This was a very early morning arrival and well for two reasons. First of all, the earlier you arrive, the less wind there is and secondly I wanted to get in before the Empress of the Seas. That ship was sailing later in the evening and that would mean that the Veendam would be docking closer to the exit of the harbor ahead of the other ship. Thus if I would come in second, I would have to sail past the ship and dock just in front. That is not pleasant with a lot of wind blowing. You sail pass a ship, it blocks the wind, so you loose the balance of course and speed in regard to the wind angle and force; and then when past that ship, the wind blows against the ship again, you need to re-find the balance and you have to put the breaks on to stop and then come sideways alongside. It is much better to be first.

When we came in the port, it was blowing and not a steady wind, but with wind gusts. With just a steady wind you can compensate with speed and drit angle can contain a sideways momentum to the dock. With gusting wind, there is the danger is that when you give the ship a certain speed in drifting towards the dock and the wind falls away, the ship will suddenly set very fast towards the dock with a danger of hitting the dock. When the wind falls away, you compensate for that by stopping the sideways movement. But, of course, the moment you do that, the wind comes back and blows you to the other side of the fairway. Sometimes the only option is then to sail out of the bay and try again.

The harbor of Oranjestad Aruba is a natural Banana-shaped-bay, separated by a reef from open water. Most ships come in through the North West entrance and leave via the South East entrance. So if the maneuver would have to be aborted, you just put the throttle forward and sail out again through the South East entrance. It is always good to have a plan B, even if you have no intention of using it.

Well the good ship Veendam sailed into the port, with a lot of wind into the harbor and with the pilot announcing half way in, that there was a strong current running that had not been there before. Always nice to find that out when you have committed yourself to an approach already. However as it was a following current, it just meant going a bit faster astern on the engines. The docks here in Oranjestad are prepared for a lot of wind, a wind that in the same way as in Bonaire, blows full on the beam. Big bollards are set in the middle of the dock to take the breast lines of the ship which will hold the ship alongside. We made sure that we put plenty of those breast lines across the dock. Good thing we did as during the course of the morning we observed wind gusts from up to 30 knots and that is near gale. The guests had a great time, a bit of a breezy day, but a sunny day.

One of the guests had the passport blown out of the hand by this breeze when coming up the gangway and that passport went straight into the water between ship and dock. However an alert Asst. Housekeeper got a fishingnet and scooped it up in no time. I hope that the guest appreciated his quick actions.

With a fast speed stretch ahead of me to Grand Cayman, I was in a hurry to pull out of Aruba and then we had a delay because guests were missing. After verifying the security system, checking the cabin and making announcements, we were certain they were not on board. After waiting for another 15 minutes, I pulled out. Doing something like this is a very difficult decision. You know that the guests are most likely delayed for a reason not their fault, so you want to wait, but you also have 1200 guests on board who want to go to Grand Cayman. In the end the couple arrived on the pier 1 and ½ hour after the ship had departed. We always make sure that the ships agent remains on the dock until missing guests have been found or arrived and then the agency helps them to get back to the ship in the next port. In this case they will have to fly from Aruba to Miami and from there to Grand Cayman. Flights and two hotel nights; that is not going to be cheap. When they come back on board, we will find out what happened to them.

The Veendam made a flying departure from the dock and with 30 knots of wind, first on the side and then in the stern, the ship was very quickly on the way to Grand Cayman, where we will arrive the day after tomorrow.

Bonaire is one of the six islands that are still part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. In the north east of the Caribbean Sea we have St. Maarten, St. Eustatius and Saba and in the South West we have Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao. The latter three are normally called the ABC islands. They are the remnants from the empire days when Dutch Merchants fleets controlled the world and had trading posts in Nieuw Amsterdam (New York), Kaapstad (Cape Town), Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), Suriname (Surinam) and a host of other places. When the empire started to dissolve after the Second World War, these islands opted to remain part of the Dutch Kingdom in one form or the other. Therefore it is always nice to come to Bonaire as it is Caribbean with a Dutch touch.

