05 November 2008, Santo Tomas de Castilla.

Santo Tomas is only a short distance from Belize and with traveling all night at a slow speed we still arrived there bright and early. The port is very well sheltered against any bad weather unless it comes from the North West. Most days are wind still and with the proximity of the rain forest it gives warm and sweltering days. Today was one of these days, nearly windless and with the sun shining brightly onto the dock area. The town is so sheltered as it located in a deep but shallow bay, called the Amatiques. To get there we leave the Caribbean Sea and sail for 30 miles west into the natural entrance and curve around to the south towards the entrance to Santo Tomas.

In reality it is the entrance to a dredged fairway. A long, straight and narrow channel runs for about 5 miles from the sea buoy to our final docking place. The channel serves two ports. Puerto Barrios and Santo Tomas. Barrios is a pure cargo port and specialized in the export of Bananas and other fruits. The one pier is always occupied by ships from Del Monte, United Fruit, Fyffe’s and other companies that are big in the fruit trade. It is located right at the end of the town of Barrios, which is a typical Middle American harbor town. The attractions there might be of great interest to some of my crewmembers, but would certainly not appeal to the vast majority of our guests. Bars with names as Hamburg Bar, Reeperbahn Bar, American Bar, Casa Loco etc, are present in profusion and the improvement of international relationships is very much encouraged; albeit for a fee.

Santo Tomas is a newly developed port, with a large new pier and the presence of a small Navy and Marines base. Here In and Export of regular goods and cars take place and this is where the cruise ships dock. Of course the latter take preference over the cargo ships and most of the time we see ships sitting at anchor waiting for us to clear the dock again so they can come in. Holland America has been coming to Santo Tomas since the mid 90’s and with its patronage the port has been developed into a thriving cruise port. It is not so much the port itself that forms the attraction but the tours to the Mayan ruins of Tikal and the Eco tours that are being offered. Also there is the option to go to a nice beach and hotel with a local shuttle boat and there is a craft centre in the terminal on the pier.

The port itself is extremely well organized with everybody being either in uniform or having color coded safety vests that clearly show what each persons function or operational group is in the port. Since we have been calling there, the port has been considerably spruced up and in general much improved in appearance. Guatemala is still a developing country with a long way to go and much help from the outside world is needed. A little bit of that help is being provided by the crew of the Veendam. Since last year we are very actively sponsoring a local school with materials and also the local hospital and convalescence’s home has benefited from the ship by means of matrasses and blankets. Even our guests have been getting involved and through them we have been able to donate computers and other learning materials. Now the new season has started, the donations are once again piling up and we are looking forward to be once again actively involved with supporting the local community.

As this is an 8 day cruise, we have one more port than normal in the schedule and so tomorrow we are calling first at Roatan before calling at the regular port of Costa Maya. Roatan can handle two ships at the same time. One alongside a dock built by Carnival Corporation and one ship at the anchorage. We will be the only ship and thus we can dock.

The tropical depression to the south is still getting better organized. It is now has a number, number 17 and if it continues to intensify, it will get a name. Thus far is has remained very steady, slowly drifting to the North West and for the moment it will not bother us and we can do our call at Roatan as planned.