And thus the good ship Rotterdam sailed south towards Lisbon. It takes a bit of time to get to Lisbon itself as you have to sail up the river Tagus for about 90 minutes before you even get to the city proper. The Tagus has a very wide estuary which is very shallow with only the central part being deep enough for ships navigation. But as it is so wide and nothing else can happen to you but running aground in the soft mud, there is not pilotage until you come to Belem Tower.

Belem Tower. The pilot station is just next to it.

So the Rotterdam sailed up river conned by the ships navigation team itself. There is some help in the form of a very strong Leading light system consisting of two red lights above each other (if you are on course) and that makes it somewhat easier to stay in the middle of the channel. Local fishing boats and sometimes the Portuguese navy make it more difficult again but as it was still dark at 05.30 in the morning, both groups were not very active yet.

By sailing up the river with about 12 knots and a strong current against us, we reached Belem Tower by 7 am. to pick up the pilot. Belem tower has been since times immemorial the pilot station and it still is. From the pilot station we passed under the singing bridge and docked at the new passenger terminal which was built recently and is still being improved upon and extended. As we were sailing against the tide, the ship docked portside alongside, keeping the nose in the current. It is much easier keeping the nose in the current and the ship in position (little kick ahead on one propeller) than to try to do that by having to give astern speed to keep the ship still while the ropes go ashore.

The new cruise dock with three large berths. We were at terminal 3.

By 8 am., the gangway was in and everybody could stream ashore for a full day of excitement. The weather was really nice today, sunny but with a cool chill in the air caused by a gentle breeze coming from the sea side. Warm in the sun, cool in the shadow. Nobody should have been able to complain about today.  Even for those who stayed onboard Lisbon is a nice port as it is built against a mountain ridge and there is plenty to look at. Look at the multi colored houses and apartments or look over the river as it is quite busy as all sorts of ships come by.

Eventually the barren concrete surface is supposed to look like this.

One of those ships was a little cruise ship which I had not seen in a long long time: The Ocean Diamond, better known from the past as the Song of Flower. In the 80’s we saw it very often in the Eastern Caribbean. As it was a converted cargo ship she had and has a very distinctive profile of two stylized funnels side by side near the stern; and hanging over the stern the ships tender which was then called  “Baby Flower”. Since then I have heard about her on occasion but as she sailed in different area’s than most of the HAL ships, I did not see her any more,  so it was interesting to see that she is still going strong after 41 years, having been built in 1974 and converted into a small cruise ship in 1986.

The old Song of Flower now the Ocean Diamond and pictured here as Le Diamant. She now sports a blue hull. Note the cruise tender at the stern.

Lisbon is a city where you can easily get lost in for a few days and on some cruises our ships stay overnight here, but not this time. We sailed a 5 pm. under clear blue skies, back down the river to open sea.  We have quite a distance to go to the next port, and as we are returning to Spain we will go an hour forward tonight. Bringing us back on European Time. Tomorrow we will be in Huelva and that is going to be quite interesting as it is a new port for me.

The weather is expected to be the same as today, sunny but with a gentle breeze from the south west.

After coming around that corner guarded by our Roman built lighthouse, we followed the coast straight down to the Leixous pilot station.

Leixous port without the new cruise pier.

Leixous is an ancient port and although it now has a very modern cargo port, parts of the old breakwater are still in place.  That breakwater guards a larger inner basin with docks at either side but the real port is more land inwards. A port basically constructed by building docks on either side of the river which flows into the sea at Leixous. This river is called the Douro and further inland is the city of Porto or Oporto.  It creates sometimes the same confusion as we have in Florida. Is the ship docking in Fort Lauderdale or in Port Everglades? It is Port Everglades but as the larger city of Fort Lauderdale is next to it and has the airport, most people talk about taking a cruise from Fort Lauderdale. Here it is the same. Porto is the main attraction and the signs on the shore side even say Porto Cruise Terminal, but it is not correct, we are in Leixous.