Kralendijk is a name derived from Koralendijk, or Coral—–dyk. It used to be the main trading post for the island and as Bonaire is nothing but an elevated coral reef, the name makes sense. Water is very deep here; about 200 feet from the dock it still goes four hundred feet down and then suddenly rises to very shallow. When approaching the dock it almost looks like, for an outsider, as if I am steering the ship onto the beach and only at the last minute bring the bow over and line up against the dock. Due to this deep water just of the land, they could never built docks here that extended further out to open waters. Had the shallow area more wider then they could have built a dock in the direction of the wind. Because it is the wind what is causing problems for the ships to dock here.

The dock, being in line with the shore, is built perpendicular on the prevalent wind direction of North East to East. The Tradewinds blow with average velocity of 15 to 20 knots and that is close to thruster capacity to counteract. When coming alongside the wind comes full on the beam and then you ahve to hold the ship in position while the (very long) mooring lines are being paid out. Best thing is to do is to arrive before sunrise when the winds are not so strong yet, as they tend to pick up a bit more after sunrise. On this cruise that did not work as our official arrival time was 9 am., due to the distance we had to cover from Isla de Margarita.

On arrival however, the winds were reasonable and that saved me a few grey hairs. There are tugboats available if needed but they have a long call out time and waiting for them will delay arrival. The dock is fairly small and the ship sticks out at both sides of the dock. Thus we have to run very long lines to the shore side. Lines that are mainly there to keep the ship from drifting away from the pier because of the Tradewinds. There are two of these small docks but we were the only cruise ship in port today.

The Dutch officers tend to use this port to go shopping. The local supermarket has a lot of Dutch goodies for sale and normally an extensive contribution to the local economy is made. As I have a half Dutch, Half British officer complement on the bridge and in the engine room, there is a sort of indoctrination program going with both sides trying to exhort the greatness of certain national treats. The Dutch, including me, are trying very hard to get the British hooked on Dutch salt Licorice (zoute drop) and near Christmas time on spiced nuts (pepernoten) but thus far the only thing that has been found acceptable is Syrup or Caramel wafers (stroop wafels). The British on their side are having a hard time in convincing the Dutch that Bangers and Mash and Bubble and Squeak are real and edible dishes and that warm beer is really drinkable. I have been converted to warm beer, Ale, in the mean time but the British National dishes are still a challenge for me. So I eat “zoute drop” and leave the Bangers and Mash to the British.

Bonaire is not too touristy as a matter of fact they try very hard to keep their own identity, having seen what happened to Aruba and Curacao. They regulate the tourist industry and try to prevent unbridled expansion of shopping arcades. Therefore the guests, maybe apart from the shop-a-holics, really like the place.

Due to the ever blowing wind, departure was easy, let go the lines and by the time the long lines have been brought in, the ship is 500 feet from the dock and we can just swing around and set sail for Aruba.

Now that is a Shop-a-holic paradise,

Isla de Margarita is a long and wide island with the place where we have to go in the middle at the South side. Thus the approach takes a while to complete. Coming from the open Caribbean Sea we first sail for 30 miles through a fairly shallow channel and then make a sharp turn into the bay of El Guamache. There is really nothing there, apart from the cargo dock and the tender pier.

The reason that we are calling here is one out of necessity. When Holland America Line came to Isla de Margarita for the first time in the last 80’s, we anchored at Porlamar. This is the main town on the island and a resort in the style of Acapulco. However the anchorage is very open to South Easterly winds and swell. Because of that it was often that we could not operate a tender service as there was too much swell running along the boarding platform. In the end the decision was made to start docking at El Guamache cargo dock. This meant that the guests have to get on a mini bus or go by taxi to Porlamar but at least the can get there, instead of having to look at the area from the ship while it sails by.

