clear, dry and a bit crisp. However Mount Edgecumbe the dormant volcano could be seen and that meant it was a very good day for Sitka.

Today we tendered into Crescent harbor which is the fisherman’s harbor and boat marina for Sitka. The Infinity had its tenders going to the bridge dock and that thus the cruise guests were descending on the shops from both sides of the main street and that must have satisfied the shopkeepers. None was left out because their shop was on the wrong side of town.

Most guests find tendering a nuisance as it entails waiting to get on the tender to go ashore and waiting to get back again to get to the ship; except here in Sitka. As we are so close to nature it is a very scenic ride. It is not unusual that a tender has to wait for a whale passing by or to stop when a raft of otters paddles by. Today no whales or otters in the area but there were a lot of bald eagles, either flying around or sitting perched high on the buoys and dolphins. The tenders passed by closely, so excellent opportunities for photo taking.

A few blogs ago I explained that it was not me who is running the ship, but the ships Bo’sun as I have to park the ship in such a way that he can do maintenance on the outside of the ship. Another hot item on his list is to keep the anchor and anchor chain clean. So will I please ensure that I drop the anchor somewhere, where there is no mud that might dirty his ship, when we raise that anchor again. In the last few calls at Sitka I have managed to maneuver the ship above a location where there is only gravel on the bottom and then the anchor comes up clear and clean. Not everybody understands the importance of this and this morning I had a very puzzled pilot watching me maneuvering the bow of the ship exactly to a certain spot, within a 500 square feet area. As his background was the tanker trade, he was absolutely flabbergasted that cruise ship captains would take their work to such an extreme that we park somewhere so that the anchor stays clean. He thanked the gods that he decided to become a pilot and did not decide to work on a cruise ship.

With the continuing popularity of cruising to Alaska, the number of tours available to the guests continues to increase. Two years ago saw the arrival of amphibious tours in Ketchikan. This was followed by fast speed boat trips, something that had been exclusively a warm weather enterprise before. Another new item on the list of Shore Excursions is now a submarine tour. Not something I would have dreamt about in my wildest dreams to have happen here in Alaska. Most of the under water area’s are quite bare due to the currents running though the waterways and where there is soil it is mostly mud mixed with gravel which creates murky waters.

However the submarine has arrived in Sitka and offers underwater tours to the giant kelp beds, and an area where you can see the bottom inhabited with star fish, sea cucumbers, crabs and sea anemones. The submarine is really only half a submarine as the top deck remains above water but the submerged half has large picture windows. At one particular place it stops and a diver goes outside and brings wildlife to the picture windows for all to observe. For the rest there are video displays on board connected to a camera operated by the outside diver so the guests can see what the diver sees. At most places the water is too murky for seeing great distances from the submarine so they solved that problem that way.

My wife who was sent on a fact finding mission, said that it was very interesting. I for one would not want to be that diver in the water, much too cold for me even to contemplate, wet suit or no wet suit.

Sailing away was good as Mount Edgecumbe remained clearly visible all the way to the open ocean and only then did we run into our first shower of the day. The whales were quite prominent in the late evening, unfortunately at a time when most guests where in the show. One day I will put in a complaint with the Whale-Union to have them change those hours. Tomorrow we are in Skagway where it should be windy, chilly but dry.

Turning away from Seward always brings the question what will the swell be outside Resurrection bay. With the weather patterns so quickly changing in the North Pacific you never know if the weather you left behind in the early morning is still going to be the same in the late evening. Last time we suddenly had larger swells running into the bay, this time we were lucky and there was just a very low but long swell from the South East and that meant the Veendam could gently ride the waves to Yakutat Bay.

By the early morning, the clouds started to lift and the sun shone brightly on the Fairweather mountain range that dominates the whole coast of the Eastern Gulf of Alaska. It turned out to be a magnificent day. From almost 20 miles away we could see the long wide line, which makes up Hubbard Glacier, glistening in the sunlight. By 1 pm. we entered the bay from the West and started to slow down for the pilot boat. As the water is quite shallow at the entrance of the bay, the swell tends to build up and the little pilot boat was climbing mountains and diving into valleys on the way to the ship. I had to change course almost a 100 degrees to get the Veendam between the swell and the boat so that we could enable a safe transfer.

