Puerto Quetzal is only 200 miles south of Puerto Chiapas and has the same weather and sea conditions. That means we can also suffer there from a swell running into the port. For this purpose the port has constructed the entrance to the harbor with a 90 degree turn in it and that prevents the swell from reaching the docks. Still while going in you might get it until you are inside the protection of these breakwaters. Puerto Quetzal is a very busy cargo port with always a lot of ships at anchor, waiting to load or discharge. When you approach you can see if the swell is there as those ships are then rolling on that swell. It cannot be fun for the crew on board those ships to be sitting there at the anchorage for a number of days and just have to cope with the constant rolling of the ship. It must be even less fun to see one of those “fur coat boats” taking preference over them and going in without waiting.

The new cruise terminal dock when built. The middle is a pontoon that goes up and down with the tide, so the gangway is always under the same angle.

Today we did not have any swell to be concerned about but we did upset a few cargo ships I think as we pinched their berths. Normally we go to the cruise terminal but two days ago the dock or the dolphins (we do not know exactly) was damaged by a departing cargo ship. This had been docked further in and when departing had clipped the edge of the pontoon or the dolphins. The authorities wanted to investigate first to see if there was a structural damage or just dents and scrapes. Until a diver had been down nobody was certain about what the damage might be or not might be. Until the full assessment has been made the cruise terminal is not available.  And thus two cargo ships were bumped to the anchorage so we could get in. And that we did; and by 07.30 hrs. we were happily docked at the Commercial Berth no 1.

That terminal was opened a number of years ago by Captain Werner Timmers when the Zaandam was the first ship docking there.

Not that we like it, the pier is too high during low water to have our gangway in place in the best way possible and the guests have to be bused first with shuttle buses to the Cruise Terminal if they are not on tour. Walking on the pier is not allowed, which makes sense as it is a cargo terminal and traffic acts accordingly. (And our guests do not act in general in a way that makes a cargo pier supervisor very happy) On top of that it was a very warm day. The sun was happily shining and the gentle breeze that was blowing was not bringing refreshing sea air but warm air from the interior.

But there is nothing we could have done about it; we could not even decide to run a tender service as this port is absolutely not feasible for such an operation. Too long a distance, too much swell, no proper landing dock and too much traffic going in and out. So the Commercial pier it was and we made the best of it.  The port authorities made 2 buses available for the shuttle service to the cruise terminal and Holland America added a few more to ensure that we provided a good service all the time.  The cruise terminal is similar as the one in Puerto Chiapas, the main building is a sort of square beehive and around it is a small flea market with trinket shops and beverage stands.

The extra shuttle trip our guests had to take, just because a cargo ship drifted over a bit too far. All photos courtesy of the Puerto Quetzal Port Authorities.

Most of the crew wisely decided to stay on board as the shuttle service would have taken quite a bit out of their leave time and no doubt they will all be back again sometime in the future. I kept a number of that crew from getting bored with training in proper communication. We have learned through the years that most mistakes from humans, who worked in groups under stressful circumstances, happened because they did not communicate properly. Either they assumed that somebody would do something, or thought they heard somebody saying something and acted upon that without verifying it, also because somebody did something (most likely something good) but never gave it a thought that somebody else needed to know what he or she had done. And the result of that action would have an impact on the next step that somebody else was going to take. It is called Closed Loop Communication and as I cannot remember that I have ever blogged about that, I will explain how it works tomorrow.

We sailed from Puerto Quetzal, slightly late as we had to wait for a tour bus. I have never been inland here but it seems that they have one of those roads near the port which everybody likes to use when our buses are on it, as the tours are seldom back on time. Not that it matters very much this time as we have some leeway in the schedule to make Corinto tomorrow on time.

Weather for tomorrow: even warmer that today 89oC / 32oF partly cloudy with a 90% chance of rain around noon time. Maybe not so nice for the guests, but it will cool down the ship quiet nicely.