11 July 2009, Dublin, Ireland.

his is a very port intensive cruise; we had our one and only sea day after Greenwich and since that time we have been hitting a port everyday. Newcastle, Leith, Scrabster (well almost), Portree and Belfast since the start of the cruise. Today Dublin, then Dunmore East (Waterford), Newport, Falmouth, Portland, St. Peterport and then we are in Dover. My guests are going to be completely exhausted by the time they leave the ship in Dover. For those who stay on, they will have time to relax as the next cruise is having quite a few sea days with scenic cruising. This cruise is very intensive if you want to partake in everything. It normally ends up with the guests getting a little bit cranky towards the end when the travel fatigue sets in.

The guests might have a good reason to be cranky in the coming period, as the weather is going to take a turn for the worse. After Dublin we can expect some gales, as they were forecast today for the South side of Ireland and that might have some affect on us. All depending on what the wind direction is by the time that the gale comes by. We will see, it is not supposed to happen at all in mid summer but there is always a chance that the frontal system fills in before it gets to the coast. We had a bit of a breeze on arrival this time, at least in open waters. Inside the port it was nearly wind still. Dublin is also located at the end of an estuary, created by the outflow of the river Liffey. It is very shallow here, and although for the Prinsendam it is not tide restricted, it helps if high water is near arrival and departure times. This time we had about 9 feet under the keel while we sailed slowly into the port.

Dublin does not have a real cruise terminal so we were parked at a cargo pier that is more or less suitable for cruise ships as it can receive buses and taxis. When we docked we could see that the real business of importance was the export of windmills. This is big business nowadays with several governments aggressively pursuing the building of large windmill parks around the coasts. There are several in the Dutch North Sea and around the British coast and also Ireland, which does not exactly suffer from lack of wind, is in the game. Most of the windmill parks are well out of the way of the commercial traffic lanes and they are very visible on the radars. Because they are high and there is always more than one, it is easy to recognize a Windmill park. Even if the charts do not indicate them yet. The only issue that occurs occasionally is if a ship is sitting between the wind mills and suddenly comes sailing out. It is nearly impossible to recognize a small ship from a windmill, the echo on the screen is about the same, and then suddenly there is something coming your way. We have had it a few times that suddenly an echo that was static before started to move away from the windmills. With good visibility it is not a problem but if it is foggy, it can create an unpleasant situation.

We had a real Irish day, it rained all day, and while we were docked the first gale started to come over the area and we measured 35 knots wind along the dock. VTS gave 40 knots wind for departure later that evening and thus I ordered two tugboats to be on the safe side. As luck would have it, when we sailed at 11 pm. It was wind still. As a captain you are not happy at all at such a moment, but what can you do. Tugboats have calling out times and you have to rely on the weather forecasts given by the local stations..
However this wind still period did not last very long. By the time we came outside, the wind had started to pick up again and another gale warning was in force. Luckily for the guests the swell, rolling in from the Atlantic ocean was under the right angle, e.g. blocked by land and thus the Prinsendam did not move that much.

Now we have to wait and see for tomorrow, what happens at Dunmore East, our anchorage for Waterford as the area is very exposed to the elements.