11 April 2012; Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

 We arrived at 06.00 hrs at the final approach point to the anchorage and I was happy and not happy at the same time. Happy because the swell was not running into the bay and unhappy that there was still about 15 to 20 knots blowing inside the bay so I could not stay on the engines to enable a close tender distance and speed up the tour departure. The only option was to go directly to the anchorage and get the tender show underway as soon as possible. The authorities were so nice to pre- clear the ship from the dockside and that meant that we could start while they came on board a little bit later to do the paperwork. The Carnival Splendor showed up an hour later at 07.30 and the Carnival Spirit shortly after. They being the bigger ships and being on a more frequent run were assigned to the better anchorages. The Carnival ships do not use their own tenders at all, only shore tenders, but as there are plenty of them we normally also rent  two so we can cover the long distance to the shore with six tenders, 4 of our own and 2 from the agency. 

The anchorages as seen on the radar. The yellow patch behind the ship on anchorage 1 (Carnival Splendor) , is a false radar echo. A double reflection of the radar echo of the ship at anchorage 2. (Carnival Spirit)

In the cause of the morning, the wind abated considerably and that kept the chop down in the bay. The unpleasant part was that it meant that all the jet skies were coming out to play around the ships. There is nothing more dangerous than boys with toys and dangerous it was. We were far enough out not to be bothered by them but a lot were circling around the two Carnival ships. They had their engines going to keep a good lee side for their tender operation and on a regular basis we saw jet skies and water scooters going through the wash of the azipods. With all the mayhem going on; water scooters, jet skies, para sailings, glass bottom boats, a (yellow) submarine, etc. etc. my tender drivers had to be very careful to make sure that they avoided everything and anything that tourism threw in their way today.

Looking towards Cabo San Lucas harbour. In the lower right one of our ships tenders on the way to the shore, with a 10 minute tender ride. 

The tender drivers are all specially trained sailors who have to get their tender driver certificate before they are allowed to drive a tender. For that we give training, without passengers on board of course, where we simulate normal operation but also calamities. Running on one engine, no engine, strong winds, fire on board, everything is trained and simulated. The only thing you cannot always train for is traffic but we can warn and discuss that before we start an operation. So the day before we go to a tender port, there is a meeting with all the drivers and one of the navigation officers gives a presentation to discuss what can be expected. Each driver receives a chartlet, showing the route and conspicuous land marks on the route. The expected currents, winds and expected traffic are discussed and in that way we prepare the whole team as best as possible. Then when the tender service commences, the officer of the watch parks him/herself on the bridge wing so the whole tender route can be followed. Near the dock this is done by the Security Officer so we know at all times where the tenders are.

If there is restricted visibility then a navigator is added to each tender. He does not drive but he navigates and communicates with the bridge. On the bridge is then also the Captain and the Chief Officer (=Staff captain) present who plots and monitor the progress of each tender on the radar screen. We have ports such as Bar Harbour in Maine and sometimes the Alaskan Ports where this can be a routine operation. I have done port calls where the guests going ashore and coming back never saw the ship at all and only knew (and maybe hoped for) that somewhere in that white cloud their ship was still there.

Today we just had wind and sunshine while our tenders shuttled to and from. By 09.00 we had all ashore that wanted to go ashore and by 14.00 we had everybody back who wanted to come back and we could sail away again. We will visit Cabo one more time in four weeks and then we will be together with the Amsterdam. At least I will have a better anchorage then.

Although it was 15 knots blowing in the bay, that was still sheltered, and thus when we came around the corner we got the full brunt of 40 knots over us. With the ship going against it with 19 knots meant we had storm force winds howling around the superstructure. We will keep this wind for the remainder of the night and then tomorrow it should get less. But our last day will be sunny again.