The new cruise pier with the Queen Victoria alongside. (Photo courtesy CruiseEurope.com)

Fairly recently they built a cruise pier inside the south breakwater. Basically nothing but a straight pier sticking out from the shore which can handle 1000+ ft. cruise ships. This cruise pier was today occupied by one of the very big ships of P&O and thus we were relegated to a smaller berth up the river, where we just fitted in.  Because we docked on the river, there is no room to swing so the ship was turned on arrival and went astern upriver until it could go sideways to the berth. By the time we were docked there was not much room left between bow and stern, but we fitted in, and that is what counts. For the guests it was better, as here at least you could cross the street and be in local Leixous while at the cruise terminal there is nothing unless you take a very long walk.

The ms Rotterdam docked exactly in the gap in the pier at the right hand side.

The challenge with the berth we docked at today is the tide. The sea pushes deep into the port and up the river and there is a tidal difference of about 12 feet maximum but today it was about 9 ft. (roughly 3 meters) and the water that brings that difference in height pushes straight along the ship, both when ebbing and flooding.  Thus when the ship enters the port and it has to swing around, it has all this tidal current moving around the ship and pushing in all sorts of directions. You need to adjust for that, while at the same time you go astern up a fairly narrow river with cargo ships at either side. The P&O captain was the lucky one today; ours had to work hard for it.

The current was also detrimental to me today, as I had the plan to lower a lifeboat into the water and to let the school class play. However with a strong tide running it is not really safe to come back under the blocks to be picked up again and thus I had to defer it to another day. We kept the boat on embarkation deck and explored the mysteries of the lifeboat inventory.  The trainees have studied this stuff at school but what they do not learn is how to train the crew of the lifeboat in these things and how to answer unusual questions.  As most of our hotel crew are not sailor’s per-se, you do get questions which a mariner does not expect as he/she is already trained.  A standard one is: where is the toilet…… ? Well there is no room for it as it is an emergency device but you have to be ready for these and other questions and that forms part of the training. (Another good one was from a lady working in the shops: do you have a power socket in the boat, so I can charge my cell phone ?……………)

Most guests went 10 miles upriver/ inland to see Porto which has a lot of history and a complete historic area (the Ribeiro) which is listed on the UNESCO world list.

With everybody on board we sailed at 5 pm. and now we are heading for Lisbon. Again straight down the coast following another Vessel Traffic Separation System which consists of an outer and an inner part. Because we are sailing from one Portuguese port to another, we are allowed to take in the inside / coastal route. Had we been coming from a foreign port, then we would have been forced to take the longer route. Why? Basically because the Portuguese only like vessels that have been cleared already by them in their territorial waters.

Weather for tomorrow, about the same as today. Partly Cloudy but clearing to blue skies in the afternoon. Temperatures should reach the low 70’s oF. or mid 20’s oC.

As predicted we had very nice weather today. So sailing in was over a nice and smooth sea with no nasty waves to make the ship go up and down like a jojo.  As shown yesterday in the chart sailing into La Coruna is quite simple as it mainly consists out of one 90o turn from a nearly southerly course to a nearly westerly course.

Docking in the inner basin of the harbour.

The only item that made it a little bit more complicated was that the regular cruise berth was occupied by the Oriana of P&O and the Rotterdam was assigned the North dock in the old basin. That it was the old basin was easy to see as the Southside of this basin is where the fishing fleet docks.  Their warehouses look from a distance like a row of garages all with the same blue color. Today there was only one lonely fisherman at the dock so the rest of the fleet must have been at sea.

Thus our dock was a cargo dock but it did not matter that much as it was nice and clean and spacious enough to park all the tour busses just outside the gangway. A shuttle bus moved all the guests between the gangway and the Main Gate and that solved the location issue as well. The port is trying very hard to be a good cruise port but they are very reliant on the summer months due to the nastiness of the winter weather in the Bay of Biscay and the building up of these high swells outside the harbor entrance. (There are some spectacular clips on You Tube.)