When other company’s saw that this worked very well, they also started calling here. Some company’s did this on weekly and all year around cruises. In the same way as it works in Dominica (see blog of 9 Nov.) with docking preference the ship with the higher frequency of calling docks, and the other ship(s) have to anchor. As we are only calling here four times during this winter season, we will have to anchor each time. Every call, the Empress of the Seas (RCI) will dock from 06.00 to 15.00 hrs. and the Holiday Dream (Pullmantur) docks from 15.00 to 22.00 hrs. The holiday Dream comes in at 10 am. and has to use tenders until the Empress leaves.

We were at anchor by 7 am. after having followed the Empress of the Seas through the channel towards the dock. Venezuela is not yet that regulated that the local Coastguard controls the air waves so for most of our journey along the island we had very nice South American music to listen to, broadcasted on VHF channel 16. This VHF 16 is the hailing and emergency channel so in principle not such a good idea but I have to assume that the person transmitting the music was not aware of that.

With the two other ships moving from and to the dock, I was forced to anchor a bit further out, then I really liked. If the Empress had stayed put all day, I could have almost dropped the anchor on the dock and keep the tender ride to a minimum. But that ship was leaving at 15.00 hrs. and had then to go between me and the Holiday Dream, so I had to keep a bit of a distance, thus increasing the tender ride to about 5 minutes.

It was a very windy day but as we anchored in the bay, there were only wavelets but no long waves which you only get over long stretches of open waters. Thus it was not uncomfortable. I had a visit in the morning from the local director of tourism and the harbor master who brought the good news that they are building a cruise ship dock in Porlamar. That will mean that by the end of next year, two ships will be able to dock close to the resort. The Veendam is not coming back to this area next year, as we are doing a 32 day Amazon cruise followed by seven day West Caribbean cruises. However the company might be back in 2009 there as I have not yet seen the sailings schedules for that year.

It being a windy day meant that departure meant doing very little. We raised the anchor and while swinging around on the bow thruster the wind blew us right out of the bay into open waters.

Tomorrow we are in Kralendijk, Bonaire and a piece of my home country in a Caribbean setting.

We arrived iat St Georges pilot station at 7 am. They built a brand new dock here two years ago, so that bigger cruise ships do not have to go to the anchorage. It has a little cruise terminal as well, and from the terminal you can walk through a tunnel to the downtown area. 20 minutes later we were docked at the pier with the gangway out. The Veendam would just fit into down town inner harbour but it would mean getting all the ships out, to give me enough room to swing alongside the dock and thus we also went to the big new pier.

What was more important today was the fact that it was Remembrance Day (Commonwealth) and Veterans Day (USA). This because 89 years ago on the 11th minute of the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th. Month in 1918 Armistice was declared. This day later became Veterans Day in the USA and Remembrance Day in Great Britain and the British Commonwealth,

As we have on these 14 day cruises, a slightly more mature clientele on board, we did have a number of veterans present. The cruise director thought it was a good idea to do a remembrance service. I was all for it, as I do think it is important to honour those who put their lives on the line for freedom and especially those who paid the ultimate price.

Thus we held a service in the main lounge at 16.30 with approximate 200 guests attending.

1. Opening Hymn: Amazing Grace
2. Reading and comments by the Reverend Mrs. Kuhn
3. Moment of silence
4. Reading and Lords prayer by Father Pierce
5. Speech by Captain
6. Recognition of the present veterans
7. Closing Hymn: Battle hymn of the Republic.

In Holland we celebrate Remembrance Day on May 4th. and Liberation day on May 5th. But I have lived in England for long enough a time, to know what they do on 11 Nov. especially as both my parents in law are (Second World War) Veterans. As we were in port, we could not do the 2 minutes silence in the morning on 11hrs.11 min. so we had to do it during the service.

I had to come up with a speech that would do both for the USA and Commonwealth. Luckily we have the internet. So below is the result of some cutting and pasting, with a few own idea’s thrown in to make it flow.

captain-remembrance-day-speech.doc

Grenada does celebrate Remembrance Day as well and they used to give a gun shot from St. Georges Fort to mark the beginning of the 2 minutes silence and the end. According to the pilot it was getting harder and harder to get real gun powder to the island and thus the gun has been silent since a few years. With the unfortunate effect that the locals seem to forget the occurrence then.

