09 April 2012; At Sea.

The very calm weather that this area has been having here for the last ten days or so, results in some peculiar situations. The visibility is varying greatly without really following any pattern. Coming up to Hualtalco we had a very clear horizon for a while and today it is really hazy. Acapulco only 12 miles on our starboard side cannot be seen at all. Still it is a lot better than stormy weather and we can have a nice cruising day at sea. Tomorrow there will be a 2nd one when we transit the Golfo de California. There we can expect some cold air flowing down from the upper area that is mostly known as the Sea of Cortez. Quite often that flow can build up to a wind force 5 or 6, only to die down again when we come into the lee of Cabo San Lucas. 

In the meantime I am busy with a little puzzle for the coming call in San Diego. Then we will have the annual USCG safety inspection. We have two inspections a year, the yearly one and the half yearly. The half yearly is basically a ship walk through, review of onboard procedures and paper check. The annual one is where extra time is spent by the inspectors on individual items. Because we only have two USA ports during our cruise, we have to do the inspections either in San Diego or in Fort Lauderdale. Both are turn over ports. That means passenger and crew going on, going off, bunker barges alongside, stores being loaded and loads of service people and contractors visiting. A day full of controlled mayhem and then we add a full inspection into the mix that affects all the crew on board, who at the same time try to get the ship ready for a new cruise. My challenge is now, that we set things up in such a way that the USCG can do their job with maximum efficiency and that at the same time it will not affect the service to the guests, or will cause a delay in departure.

Sometimes it is the very small things that have to be changed or organized differently. One example is the bunker barge, it normally arrives as soon as we dock and then parks itself along the whole length of the ship. That means that none of the lifeboats can be lowered into the water. One of the requirements of the inspection is to lower all boats that are on the sea side. By advising the barge master that he has to tie up at the end of the ship, basically park the barge the other way around, we can avoid this issue. On arrival it costs no extra time but if you have to move the barge during operations it takes two hours and then it delays the whole inspection.

 A new item on the inspection list is that the inspectors want to attend the passenger boat drill before departure. They have started to implement this since the Costa Concordia tragedy. All Holland America Line ships do so and thus they can. Passenger drill before departure is not compulsory yet but they might become in the future. Holland America has done the drills before departure for the last 20 years so for us there is nothing new. It makes for the USCG officers a long day though.

When we have such an inspection we try to get the drills out of the way first. This ties up most of the crew and if we can release them, they can get on with their duties. After that the regular tests can be carried out as that normally only involves those officers and crew who are responsible for certain safety systems. When the whole inspection is over, they USCG will issue a new certificate that is valid for a year which has to be reviewed during the next inspection, six months from now.

Although we call it USCG inspection, the correct word for it is Port State Inspection. These are done not only in the USA but also in Canada, and nearly every other country in the world where ships call. The frustrating thing for us is always that each country gives a different twist to the same requirements. Solas is the same all over the world, Port State Inspections are not. Still it is a good thing that they are there and when properly done they do add to the safe operation of the ships.

Tomorrow we will have a 2nd seaday during which we will spend most of the time crossing the Southern part of the Golfo de California. I expect northerly wind, so it should start to get cooler.