The “Torre de Hercules”. It is not exactly clear what Hercules had to do with this tower but it is a nice name. (Photo courtesy Wikipedia)

Why do people go to La Coruna? A lot of guests want to go to Santiago de Compostela to see the Cathedral and the Pilgrims coming in and going out. If one stays in town, then there is the largest Shopping Centre in Spain to visit (which I suppose is on everybody’s bucket list) but the city also has some fine Museums and the seafood is not bad either. From a nautical point of view the most interesting item is the Torre de Hercules, the local lighthouse which was built by the Romans in the 2^nd Century and which still stands.  It was built in the 2^nd century so it is now 1900 years old and as it is still in use, it is the world oldest still operating lighthouse. Experts think that this lighthouse was built on top of an even older Phoenician one and thus this area had a lighthouse for a long long time. Understandable as the coast is very treacherous with strong currents and the bad weather winds all blowing in the direction of the land and rocks.

Just after 5 pm. we sailed and once outside, we sailed through the area which is guarded by this lighthouse. A wind force 6 to 7 from the north east greeted us and which kept the waves down but also those very low hanging clouds away that sailors do not like. Here we have warm air going over cold water and that creates fog on a regular basis. Cape Finisterre is not too far away and as was called Finis….. as the Romans thought that this point was the end of the world. Beyond it nothing but fog and bad weather. In the winter time you could believe it.

We will not have that problem tonight when we sail down the Portuguese coast on our way to Leixous. Although a Leixous is a town in its own right, a lot of people talk about Oporto or Porto as that is the major city nearby and a lot more famous.

We are scheduled to dock in the inner port which is nice for the guests as you can walk into town, just by crossing the street. It is not so nice for the Captain as it is a much more complicated maneuver to get to the dock compared to the cruise pier which is located right behind the breakwater. More about that tomorrow.

The weather should be good, partly cloudy skies with temperatures around 20oC or 66OF.

I said yesterday that it was more or less a straight line to our next port of call at La Coruna. For that one you have to put the emphasis very much on the less. A straight line would have been possible if the western part of France, consisting out of the Normandy and Bretagne, would not have been in the way.  But because it there, is the ship has to make a major course change once west of France and then it can sail on a straight line down to the North Coast of Spain.

Our route to Spain.

This run between Southampton and La Coruna is for the Navigators very interesting as it goes partly through one of the densest Traffic Areas of the world. Once out of Southampton and clear the Isle of Wight, the ship joins the Vessel Traffic Separation Scheme VTSS)  for a while, following the South Westerly flow of ships coming from the Dover Channel. Then it has to cross this flow and join a new VTSS for a while, the one that curves around the west point of France. Also here a VTSS has been created to guide the flows of traffic coming and going from Portugal, Spain and the deeper Mediterranean?

The VTSS off NW France. A Vessel Traffic Separation System keeps North going ships apart from south going ships and reduces dangerous situations and collisions. There is an outer zone/lane system for transiting ships and an inner zone/lane system that can be used by Coastal  traffic.

This West point we passed at 11 am. this morning and then we arrived on our final straight course down to La Coruna across the Bay of Biscay. On this course we are not deep inside the Bay of Biscay but stay more to the North Atlantic Ocean side. So we will observe more of the regular weather for the North Atlantic than anything else.  That weather is today in our favor. The wind comes from the land side, so it blows against the waves and that keeps the ships movement down. Wind against wave’s means they cannot continue to build up as would be the case if wind and waves would go in the same direction. So the waves are relatively low and the wind force 6 from the continent side to keep them that way. As a result the ship only slightly moves and that is for sailing in the North Atlantic at this time of the year really good.

The water in this area is very deep, up to 2000 meters or so and that also helps with keeping the waves under control. Deeper into the Bay when coming closer to the land in the area of the French/Spanish border it becomes very shallow and then the waves can build up strongly and crash with a gigantic force onto the coast or onto a ship if it happens to be there during a severe storm.

Why do the storms get so particularly bad here?