We pulled away from the dock on time with a lot of wind blowing. There is a tropical wave approaching the south east Caribbean so we are looking at a few windy days. We are going west, and when we sail, we will have the wind going with us and that will count for continued smooth sailing.

Tomorrow we are in El Guamache, better known as Isla de Margarita.

A traffic jam that was what it was. A real ship traffic jam. 4 cruise ships, a sailing training vessel and three cargo ships all converging on the pilot station and all with different ETA’s then announced. The port issues a schedule the day before, via the ships agents, with all the times of the ships coming in and the idea is that the captains stick to that schedule. Unfortunately, this is most of the time not the case and it is something I really hate. I give my ETA to the authorities very early, ask them if it will work out for the port operation and then stick to it. Thus I had set my pilot time for very early in the morning so I would be the first ship going into port, as I had to go to the most difficult berth. A very good location for the guests to go ashore but a bit tight to get in to with other ships already docked.

However it seemed that everybody had brought their arrival time forward and when I lined the Veendam up, the Sea Princess was already moving into port. Port Control did order the Empress of the Seas to wait as they understood that a 120 feet clearance for coming alongside is better then 30 feet, especially with the threat of rain squalls. We docked at the sugar berth, called so as it used to be for loading sugar in bulk. Three old elevators are still standing there although they have not been in use for a long time. The only way I can dock there is starboard side alongside, as with the Lido Restaurant overhang on deck 11, these elevators would touch the ship if we went portside alongside. Our gangway had to fit exactly between the pillars of the 3rd elevator housing, so we docked on the inch here. Apart from the occasional shower, more of a downpour in reality, it was a sunny day. Most of my British officers and crew ran ashore to stack up on goodies from home as this is still part of England in tradition and in way of living.

Here in Bridgetown they have days when six or seven cruise ships call at the same time and when this happens all the cargo ships are sent to the anchorage. Much to the annoyance of their captains, as for them time is also money. Not too long ago one of my class mates from the Maritime Academy in Amsterdam, who is now in command of a refrigerated cargo ship started a tirade, on the VHF, against these “bl****y fur-coat boats”. For them always getting preference and for them always being in the way. He did not realize that I was the captain of that “b****y fur-coat boat” he was having a go at. So when he was finally finished venting his anger, I told him, “Well if you can not beat them, why don’t you join them”. I will not repeat what he said then but it was rather elaborate and not really fit for consumption in a church hall. He finally quieted down when he found out that it was a class mate at the other side of the VHF. But he had to spend the day at anchor until the cruise ship that occupied his berth left and then he could come in. But a least he had the good grace to answer my whistle salute, when I backed the ship out of the berth, slowly passing him, while he was discharging his load of freezer containers.

Apart from the Sea Princess and the Empress of the Seas, we also had the Seabourn Pride in port and the Freewinds who had been in port since the day before. The Freewinds sails for the Scientology church, hopping from one port in the south Caribbean to another. The ship normally spends long periods in port, always staying overnight and slowly making its way to the next port. The ship is quite significant from an historical perspective. It was one of the first ships especially built for the new emerging cruise market in 1968. Called the Boheme it was owned by a Scandinavian company called Wallinius. The owner of Wallinius is an Opera buff, so all the ships have names related to the operas. So if you see a car carrier anywhere in the world, with an operatic name, then it is this company. The ship was marketed by Commodore Cruises and sailed between Miami and St Thomas. It had a capacity to take cars as well but that was never very successful So later the entrance hatch was welded shut. It carried a max. of 540 guests with a tonnage of just over 10.000. In 1986 it was sold to the scientology church as their “sea going retreat” and has been doing that ever since. I do not know how she will fare after 2010 when the new safety rules come into being but until now she ship has been holding out quite well.

