04 September 2013; Haines Alaska.

The weather forecast had already been indicating that wind was to be expected and we were not disappointed. When we left Glacier Bay, it started to breeze up and by the next morning there was 30 to 35 knots blowing from the South East. In a way that was our luck, it was with us and that meant very little issues for Haines. The town is sheltered from the whole south side and only opens to winds from the North. To approach the dock when coming from the southern part of the Lynn Canal you have to make a 90o turn to the west and then gradually you come into the shelter of the mountains. By the time we approached the dock the wind had died down to 10 knots with the occasional gusts of up to 20 knots.

This is going to be an easy docking I thought, then suddenly the ship started to behave differently than expected. The wind should have pushed the ship away from the dock but instead it was being pushed towards the dock ….. against the strong wind. The current was still ebbing and that should have also contributed to a set away from the dock. Instead the ship steadily moved towards the dock and I had to apply the thrusters to ensure that we would not make a bump but the regular soft landing. For some
in-explicable reason the current was making a circle in the bay and hit the ship from the opposite than normal side. As every captain and pilot I have a theory about that, which has not been proven scientifically by anyone, but by doing many dockings in the past it seems that at some Alaska docks there is a counter flow about two hours before and after low water, especially if there is a minus tide. (A minus tide is when the real tide is lower than the normal lowest regular tide. That lowest regular tide is normally designated zero on the tidal diagram) Juneau is another place where this can happen and we might see that tomorrow.

Occasionally I blog about something technical. Not too often, as I am a real navigator and a-technical in most machinery issues but let’s do something today; as guests do notice this once a week during a cruise. It is the testing of the Emergency Generator. In accordance with legal requirements this engine has to be tested “under load” once a week. The guests do notice this as there is suddenly an announcement from the Officer of the Watch, which advises everybody to refrain from using the elevators. So what is going on?

Our 2000 HP Emergency Diesel Generator located above the Lido Restaurant.

Every ship has a number of safeguards to avoid the lights from going out. And if they go out, to ensure that they go on again on very quickly. While in port we have one or two engines running that provide all the power for the ship. We call that hoteling. If those engines would get a hiccup, then the lights would go out = black out=. Then the first thing that happens is that the Emergency Generator comes back on line; within 30 seconds. That engine will provide basic power for emergency lighting so people can find their way to the lifeboats if needed. Most bridge equipment is also connected to this power source. Then within 45 seconds a backup engine comes on line and that restores full power to the whole ship. Which means that the Air conditioning and ventilation will work again and also that the Cooks can cook. If all works according to the electric diagrams, then a ship should never be without power for more than a minute.

To make sure that that is indeed the case, the Emergency Generator has to be tested once a week “on load”. This means that it actually takes over the powering of the ship. It is not strong enough to provide all the power as it is an emergency generator. As a result out of the 8 passenger lifts on board, it will provide power for 3 passenger elevators. The other 5 do not have this. Hence the Officer of the Watch makes this announcement, to avoid using the elevators while this is going on. In a real emergency we have special teams assigned to those 3 Elevators to ensure that physically challenged guests still have a way to get around.
The Emergency Generator is located near the top of the ship on deck 13 and that is to ensure that it can do its job if the engine room would be out of action, or if there are issues taking place somewhere else in the ship.

We had a bit of a mixed day in Haines. It was drizzling in the morning, then it cleared and then it became rainy again in the evening, while all day long it continued to blow considerably. We pulled out at 9 pm by means of the blow-away maneuver with the wind pushing us off the dock. Then we joined the parade of cruise ships coming down from Skagway and set sail towards Juneau. We had winds of up to 40 knots while sailing through the lower part of Lynn Canal but tomorrow it should be wind-still while in Juneau.