First of all, most storms come from the west and they have a lot more open sea area to play with and to blow over than when crossing more to the North and hitting the British Isles. Secondly it sits in a near perfect area to have the maximum influence from the weather systems developing over the Azores and low pressure systems over Iceland. Then when a storm arrives it is slowed down to a certain extent by the landmass of France, so it has even more time to intensify.  Altogether it can turn the Bay of Biscay into a real cauldron of very nasty weather which has caused many ships to sink when a storm came in a bit un-expected. On shallow water the waves get higher and higher and that makes it even worse.  Reason for all sailors to be very respectful of this area and to stay in the North Atlantic if the ship does not have to go to any of the ports in the Bay of Biscay area.

We have to go to La Coruna which is fortunately located on the very western edge of the Bay of Biscay. Also with today’s wind opposing the sea, the waves remain a lot smaller than otherwise could have been the case.

The port lays deeply in a sheltered Bay and the Cruise Terminal almost in the City.

We are supposed to be docked by 08.00 hrs. tomorrow morning and as La Coruna is located in a sort of Bay, which it has to sail through, the ship will make an early approach. Once inside it is a very nice and sheltered harbor, and the dock is located almost inside the city itself.

Weather for tomorrow, Partly Cloudy 75oF / 24oC with a gentle breeze from the North East, it should be a nice day tomorrow.

In order to facilitate a quick clearance of the ship, the ms Rotterdam arrived early at Southampton. The pilot came on board at 07.00 hrs. and then the ship followed the winding way up to the berth. There are a few almost 90o turns in the fairway with a lot of current running and that makes  sailing in and out of Southampton always an interesting affair.  Southampton is the major cruise port for the United Kingdom and that could be seen today as the Ventura from P&O and the Celebrity Eclipse were also in port.  They sail regular cruises from Southampton while for us it was just a stop on the way to give our 400 British guests the chance to board without having to fly.

The heyday of Transatlantic Travel. The Southampton docks full of Passenger ships.

Southampton has been a port of call for Holland America Line ships since May 1923 when the company decided to change Plymouth for Southampton.  One of the reasons was the better train connection from this port.  By the mid-thirties of the 20^th. Century it was THE port for the Big Transatlantic Liners to sail from.  Big names such as the Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, the Normandie and our own Nieuw Amsterdam called here after coming from and returning to their home ports, or in case of the Queens having their home port here.

The layout of the docks now. Where the red lines go, Cruise ships can be found docking. (Map courtesy of ABP Ports of Southampton)

The arrival of the air plane changed all of this. Not only for the North Atlantic trade but also for all the other routes to and from outposts of the British Empire. Famous names such as Union Castle, P&O, British India, drastically reduced their Passenger Liner activities. Some made the change to cruising such as Cunard and P&O but some completely disappeared such as Union Castle and British India. Holland America stopped calling here when our Transatlantic service came to an end in 1971. It was not until we brought the ms Rotterdam to Europe that we eventually returned. Dover and Harwich were our regular change over ports but when the option came to call at Southampton as a secondary embarkation and disembarkation port for British Guests, we came back again.

We docked today at the Ocean Terminal. Quite often the ships of Cunard dock here, while  P&O and other cruise ships dock further into the port where there is a whole row of other cruise terminals. The Ocean Terminal was completely refurbished not too long ago and that must have given the guests a positive impression to start with today.

The cruise ships along the long dock further into the port. The tender Calshot can just be seen in the foreground.

What was interesting for me was to see another (Ex) Holland America Ship docked next to us. The Ships Tender Calshot. Originally built to service the Ocean Liners which did not dock at Southampton but stopped for a quick service call and stayed at anchor between Southampton and the Isle of Wight. Being built in 1930 it remained sailing in Southampton waters until 1964. Then it was bought by Holland America for tender service at Galway in Ireland. She sailed for an Irish subsidiary but had the Holland America Line funnel colors and was called Galway Bay. With the continuing decline of the Transatlantic Trade, the tender service did not last very long and the Tender was sold on.  Eventually it returned to Southampton and is now step by step being restored to its former glory.

So our primary reason to be here was to embark our British Guests but as the Ocean Terminal is right on the door step of Southampton and the port, most guests took the opportunity to walk into town or take the short taxi ride.

