Being the only ship in port gave me the opportunity to park the Veendam at the best location for the day. In this case that was berth 1, the outside of the pier which faces north East. Although the weather forecast had been NE winds force 5, it was blowing NW force 4 but it still meant the NE pier for docking. Berth 3, which I prefer, was not suitable today as the swell was running under the pier and would have caused the ship to roll alongside the dock. Now the Veendam only moved slightly up and down along the dock. During the day the wind died down as we are right in between two little fronts again.

Last night we did have a lot of rain and behind it there was still a considerable amount of wind which we kept until a few hours after docking in Costa Maya. The sun peaked through during the day but it was mostly cloudy. Still the guests enjoyed a good day at the resort and that is what this call is all about.

Since a few weeks ago we have on arrival and departure a Mexican Navy escort. A fast patrol boat comes out and circles around the ship until we are safely docked. On departure they stay with us until we are out of territorial waters. Early this year the Mexican government implemented a program to increase the coastal security. Now in each port along the coast a fast patrol boat has been stationed to escort ships in and out. Cruise ships do of course get most of the attention. Also there are now armed guards on the docks quite often accompanied by a drugs dog. It seems that lately a few guests from the mass market carriers have been trying to smuggle drugs into Mexico via Costa Maya and that has alerted the authorities. I suppose the logic was that Costa Maya is not a real port and thus things should be easier there to get forbidden substances ashore.

The man who suffers the most from this is my chief engineer, as he liked to take his bike ashore around lunch time for a little ride around the country side. As the authorities see the hollow pipes of the bike frame as an excellent vehicle to carry drugs ashore bikes have been banned from being taken offly the ship. This is a pity as we have approximately 10 bikes onboard which crew can borrow against a deposit and this is quite popular, especially when we are in Europe where people are used to bikes. A few crew tried in it the past in Tampa but that was asking for accidents, as nobody in Tampa seems to bike, at least not in the area between the terminal and the shopping mall. Thus the crew on bikes were not expected and they were almost run over several times. So no more biking in Tampa.

Luckily we do not have to bike to get to the shopping mall in Tampa. We have the Fun Bus. This is a crew only shuttle that runs from the Veendam and the Carnival Legend and stops at two shopping malls. It has regular departures all day long and gives crew the option to get for a reasonable fare to where they want to go. With a total of 1500 crew in port during the call from the two ships, it is a very viable enterprise for the owner of the bus and a much appreciated service for the crew.

On departure we put the pedal to the metal as I wanted to get up to speed as quickly as possible. There is a small chance that foggy conditions might develop in the early morning hours on Sunday. If the wind (from the next cold front) does not come through on time, we might have an issue on our hands. With fog in Tampa Bay there is the chance that they will close down traffic and that is not good for our docking time of course. If fog is indeed on the charts, then I am keeping the speed up all the way to try to dock as early possible and hopefully beat the fog. We will see, but the weather for tomorrow looks very good, hardly no wind and a sunny day.