We left just after sunset and started a slow crossing to Grenada, with the wind and the waves going with us.

Dominica is a bit of a peculiar island because as it has only become lately a major port of call for cruise ships. It is largely un-spoiled with most of the island being a pristine forest. Downtown has not been “sanitized” yet with sparkling rows of shops and most of the town still looks like a Caribbean town. Some nice parts, some parts neglected and some very poor areas. As a result we get some very mixed reactions in regards to calling here with the “shopping brigade” on board issuing a negative vote and those into learning something new, being quite pleased. Thus it is mostly not on the schedule for 7 day cruises. But on a 14 day cruise, where we hop around all the Caribbean islands it is a nice change from St. Thomas. People are friendly and things still happen with a chaotic Caribbean charm that is only annoying if you are a really impatient person.

We arrived at our scheduled time of 0900, as it is a tight run from St Thomas, even with the flying start that I managed on departure yesterday. Arrival is nice to watch. First you see the mountains arriving over the horizon, followed by the houses against the mountain and then finally a little grey line on the water and that is our downtown docking pier. The pilot boards about a mile from shore and takes care of the communication with the lines boats for docking, while I park the ship against this small T pier. The pilot was very proud in announcing that during the past winter they had installed two new Yokohama fenders for better docking. Yokohama fenders are big, sausage looking hollow rubber bumpers, which are extremely good for cushioning the ship when it rests against the dolphins. Each fender cost about $ 100.000 US, so two fenders is quite an investment for a port with only two docks. Thus the pilot was very happy and proud.

The other dock is called Woodbridge and is located about 15 minutes walk to the North. It is a much nicer dock, as it is in principle a cargo dock, so there is room on the pier to land cargo. This also means that is more room for guests to walk and wait around when coming off the gangway. The chief officer loves it, as he can paint the side of the ship, as the whole of the ship rests along the main body of the pier. Of course for our guests it is better to be in down town, less to walk and no Cab to take. But dock assignments go on frequency and as we are coming only six times this season to Roseau, the downtown dock goes to another ship next call. So we will go to Woodbridge for next call.

The call after that, we will have to anchor, as our call will coincide with a ship on the 14 day cycle and a ship on the 10 day cycle. Before this was very un-pleasant as there was only a little horrible step behind the ferry terminal, which is most of the time exposed to the swell. But then the Japanese came. Their foreign aid program sponsored a fisheries school in Roseau and with it came a complete new dock. When needed, we can reserve that dock for our tender operation. It is little harbor with a solid jetty and our tender boats can dock inside, out of the wind and out of the swell. As it is a bit further away from the anchorage, I most of the time stay “on the engines”, that means maneuvering the ship all day, so the tender ride is reduced to 3 minutes.

It was a warm day in Roseau, as the mountains keep most of the sea wind away. It almost has to storm on the North Atlantic before the mountains lets a decent breeze come down to the town.

The ship donated another 100 ships matrasses and this time to the local Red Cross We are going to do one more off load in Santo Tomas next cruise, and then we have completed our on board mattress exchange program.

Departure is a non event in Dominica. You just let go all the lines and the gentle breeze will push you off the dock. So we did and we were on our way to England. Well almost, we were going to Bridgetown Barbados. But they have very good manners there. The regular shops close on Saturday afternoon at 2 pm., as at 3 pm, the weekly cricket game starts. That is what I call British civilization.

Everybody talks about St Thomas but the port that we are calling at is called Charlotte Amalie. A name which is a left over from the days that the Danish owned St Thomas. The place is named after Queen Charlotte Amalie who lived in the 17th century and was the wife of King Christian V of Denmark. Her last name was Hesse-Cassel and that is why the island that separates the port in two halves is called Hessel Island.