I was on the gangway to get my trainee’s on board and after the compulsory Safety Indoctrination for all new embarking crew members, we started our classes. 20 days of digging deeply into the wonderful world of Holland America.

The good ship ms Rotterdam sailed at 17.00 hrs. after we got all the guests on board. We will now sail (almost) straight along the French coast down to Spain. The day after tomorrow we will visit La Coruna (as we Dutch spell it) or A Coruna as the Spanish call it. Weather still looks good with a bit of wind but not much swell to make life unpleasant.

The sight I could not see yesterday as I was on board ms Rotterdam and ms Norwegian Star both docked at the Rotterdam Cruise Terminal. (Photo courtesy B. Janssen)

As the crew has to be on board early to ensure a smooth handover with the crew who are going on vacation, it means getting up early.  Too early to take an early morning –same day- flight into Rotterdam.  Although I am not relieving anybody I go with the flow so I flew last night into Schiphol Amsterdam and spent the night in an airport hotel.  We left that hotel this morning at 07.00 with a coach full of crew for the one hour drive to Rotterdam.  Although things are cramped with the street lay-out (that has always been so since 1901) everything is very well organized and without much delay we could get to the ship.  As my school class is arriving tomorrow I had the day to go around to talk to everybody and figure out in general what the best approach is for this training period.  To give the students the best of everything hinges on finding synergies between the training schedule of the ship and what I can do, and what I am allowed to do, in the various ports.

In the meantime the ship was in change over mode and it was one of the less easy Rotterdam port days as there were two cruise ships in at the same time. At the main dock of the passenger terminal was the Norwegian Star which meant that the Rotterdam was at the dock further in. Nothing wrong with this dock but it makes it a bit more complicated with the gangway situation.  This meant some ingenuity had to be brought forth. Ship and port operations together had to come up with something that would work safely throughout the day.  An alternative set up was put in place and thus the passenger disembark and embark could take place without a glitch. Supplies and stores could go on; parts for repair and recyclables could go ashore.  Then there is always the larger number of visitors on board, not only from family, but also school visits as Holland America is continuously promoting careers at sea, for engine, deck and hotel.  If babies could read, then we would hand out free cots with the HAL logo on the baby pillows to get them focused as early as possible on a seafaring career.

By 4 pm. we left as the captain wants to be as early as possible in Southampton as the ship has to go through immigration there. The United Kingdom is not included in the Schengen protocol so they carry out a regular and full arrival and passport control policy. The ms Rotterdam is this cruise under the command of Captain Hans Mateboer who is the most senior HAL Captain. I have know him since 1983 so it was good to see him again.

Our ancient Head Office with many well wishers trying to get a glimpse of the ms Rotterdam coming from behind the Norwegian Star.

Sailing from the passenger terminal in Rotterdam is something quite special. First of all it has all the historic ties. Holland America has been docking here permanently since 1901 (Before that time the company used various locations around this area) and here at the Wilhelminakade was also our head office located until 1973. Then there was the move to the USA and only Human Resources (to deal with the Dutch crew) remained behind. That office then left Rotterdam but came back a number of years ago and has now a location in a sky scraper behind the old Head Office which is now a Hotel. With the company now also marketing in Europe, there is quite a large sales group in this office now as well.

The ss Rotterdam V seen through the farewell salute of a Rotterdam Port Authority safety vessel.

2ndly there is the old ss Rotterdam docked just around the corner. Once clear from the terminal she comes majestically into sight. Although now a museum, hotel and entertainment centre, she is still a ship and thus the ss Rotterdam V could exchange whistle salutes with the ms Rotterdam VI.  From then on it is almost 2 hours before the ship is completely in open sea and during that time the whistle will have sounded a few times more to greet local people gathering at various hot spots along the route.

The Radar Screen clearly shows the winding river Maas, now called the Nieuwe Waterweg, through the City and Port of Rotterdam.

The Rotterdam is making a 14 day cruise to Barcelona. This 14 day cruise can also be seen as a segment and then the total cruise time can go up to 88 days if you connect the various cruises/segments. We have approx. 40 people on board who are going for that full length.

