With a 23.00 departure and a 06:00 pilot for Malaga, it was a short night for the Deck department. Even with the short length of sailing, the ship did not have to go that fast as Malaga is just around the corner. What made it seem longer was the fact that we had to go around the long way.
Red is what we like to do but then we come across opposing (pink) traffic, so Green is what we have to do to make it a lot safer.
It looks strange if you look at the chart but it makes sense as it avoids ships crossing in front of each others bows, while using short cuts along to coast to save mileage. Although the lines are clearly drawn in the chart, there will always be naughty boys and thus there is a radar station on the coast which keeps a close eye on everything. You have to call in when you approach the system and then you are being monitored all the way through and you receive information about who is also in the area. It adds some miles to the journey but it is much safer.
The Malaga Cruise Terminal under construction. It is now completed but still very bare. No trees to bring color.
Malaga is an important port for container traffic and a ferry terminal with regular services. It is also an important cruise port and has recently constructed two new cruise terminals with long docks so also the big boys can come in. Then there are a few other docks which are cruise ship friendly as during the cruise season 4 or 5 ships are no exception and they can easily put 15000 guests ashore.
What do all these people cruise people do? If they stay in Malaga they can visit the Picasso Museum, its cathedral and it also has the best preserved city walls / citadel in Spain. Going out, Granada and Cordoba are very close and many tours are offered to take you there; same for Mijas, also known as the white city, which has a lot of Spanish country life on show. This city you can also do on horseback but our shore Excursion Forms do warn that the horses cannot take more than 100 kg. or 200 pounds. Cruise Guests who enjoy the good life on board too much might have to be disappointed.
Because of its location the Phoenicians were here and in the cellars of the Picasso Museum you can see part of their old city. When the Phoenicians went, the Romans came and when they went the Muslims came and they stayed for several centuries given us such cultural highlights as the Alhambra in Granada. Plenty of things to go ashore for.
We all stayed on board as the deck team was spreading some culture as well by means of Lifesaving Training. On a monthly basis all the crew has to go through at least one training and a drill and to make that feasible we have 25% of the crew attend on a weekly basis. When the whole cycle is completed after some weeks we hold a General Drill and everybody then has to attend at the same time. To cover all the topics the crew has to know and understand, and to make it a bit more interesting, we try to tell something new each time so that the crew does not get bored with the same story or too much information during each drill.
To experience this I had my team of Trainees on deck. They have all been on board for a year and have thus observed it as a cadet; but now they have become licensed officers they have to start doing it themselves. So today the order was: observe what the more experienced officers are doing because next week it is your turn and I will be watching. Well they paid attention as during the debriefing they had a lot of comments. Observations about good things but also what could have been better. So the challenge is there………… you have seen it, now follow up on your own observations.
The cruise terminal is located right inside the breakwater and when you enter the port the only thing you have to do is put on the brakes and give the mooring lines ashore. Because of being so close to ‘the exit” the captain decided not to turn around on departure but just go straight astern for half a mile and turn outside the port where there is much more room. Cruise ships can sail astern very well and if you do not go too fast you can steer with the bow thruster and keep the ship perfectly on course.
Tomorrow we have a sea day as we are heading for Ajaccio on Corsica. So we will be crossing the Western part of the Mediterranean Sea. Thus far the weather has been great, little wind, plenty of sunshine and pleasant temperatures. Now it will slowly start to change with more wind coming from the south and South West. That means that we might see some brown haze in the air, sand from Africa. Tomorrow the winds should only marginally increase but the day after it could be more.
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