10 November, Key West.

The weather guru’s had it wrong, completely wrong. The predicted winds of 15 knots, turned out to be closer to 40 knots (that is gale force) when we started the approach to the Key West pilot station. It did not look good at all. Plus the fact that the wind was from the North did not help either as it would push the ship directly onto the dock with a wind force that was going above the Veendam thruster capacity to counteract. While looking out of the bridge window I had already started to formulate my cancellation speech for the guests.

The Westerdam was already docked. She had come in at 0700 in the morning when the wind was only blowing at 20 knots. For me she created an extra problem as she was docked at B pier and I would have to take the Veendam around her to dock at Mallory, with only 45 feet of clearance and that in a howling gale. My only hope was that in the port there was less wind than outside in the Straits of Florida. Rule of thumb for Key West is that there is normally 10 knots wind less in the port than in open waters. The Westerdam wind meter gave 25 gusting to 30 knots from the North and that was too much.

However by 0930, the pilot reported that the wind had shifted and was now blowing straight through the port, e.g. in line with Mallory dock. That meant that I would have the wind full on the bow and that I could work with. Although it requires maneuvering with great care, I could stem the drift of the ship with the main engines and control the ships position sideways with the thrusters. Thus I decided to go for it. The pilot reported 2 knots of ebb current in the port but also running in line with the wind and the dock.

To add to the fun the USCG decided to ride with us into the port and six men came on board with the pilot. Two stayed on the bridge, two in the ECR ( Engine control room) and two were roving through the ship. This is part of their Homeland Security work. At random they board ships all over the USA and in that way hope to prevent any terrorist threat that might exist. By creating a random pattern, the logic is that a terrorist organization will never know where the USCG is present in case they were planning something. With six of them onboard and two motorboats escorting us, the Veendam made its grand entrance into Key West harbor with the wind gusting up to 30 knots.

We slowly drifted by the Westerdam and I let the Veendam overshoot the berth by about 100 feet, so that I would have enough clearance to come to the dock before settling into position. The next step was; stopping the ship and wait. We just sat there for a little while to see how the elements were playing with the ship. That way I could make an estimate about how much power I needed to stem the push of the wind and the current. What setting was needed on the thrusters to keep the stern (with that big funnel) under control and how the bow was reacting to the gusting winds. As soon as I had the Veendam balanced on the elements, we started slowly coming sideways and astern. I almost had to give six knots headway, just to keep the ship in position and reduce to 5.5 knots to have her slowly come astern. It took 30 minutes to come into position but with a very gentle landing onto the small T pier of Mallory. This pier is quite old and cannot handle a “bump” of a landing cruise ship. In any weather we have to be gentle. By the time all the ropes were ashore we had 40 feet clearance from the Westerdam. I cannot always say that I earn my daily wages the hard way but this was certainly one of them.

It remained very windy for the remainder of the day and only by night fall did the wind start to abate. The Westerdam sailed at 5 pm. so for the departure I had the whole harbor to myself and that made life easy. The Disney Magic who had been scheduled for the Navy berth never showed up, so either the captain did not like the wind, or her schedule had changed.

We left at 1800, with a setting sun in the West and the colorful show of buskers and fire eaters in front of us on Mallory square. Tomorrow we are at sea, heading towards the Caribbean Sea and our next port of call Belize.