I am now getting myself ready for the school class, officially called the Nautical Excellence Class. We held the first one on this ship in December 2014 and as a larger number of the crew was there then and is here now again, it will make things go very smooth.  Tomorrow we will collect 400 British who will join the ship and then we head south towards the Mediterranean. The Gulf of Biscay is very quiet at the moment so we should have a smooth ride.

Today my vacation came to an end and a busy one it has been with a lot of work done for the apartment building I live in, (as I mentioned before, I am an absolute expert on scaffolding now) two short cruises as a vacation (which I can not say anything about as they were with the competition) and a honey-do list a few yards long.

However all good things come to an end and real life starts again tomorrow.  I will be putting my teachers hat on as my coming ships visits will be part of our Nautical Excellence Class program for introducing our newly hired navigators to the wonderful world of Holland America.

If nothing changes…………… and it does most of the time……….. the plan is to sail with the ms Rotterdam between Sept. 26 and Oct. 26 then transfer to the Zuiderdam for the next class and then to the Westerdam for the 3rd and last class. However at the moment only the Rotterdam has been confirmed and all 7 trainee’s have been allocated a cabin.

Thus my blogging will start again tomorrow with a departure on the ms Rotterdam from Rotterdam. The ship then calls at Southampton where my trainee’s will board.

In the mean time  Public Relations has approved the addition of a new blog sub directory. I already had and am regularly working on the histories of the Captains of the Past, but now there is a new sub directory of Current Captains and their schedules. It is still empty but I will start adding items to it in the coming months. Always nice to know who is “driving the boat” before you board the ship.

To all my readers welcome back and hopefully you will enjoy my daily updates for the coming months.

So bright and early we arrived in Juneau. Although bright might not be the right word as it was decidedly overcast with a lot of dripping. I really want to use the word rain but it really does not cover it. Yes it rains but it is not a constant down poor but it is also not a constant drizzle, it is something in between. Maybe I should stay with drizzle and drip. Not that it mattered, whatever it was the guests streamed ashore and it did not seem to bother anybody.

The way it was a long time ago when the mine stretched down all the way to the water.

Most of our guests went ashore but some who had been here already several times opted to stay on board.  What was interesting is that I came across a couple who had spent their honeymoon here some 40 years ago and had come up with the Alaska State Ferry when it still docked at what is now the cruise terminal. They had taken lots of photos and were now trying to match the waterfront from those days to what they saw now.  Together with my memory from the early 80’s we were able to place quite a few of the photos in there right context but it was not easy as so much had changed after the cruise boom took place.

The way we saw it in the 70’s and 80’s.

Basically the mountain Mount Roberts was still the same, but one major landmark the gold mine had disappeared. The mine and later the defunct remnants of its entrance had long loomed over Juneau. Then a few years ago the mine was briefly reopened. Very briefly but just long enough to have all the visible ruins removed. Now when you sail in with the ship you cannot see anything of the mine any more from the water side.

Gold mine ventilation shaft. (Courtesy www. groovyoutdoors.us)

Except when you look to the other side; the Douglas side. There at the edge of the beach and the waters of Gastineau Channel stills stands a single ventilation house, which looks a bit like an oversized outhouse. It has been standing there since the mine was in operation providing ventilation to the mine shafts running under Gastineau Channel. The peculiar thing is it does not seem to deteriorate that fast. At least I cannot see it and I get a snapshot every year. It must do so though as I do not think it is being looked after by any preservation society. Gold is still being mined in the Juneau area but at the other side of the mountain. And of course the gold mining and panning is now a tourist attraction.

We docked today at the Cruise Terminal as the Volendam who came in at noon time, was assigned to the Alaska Steam dock, which is the dock all the way in the corner, with the nose into down town.  The cruise terminal is not a bad place either as it is still connected directly with the town, and all the shops, without having to walk a long way first. It is closer to Mount Roberts Cable Car and it has a visitor’s center right in front of the ship, which I had not seen before. Another new building but at the Franklin dock is the new office from the CBP. With so much business and most of it coming from the cruise ships, they moved closer to the port. As a matter of fact so close that their office is on the dock.