Ed was there today without Ted, who was still in Juneau but he had brought his two sons with him. Ed’s official name is Bertrand and so we had Bertrand Sr. himself, a Bertrand Jr. and a Stephan coming on board. Jr. is the program leader for this native interpreter speaker program that the tribe operates and he was
onboard to see if his father was doing a proper job. Son number two was there to take video shots with the plan to have Holland America do a DVD about the native interpreter program. Holland America is the only company who operates this program in Hubbard Glacier. Other company’s do not do anything or have just their on-board travel guide say a few words.

With them the two pilots came back, who had left us two days ago. They had waited in the town of Yakutat for two nights, having a sort of free weekend provided by Holland America. The final person who boarded was a Ranger who flies in from the Tongass National Park station and holds a narration from the bridge telling about the birds and the bees, the rocks and the trees and anything else that there is to be seen. While they were doing their job, the Veendam charged up the bay and as there was no ice to been seen we could keep up speed until past Henke Island.

There we found a nice open spot for some magnificent glacier viewing. It was the first time this season that we could come so close, and it is not possible to get much closer as there are rocks and reefs in front of the glacier. The Millennium, which had left Seward late came in 45 minutes behind us, and so we had the best spot until we left. Then they could sit in front of the glacier a little while as well. I stayed 30 minutes longer than scheduled but the view was so gorgeous that it was the best option. I will now have to sail faster during the night, but we do not have such a splendid day everyday.

Panoramic compilation of upper Yakutat bay with Hubbard Glacier by 3rd officer Siemen van der Veen

The cruise down is basically following the coast until we near Cape Edgecumbe where we curve around the Cape and head into Sitka Sound. The weather looks reasonable for tomorrow, overcast with a chance of drizzle. If it drizzles away from the town than we will have a good day.

Although the arrival in Seward was a bit gloomy there was no wind what so ever. That meant that later in the day, a Southerly wind picked up and that normally guarantees a nice day, unless the wind is caused by a storm system. At the moment the storm/low pressure system is much further to the south, with one creating a lot of turbulence near the Columbia River. We might get some swell generated by this system on the way back but that should be it.

Our Seward pilot today was Captain Ryan and he used to be a cruise ship captain in the past, sailing on the Universe Explorer. All his other colleagues have a tanker background as most of the US merchant nowadays consists of tankers. For being a good pilot your background is not that important, your skills are, but being from the same work background makes it easier to relate to the daily troubles of a cruise ship captain. Especially as he had been nearly as long on the coast as I had and so there was room for some reminiscing about the good old days, when things were not as highly structured as they currently are.

While we were slowly moving towards the dock, we suddenly saw what looked like a fishing boat parked alongside our berth. We called the agent, they looked over the dock side and there was nothing there. Confusion all around. When we came closer we suddenly realized what it was. Somebody had painted his name on the fender on the edge of the dock. Together with two other names below it, also in white paint, is just looked like a docked Boston whaler from a distance. With that issue out of the way, I parked the Veendam on the inch again, so that the conveyor belt fitted into the ship for the luggage, and then our normal change over day could start.

About 300 guests will stay with us to do the southbound cruise as well and quite a few of them went on a day tour to the see the sights in the interior. They go by bus or train up to anchorage and then came back or vice a versa. While the Hotel department was doing their change over day activities, the engine room was carrying out maintenance on the fresh water system. Same as on land, water supply pipes sometimes need overhaul and renewal. The deck department was occupied with a test of the ships ventilation system and the Fire screen doors. If a smoke detector goes off in the ship and the alarm is not accepted on the bridge within 90 seconds all Fire screen and Water tight doors will close and the General alarm will sound. As the Officer of the Watch accepts alarms normally within 30 seconds we never know if this really works. Thus on a regular basis we have to do this test. At the same time we were checking the smoke path from a fan room to the outside decks.

As all doors will close, with this test, you cannot do it with a ship full of people and therefore we do it during a change over day. Most guests find it fascinating to see what is going on during a period when there is nobody onboard and with the proper announcements made they all feel part of the operation. We did our test and everything worked as planned.

In the mean time the weather had turned in glorious sunshine and it was a good day for a change over. By 11.30 the first guests started to arrive and with the Millennium doing the same thing it was a busy afternoon in the terminal. By 19.15 we had everybody onboard and we could prepare the ship for departure. Shortly after, we were sailing down Resurrection Bay down to open waters heading back to the Yakutat.
Note: latest addition is the new employee of the month of June 2008 check handright side.

