09 September 2014; Charlotte Town, Prince Edward Island, Canada.

This is one of my favorite ports of call.  Partly because the people here are very friendly, partly because pilot and port authority will do everything to support our port calls, partly because town is nearby and partly because the approach to the dock, and sailing out again is so nice.

Charlottetown is not a very sheltered port and cancellations in the early and late season are not uncommon but today was a wonderful day. Nearly wind still and the sun shining brightly.   Prince Edward Island or PEI as it is mostly known is an oblong island with a semi round hole on the south side, nearly in the middle of the Island. Inside that hole, churned into a semi lake by 3 meeting rivers, Charlotte Town is located. The founding fathers must have recognized that this was the most sheltered area of the island.

The Maasdam arrived at 06.30 at the Pilot Station and the Pilot came on board. We always have the same pilot. As a matter of fact he is really the only pilot but there is a backup in case he is not available. His father in law drives the pilot boat and his children act as the linesmen who pull the ropes ashore when the ship docks. Ma runs the administration. Call it a family affair but we like these people; they are very, very professional….. and helpful and that makes it very nice to dock the ship here.  There is only one dock, so only one ship can go alongside.

Three Rivers. One lower left, One top left and One top right. The lower right with the black course line is the way in and out.

If more ships are coming then they have to go to anchor, which is less pleasant as the anchorage is located at the junction of the currents produced by those three meeting rivers.  Not dangerous but the ship is literally spinning around its anchor 360o all day. The moment it swings out of the influence of the first river, it gets caught by the 2^nd river, etc. etc. etc. You are all day on full alert as you really do not know whether the anchor is holding or dragging as the reference points are changing all the time. So the captain is on the bridge all day, constantly watching the distances to the shore.

Not so today. The Maasdam is always the only ship on a Tuesday and thus it always dock.

The Brown Cliffs are slowly eroding and the houses on the top are not that far away.

The whole inland water is getting slowly bigger all the time, as the sides of the islands that are near the entrance are constantly eroding. It does not affect the approach channel too much as the water flow of the three rivers churns all the sediment to open sea. For the people who are living near the edge of the land it is a different story.

Quite a few houses, very nice houses, are coming closer and closer to the edge. According to local information, some home owners have already moved their house twice further inland but the sea keeps following. With the houses mainly made out of wood it seems to be fairly easy to jack them up and roll them a few 100 feet deeper into the back garden. One just has to hope that there is enough back garden to do so  ……. I suppose.

The ship always docks nose out here, apart from the fact that it makes the departure maneuver faster it is also handy in case the weather suddenly changes. If the ship would have to leave it would be a straight shot out and there would be less of a complication with the wind as would be the case if the ship would first have to swing around. Today there were no complications and the ship left in glorious sunlight. It was a perfect sail away.

Tomorrow we are in Sydney, Nova Scotia and for the first time in four weeks it is supposed to be dry and sunny. Good for the Captain and Hotel Director as they have planned a Crew Barbeque ashore on the dock; and good for me as I will go down with the lifeboat with the Entertainers to train them for their new function of Lifeboat Communicator.