I had to deal with the CBP today as I was sending off some boxes to a friend of mine. I had just discovered that the US post office has this amazing deal for shipping a medium size box for the same price regardless of the weight. So you can ship 12 full size stone bricks for 12 dollars all over the States. I was not shipping bricks but something close to it………. old cruise brochures and menus. Those things weigh nearly the same. I wish they would have a similar offer for mail to Europe…………..  But before you can take anything ashore it has to be inspected and approved by the CBP.  Thus I presented myself with open boxes and my Customs form at the appropriate time. We have currently a very friendly CBP Lady but she is also very thorough and after I solemnly declared (and had verified) that I was not importing, food, seeds, wood and a whole list of other things that might threaten the USA, I could close my boxes and carry them ashore.  The US mail has a substation right in down town which is heavily frequented by crew members (maybe they opened it there for that reason) and stops us from having to make the 20 minute hike to the Federal Building at the outskirts where the main post office is located.

Tomorrow we are not going to Icy Strait Point, but to Glacier Bay. Holland America managed to get an extra Permit for the Statendam and that is a chance we do not let go. So on this cruise the guests get the chance to see Tracy Arm, Glacier Bay and Hubbard Glacier. Three glacial highlights in one cruise …………… …………….Only with Holland America.

Glaciers indeed have a micro climate around itself because as we sailed through the drizzle and drip during the early morning, it suddenly cleared and it remained dry all the time we were in the fjord. Luckily it remained overcast as well and the result was some incredible views of Sawyer Glacier. This Glacier tends to calve fast and sometimes it produces so much ice that we cannot even get into Tracy Arm. Because of the fast calving of the ice there tends to be a lot of blue ice, really compact ice, and if there is no sun light then it shows up very clearly.

Entering Tracy Arm

Tracy Arm is much narrower than the other fjords we visit and having the high mountains so close by on either side makes it a fascinating place to sail through. It is not so popular with cruise ships as Glacier Bay (which is permit regulated) as there is always uncertainty if you can get in and also because it does not fit so easily in a regular ships schedule.

Same view on the Radar

On the 7 day cruise you have to cut half a day off Juneau in order to do this, or you have to skip a port completely. We are on a 14 day cruise and that gives the time to allocate a full day to this scenic cruising and that works very well.  The captain has ample time to get in and out, can stay as long as he wants, and then go with a sedate speed up the coast to Juneau where the ship arrives in the early morning for a full day. 

And that is what we did today.  We were the only larger cruise ship in, there was one smaller one the L’Austral and for the rest a rich assortment of tour boats in all shapes and sizes. We do not like other cruise ships in at the same time as they tend to get in the way, certainly in this fjord which is very narrow but we do not mind tour boats as they help to give the guests a better perspective of how big everything is, including the ice cubes.

L’Austral. A sort of Seabourn Cruise as long as you Speak French.

It takes a good two hours to sail in and this morning we made a reasonable time as there was very little ice in the way. Then by 11.00 we saw the blue glacier when coming around the final corner and here we stayed for over an hour.  There was some ice in front of the Glacier and that did not allow us to go into the wide pool in front of the Glacier itself, we had to stay at the corner. Still the view was magnificent.

Face of the glacier. The black dots are tour boats

Although hard for us to see there were seals on the ice floats, in the same way as in Glacier Bay. Here they are safe from the Orca’s / Killer Whales which have fresh seal or seal pup high on the list of their favorite snacks. But they do not like the constant popping noises of the Glacier, caused by the cracking off the ice, as it upsets their sensing system. It drives them nuts as my wife would say.  So during the pupping season the ice floats are full of young life.

Same view on the Radar. As far as we could safely get in.

The Glacier has been retreating for the last 50 years, with about 45 meters (approx. 150 feet) that can be seen at the mountains on either side. At the entrance the greenery reaches the water line, while near the Glacier the rock face once covered by the ice is still bare.