We sailed out of Sitka with nice weather and found that the swell had indeed abated very much during the day. The Veendam was still gently pitching but it was minimal, more visible to the eye than to the senses when away from the outside. For the first time there was a total absence of whales outside Cape Edgecumbe. It took until we were about 15 miles off shore before we saw the first spouts in the distances. None of the whales came close to the ship so we could keep our speed heading for Yakutat bay.

We are scheduled to be in Yakutat bay from 0700 until 1100 on a northbound cruise which includes the visit to the Glacier and the narration and lecture by the Rangers and Indian Interpreters. I was hoping that by now some of the ice would have left the bay, so I would be able to go further up to the glacier, so I came in an hour earlier to pick up the Rangers and Indians. This time only one Indian interpreter. Ed and Ted were in Juneau, attending an official gathering of the Indian tribes of the Alaskan coast. According to the pilot this is a yearly happening and representatives travel from far and wide to attend this meeting for political and cultural exchange. They are supposed to be back next cruise.

Indeed the ice was less dense than on previous cruises and we managed to get past Henke Island which sits in the middle of the upper bay, just south of the glacier. We were together with the Millennium and as they were an hour ahead of us at the pilot station, the Veendam followed in.

The glacier is wide and big enough to accommodate more then one ship, but as the ice is not in a straight line, it looks sometimes as if one ship is closer to the glacier than the other, while this is not really the case. While the Millennium sat to the East, the Veendam was more in the middle but had the view of both glacier sides. There is always a large outflow of ice coming from the glacier due to the melting water, and with the movement of the tide there is a lot of ice movement going on. So when we were leaving the glacier the ship had a lot of this ice flow around it. This is not dangerous to the ship; it just takes a while to carefully maneuver away from it. Ice is only dangerous when you make speed and collide with it. When you gently nudge your way through it, it will be pushed aside without any problems, even with larger pieces.

So while the guests were enjoying the lecture and talking to the Rangers we sailed back to the Yakutat bay pilot station, again together with the Millennium. They were really in a hurry and blasted out of the bay with full speed. That ship has a higher speed than the Veendam, and they need that higher speed as they are supposed to dock two hours earlier in Seward tomorrow. That means making up 40 extra miles in a lesser time span.

The Gulf of Alaska was nice and quiet so we had an easy ride in the direction of Seward. As there were rain clouds hanging on the Fairweather range we could not see Cape St. Elias this time, which was a pity as it is a very pronounced Cape and easy to see. The weather should be good tomorrow. Overcast in the morning, but if the southerly winds sets through it should become sunny.

Today was a bit of a drizzly day, although it got much better later on. Still the guests should have been happy and appreciative of Sitka. Outside it was blowing 20 knots of wind but as the anchorage of Sitka is sheltered from any wind but the North West it was nearly wind still.

That brings me to one of the greatest challenges of a captain in regards to communication to all on board. How to explain that although a day is not that great (no great sunshine and tropic temperatures) but still a very good day! We were very lucky to go to Sitka today instead of going up the coast. Last night the ship slowly started to move on the swell caused by this weather system in the North Pacific. The weather system also caused a mini gale just south of the Yakutat Bay, resulting in 40 knots of wind and 17 to 18 feet of waves. Had our schedule taken us directly to the Yakutat then it would have been an extremely un-comfortable ride for the guests. Now we had Sitka first and the swell had time to die down before we were heading that way. For me a good reason to be happy.

However as science has proved, when you make an announcement, of the 100 people that hear it, 40 to 50 do not take any notice, about 40 will listen and only about 10 will react to it directly. Those 40 that will listen need another announcement to get them going. So when I make an announcement about “where we are and where we are going” then I know that only 40% will really understand and digest what I am saying and about 10% will do something with it. The rest will just say “what was that all about and continue doing whatever they were doing”. Scientists have come to these conclusions after analyzing disasters and emergencies and trying to figure out why people said “nobody told me anything” while there was proof that information had been given. The only solution is to make multiple announcements and repeat in short messages what is going on.