The part of the port that most guests are familiar with is Haven sight which has all these streets with the shops in converted and newly built warehouses with the brown doors. The other part is Crown Bay, which used to be a Navy dock until the early 80’s. Everybody called that place Sub Base as US navy submarines used to dock there. When the Navy pulled out, the dock came in use for cruise ships on days when Haven sight could not cope with the volume. Lately the pier has been extended, the depth alongside dredged to allow for deeper drafts and a small shopping mall has been constructed at the entrance to the dock. It is now in regular use.

As there are now two “shopping and docking” areas it is a bit confusing for the guests, not knowing where they will end up when arriving in St Thomas. The docking space at Havensight can take a maximum of three mega liners as the dock is just over 3000 feet long. There are plans for an extension in order to be able to accommodate the Royal Caribbean Genesis Project currently under construction. The policy is to put the ships with the most guests “per inch of dock length” alongside first. Also the ships that call most frequently have preference. If the dock is full, then the inner harbor can take one big cruise ship at anchor, or two small ones. When the inner harbor is full then there is still room for three ships at the outer anchorage. That is the area where the Norway always anchored in the past. From the outer anchorage it is a long tender ride in to the down town sea front, so no captain is very happy with being sent there. Then there are two docks available at Crown Bay. Both sides of the pier can accommodate a 1000 foot ship.

With more and more mega liners coming into service and quite a few of them on a weekly run which includes St Thomas it became more and more problematic for company’s such as Holland America and Princess, who run longer cruises on (slightly) smaller ships to get a decent docking space. On a Saturday, Sunday or Thursday, which are normally the quiet days with no ships in that are on the 7 day run, you could dock at Havensight, on other days you could end up at the outer anchorage. To alleviate that inconsistency, Carnival Corporation signed a contract with Crown Bay developers so that HAL and Princess ships would use Crown Bay provided they would get preference there.

Thus today the Veendam docked at Crown bay, together with the Caribbean Princess. An anomaly, but the result of this contract, occurred today was well, as there were no ships at all at Havensight. A lot of people complain about Crown Bay. The disadvantage is that the shopping mall is not yet completely finished and there are also less shops, yet, than at Havensight. The advantage is that it is a shorter taxi ride to down town. Also if you are at the outer anchorage it is 25 minute tender ride into town, which can be very bumpy on a windy day. So there are pro’s and con’s. For those who just want to cross the street and go boutique hopping, it is less good. For those who want to go to downtown and on tours, it is better as the traffic congestion between Crown Bay and downtown is normally less than from the other side.

We docked at Crown Bay, early in the morning and we had a sunny day, until 30 minutes before departure when we had one downpour, just when the last tour came back. Crown Bay dock is located behind Water Island and ships normally come in via the South West arm, called West Gregorie channel and then depart through the NE arm called East Gregorie channel. So did we and with docking bow out, it was a very speedy departure. Let go all lines, speed up to six knots and 10 minutes later the pilot was off and we were on our way to our next port of call Roseau Dominica.

Finally the wind died away during the night and we had a sunny day with a sea as smooth as a mirror. A bit of a wobbly mirror as there was still a long and low North Westerly swell running and that meant that we kept the stabilizers in operation.

Around 8 am., we past the Puerto Rico trench which is the one of the deepest places in the ocean. At least as far as has been measured thus far. The deepest trench is to the East of the Philippines and is called the Mariana Trench with a depth of 35,814 Feet. The Puerto Rico trench is 27,559 Feet deep and is number eleven on the worlds list of deepest trenches. So 27,559 feet is a fair distance to walk or in case of a ship a fair distance to sink. On our cruise we are coming close to another deep trench, the Cayman trench, near Grand Cayman, which has a depth of just over 25.000 feet. At least with those depths there is little chance of running aground.