Note: Closer to the Glacier there are no trees on the side of the mountains

By noon time, the Statendam started the slow sail to the outside again and spent the remainder of the afternoon sailing through Stephens Passage. By 06.00 hrs. tomorrow we will enter Gastineau Channel and dock in down town Juneau, for a long day.

The Bridge Team. Captain, two Navigating Officers, the Quartermaster between the wheel.  The Pilot and in the far window the Staff Captain.

Juneau Weather:  Overcast with rain showers and temperatures around 60oF./ 16oC.

The latest idea of making photos at the glacier. you have to commend the Ships Photographers for trying to make you cruise a memorable one.

Guessing the correct weather for Ketchikan is a lot easier than winning the lottery. The chance that you get it right is 332 (days) out of the 365 is quite achievable. During those 332 there will be some rain. Varying from Horizontal Rain, Torrential Rain, Steady Rain, to Showers, Drizzle & Drip.  Today we had drizzle and drip which they do not consider rain at all in Ketchikan and can thus be ignored and considered a dry day.

So we had a dry day for most of the day with only an occasional increase from drizzle and drip to shower. The good ship Statendam arrived at Ketchikan dock just after 07.00 and we were assigned the best dock in port again, dock 2.  Right on top of the Tongass Store, and with everything else right across the street. In port as well were the Pacific Princess from Princess Cruises and the Infinity from Celebrity. That left one berth, berth 4, empty for the day. Berth 4 is the berth the farthest from the town and is thus the least used.

I was up and about very early as I had offered to do a photo shoot for the company’s simulator. For a number of years now Carnival Corporation’s UK branch had a Simulator in the Netherlands (The company is called C-Smart) in the town of Almere. Almere is a new built city sitting on reclaimed land to the East of Amsterdam.  And as about half of the rest of Holland it sits below water level. However as long as the dykes are holding, everything is safe. And we have good dykes in Holland. The best in the world to be honest, we even export them all over the world.

All of us attend nearly every year one or more classes at this Simulator and the courses are based on Bridge Team Management in all its forms and possibilities. It is a busy training facility as with 110 cruise ships in the fleet there are a lot of officers who have to go through the classes. More recent is the addition of an Engine Room simulator and that means even more officers are in class. As a result the place became too small and now there is a new build coming in the same town about 4 times as big and with a complete hotel next to it. Until now C-Smart used three hotels in Almere, one in downtown and two at the outskirts but everything is now being brought under one roof. I do not think the hotels will be very happy about this but for us it is an improvement as we do not have the constant shuttle service to get to and from the Hotel. (The taxi company is probably not very happy either)

The bridge simulator as currently in use. The new one will be a lot fancier.

With the new simulator (although there are several, so more classes can run at the same time) comes the desire and need for upgrades. The biggest challenge is to make a simulator as realistic as possible. The more real it looks, the easier it is for the team inside the simulator to get into the groove and forget that it is only a simulator.  One of the simulations that are being run is the approach to Ketchikan; as it is quite a complicated area (lots of rocks and currents).  Thus the idea was to take a continuous series of photos from the pilot station all the way to the dock with the idea to improve the view of the Simulator “scenery” when the Ketchikan simulation is being run.  As it is for a very good cause Yours Truly was in position the moment we sailed past the pilot station at 05.30 and then I happily clicked away for  a good 90 minutes. 3 photos every 30 seconds for the duration of the 90 minute transit should give the developers of the software enough material to keep them busy during the coming winter.

On departure I did the same again, although for a shorter period as the drizzle & drip changed into genuine rain, and getting pneumonia was not part of the arrangement.  So hopefully the next simulator upgrade will be even more life like than what it already is.

Tonight and tomorrow we will be sailing the Alaskan Inside Passage and tomorrow afternoon we will visit Tracy Arm to look at a few Glaciers.

Weather for tomorrow:  Most likely light rain but as glaciers have their own micro climate it is hard to predict.

Some links about C-Smart  as a picture paints a 1000 words.

www.csmartalmere.com

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nehlRhovbnE