Of course I cannot make multiple announcements as I would upset all sorts of activities onboard. The daily program is packed with things going on and when an interesting lecture is going on, the audience does not need a captain suddenly talking through it all. Thus I try to find a time on port days, when it works without interfering with anything else. On sea days there is the Voice from the Bridge at 1 pm. but on port days I have to find a time sometime after departure. So today I had planned my announcement just after departure when clear from all the houses that would be able to hear it. We also have a protocol in Alaska that stipulates that we will not upset the locals with yet another bingo announcement.

I thought I had picked my time carefully but on double checking the daily program I found that there was a religious service going on in the theatre. I cannot make a public room announcement without going through the Theatre as well and thus I had a problem. I could not do it later, because then I was coming too close to the Baked Alaska parade in the dining room, another venue not to disturb. In end I had to leave it for one time.

Luckily I have this problem only Northbound in Sitka. On the other days there is somewhere a gap in the hotel activities that allows me to say a few words about “where we are and where we are going “.

We sailed from Sitka on time and had a bit of a wobbly ride up the coast for the first few hours but as the swell continued to abate, by 11 pm. the ship was fairly quiet again. Tomorrow we are in the Yakutat, going up to the Hubbard glacier. Let’ see how close we will be able to get this time.

Panic in Juneau today. They were running out of water and the ships all got a limited hose pipe ban. Yesterday the agent informed us that there would be a restriction on the loading of potable water in Juneau as the reservoirs were going down. We found that hard to believe of course. In an area where it rains most of the time, how can you run out of water? Well first of all, it had hardly rained in Juneau for the past three weeks and with that I do not mean drizzle but regular rain. It had been fairly dry. Secondly the very good weather has speeded up the melting of the snow and the run off caused a high turbidity of the water reservoirs for Juneau. As a result the water company is operating at about a 3rd of their capacity.

Although there is still enough water to supply the city, there is not enough for giving unlimited quantities of water to the ships, hence the limitation. We call that a hose-pipe-ban in England. When we arrived, we were given a loading window from 1 pm to 6 pm. with only a one hose capacity. The chief engineer had hoped to load all day and to be able to fill all the tanks up. The water quality in Juneau is very good and it is a lot cheaper to buy water, than it is to make it onboard where we have to burn expensive fuel to do it. Tomorrow we are in Sitka at anchor so we cannot load water there, then it is scenic cruising in Yakutat bay, so no loading there, thus the next chance will be Seward on Friday. Thus no local water for the guests the coming days but Veendam’s own.

We docked in Juneau very early and for them it must have been a good day as it was raining. For most of the day it drizzled, sometimes it really rained but there was the occasional dry spell. Not that great for us but at least it helped with not depleting the water reservoirs any further. The Veendam led the parade into Juneau again and by 8 am. 4 cruise ships had parked themselves in the harbor and were unleashing their hordes of eager shoppers on downtown. I do not think that the rain held anybody back as the tours were busy and all the shops looked full. Only those who had been to Juneau before, had seen the sights and had bought the t-shirt, choose to remain onboard.

This was my day to keep a close eye on the weather forecast. The weather in the mid pacific has been very unsettled in the last few days and there was a chance that a weather front would intensify just when we are supposed to come in the open sea on the way to Sitka. The wind is increasing indeed in velocity but the lay of the system is such that the waves should not be that high when we get to open waters. Looking at the forecast I estimated that we are going to get about 8 feet. That means that the Veendam will gently pitch on the waves but that it will not be an uncomfortable ride.

The system is generating a mostly South Easterly wind and that means that the anchorage will be fairly well protected by the mountains. Only if the wind shifts West or North West we will have a windy day in the port. From now on it is a wait and see what the system is going to do next. It might split or go North, it might go South East or it might disappear completely. Weather forecasts in Alaska are extremely short term, with anything over 24 hours to be taken with a pinch of salt. The bulletins get updated about every 6 hours and it is only in high summer that a 3 or 4 day prediction remains unchanged.

We left Juneau on time and although it was rainy and overcast, it showed the green colors of the mountain sides in Gastineau channel very favorably and so we had a very scenic sail away. By 11 pm. we were outside in the Pacific and the Veendam was very gently moving. Just before I went to bed a report came in from the agent of Juneau advising that all water supplies to the ships would be discontinued from tomorrow on, as the reservoir level was in danger of falling below what was needed to sustain the fire brigade. Not a good time to live in Juneau. They are still suffering from lack of electricity due to the avalanche that damaged the power lines a few weeks ago and now they might run out of water.