The distance between Tampa and San Juan is just over 1200 miles and therefore we arrive in the late afternoon. The nice thing about that is, is that the sun is shining on Morro Castle and the old town while the ship sails into port. At least that is the theory. We had a nice and dry day but on arrival there was just this one cloud of rain hanging right in front of the entrance. Not nice for the guests standing on the outside decks as they got wet and not nice for me as the rain obscured the leading lights that I needed to sail into the port in order to stay in the middle of the Fairway. There is normally a current running just outside the entrance of the port and you need the leading lights to observe how much “set” there is. This current will push the ship off course and you have to adjust for that so you stay nicely in the middle between the boys. Luckily the rain eased off, while we were still a mile away from the entrance and so I had a good view.

Another thing is with the San Juan port entrance is, is the quickness with which the water goes shallow. Within a mile it goes from 1000 feet to 250 feet to 50 feet. That can make for a very nasty swell and that means that we keep the stabilizers in operation until well inside the fairway. On the way out we do it the other way around, stabilizers go back in operation before we exit the fairway. As there was no wind today, the swell had died down considerably and with the stabilizers going it was hardly noticeable.

San Juan started a few years ago an upgrading program of their downtown docks for the cruise ships. The first one to be finished was Dock 4, which is the big passenger terminal that can take any size ship for a passenger turn over. Then there are two docks further away from the town also for the big ships and then there is pier 1, for the smaller ships and which is the nearest to downtown. In between is pier 3, which has just been finished. This is an open pier without a terminal. The eye catcher is a steel sculpture that starts very high up at the end of the pier and then slowly comes down towards the town side. It looks a bit like a mono rail in an amusement park. However the locals call it the G-string. And indeed if you see it from aside it looks like a teeny-weeny bottom part of a bikini. I do not think that the architect meant the association but the man in the street observes and describes what he sees. And yes you do see a g-string. Something similar happened in London. When the Swiss Re company built a new head quarters. The result was a round tower with a rounded cone on the top that helped with the ventilation of the building. I can not remember what name the designer gave it but the Londoners called it the Gherkin and it is worldwide known as such.

We will have a short stay in San Juan as at midnight we sail for St Thomas to “expose” our guests to a full day of shopping. The weather is supposed to remain good and calm of wind.

This is our second day at sea and the new weather forecast is indicating that the weather front that brings us so much wind at the moment, will dissipate during the course of the day. As we are still in the lee of the Bahamas reef, there is not too much swell but that might chance tomorrow morning when we are coming out of the lee and the long ocean swell will start to come in.

For most of the early morning we have been sailing along the coast of Cuba, with distances varying between 4 and 20 miles, depending on the curving of the land. We try to steer the straightest line possible, which is the quickest route, while in Old Bahama channel and thus the land comes closer and moves away depending on its shape. We always have guests who are concerned about being “so close” e.g. nor more then four miles at certain points. Cuba is a country as any other in the world, apart from politics, and thus has a 3 mile national boundary. Normally ships who do not call at a certain country will not go inside the three mile zone, unless there is a specific reason to do so. HAL ships normally stay about four miles out which is ample distance.

Most of the area along the north coast of Cuba has been divided in a Vessel Traffic Separation scheme, which is a sort of Highway at sea. The route is split up in a North-West bound zone and a South East bound zone and ensures that ships going in opposite directions will keep clear of each other. This also helps preventing ships from straying into the territorial waters. We get called, sometimes, by Cuban traffic control. We do not what they exactly do but we get a call occasionally on the VHF. Most of the time the passenger ships gets singled out and we assume that that is because with all our lights on, they can recognize us with binoculars. Then follows a most wonderful conversation in rather peculiar English of where we are and where we are going. The funny thing is that “Cuban Traffic control” never asks the same information each time, so I am wondering whether it just happens out of boredom.

I can just imagine that there is this soldier sitting there in a look-out post waiting for things to happen and nothing happens. Then he sees these luxurious Ocean Liners sailing by in the distance and thinks let’s give them a call. He knows that the cruise ships will answer and will also answer in understandable English and it gives a diversion for a few moments.

By lunch time we had passed the Windward Passage. Which is the gap between the island of Cuba and the island of Hispaniola. Here we normally have quite a bit of traffic on the radar as it is one of the main shipping routes to the Caribbean. Ships sailing between Europe and the Panama Canal either use the Windward Passage or the Mona Passage. The Mona Passage is further to the East. The island of Hispaniola is made up out of two countries, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Holland America used to call at Haiti, going to Port-O-Prince, but stopped in early 1982 as security became too much of an issue. The ships have not been back since. On the other hand the Dominican Republic is up and coming. Some ships already do turn over’s there and other ports are becoming more and more part of regular cruise schedules. I stopped with the Veendam in Samana last year near the end of our Amazon cruise. Reactions were about 50 – 50. Those who wanted a final shopping port ala St Thomas were gravely disappointed and those who were
into wildlife and eco tours were very enthousiastic.

Tomorrow we have another day at sea and then a late afternoon arrival in San Juan for an evening stop.

05 November 2007 at Sea.

The nice thing about this 14 day cruise is that it starts with two sea days. No rushing and running around to get as much done as possible, no, two quiet and restful days at sea. The Cruise director has a chance to put on some more activities and the guests have time to explore the ship and find their way around. I spoke not too long ago to some guests, who where on a seven day cruise, and they said that they not even had had the chance to visit all the places and spaces on board the Veendam because they had been so busy. I can understand that very well, but it gives an idea what it must be like when sailing on one of the mega liners. You would have to double your vacation length just to be able to say, I have seen the whole ship and experienced everything.

We see also more and guests walking around with little walkie talkies. These cheap things which you can buy at Wal Mart for a few dollars. They work quite well inside the ship as long as all the fire screen doors are open. Especially with children in the party, it can work very well for Ma and Pa to find each other back and to keep some measure on family coordination going. Although for the kids we have the Club HAL area behind the funnel where they can spend most of the day and being out of the way. That is of course if both parents do agree on the plan. I will never forget this gentleman standing on the aft deck and patiently listening to a long dissertation by his wife about how to use the walkie talkie. After a triple instruction procedure on how and when to use the devise she left him to himself. After having a long and slightly disgusting look at the walkie talkie, he checked if his wife had left the area and then with one firm movement switched it off, sat down, ordered a beer and closed his eyes. I wondered what sort of story he came up with, when it came to checking in time.

The Veendam spent the day transversing Florida Strait on a slightly South Easterly heading. In the course of the evening we entered Old Bahama channel which is the water way between Cuba and the all the islands that make up the Bahamas. The Bahamas is basically a reef that stretches for 100’s of square miles in an area with Florida to the West and Cuba to the South. There where the reef has touched the surface and sand got deposited, islands have developed. Islands which now have towns such as Nassau and Freeport where many cruise ships call. Islands which also include San Salvador Island where Columbus is supposed to have discovered America in 1492 and Little San Salvador island which is home to our Half Moon Cay. Most of these islands are on the North side of the reef. On our route we only pass Great Inagua Island with Matthew town on it. Great Inagua boosts the largest solar salt complex in the world. (at least according the inhabitants themselves) The shallow lagoons form an natural basin for salt deposits and the natural features of the place only had to be enhanced a bit to make a commercial operation viable.

The Bahamas reef also shelters us from the North Atlantic swell and that makes for a comfortable ride for tonight and tomorrow. Any ships movement while in the Old Bahama Channel is caused by the local wind and that means that the ship will only pitch a little bit. (Pitching is the up and down movement of the bow) Later tomorrow evening, we will leave the Bahamas behind and then the ship might move more, depending on what the weather has been like in the middle of the North Atlantic.
We have sunny skies at the moment but the weather is really confused. Normally we have here Easterly winds blowing which is an extension of the Caribbean trade winds. With the passage of the tropical storm Noel and the subsequent cold front (which bothered us last cruise) the winds are fluctuating between the NW and the NE and are a lot stronger as well. Last night we had up to 30 knots blowing again, and with the Cold front that currently lies over the middle of the Bahamas that won’t change much during the coming night.