We were lucky, or better said the ships that arrived after us were lucky, as the fog did not materialize. The temperature balance between air, land and water was not such that water condensation occurred which is what fog basically is. Still better safe than sorry and the good ship Oosterdam was happily docked well before problems could have arisen. The wind still weather is to prevail for the remainder of the day and thus the captain opted for docking with the nose in to make it as easy as possible for the ships operation as everybody had just gotten used to the portside flow based on our last weeks docking.
Our cruise of 25 Nov. – 09 Dec. Also on the diagram the cruise we just finished and which we will do again after we have completed the current one. We have quite a few guests on board who are just doing that.
Now we are embarking on a 14 day round trip covering the whole Caribbean Sea by means of a clockwise circumnavigation. We have been doing variations of this cruise ever since the company started sailing from Tampa in 1983 with the Veendam (III). I write variations as we have not always made the exact same cruise in all those years. In the beginning it was purely to do “something different” but with cruising becoming more and more popular the schedule is now also based on where we can dock with trying to avoid tender service as much as possible. We are very proficient in running tender operations but going ashore via the gangway is a lot quicker than having to wait for the shuttle. If nothing changes we will have tender service once this cruise, in Grand Cayman, the last call on our cruise before returning to Tampa.
Because many of the ports in the Caribbean are very close together, tinkering with the cruise schedule is not so difficult. Thus the company can be flexible in negotiating with various ports. In the past they have varied between St. Maarten, St Croix and St. Johns (Antigua) and St. Johns and Bridgetown (Barbados) Then further south we have El Guamache (Isla de Margarita), Bonaire, Curacao and Aruba in a row which gives options as well. We are a Friday ship, which is an odd day for starting a cruise but it has the great advantage that we are out of synch with all the big boys which sail on Saturday and Sunday. We will still meet a few of them but less than if we would have been on a weekend departure as well. If the company can wriggle it then the ports selected are based on Guest feedback. One of the reasons we are now visiting St. Johns Antigua. This port of call has been getting better and better ratings and the feedback is really positive. (I am not a shopping expert, but it does have some really good beaches).
The final port on our cruise is Georgetown Grand Cayman, which is our only tender port. (Subject to change of course………) Mainly because there is only a very small dock. The local government has been discussing for years to build a dock for one or two ships but there is the economic faction (more ships are good for the economy) and there is a the ecological faction (building a dock will damage the reefs which is not good for the economy).There now seems to be a tentative agreement to go forward with a dock construction but I have not seen any final plans yet. Thus the port can handle four ships at anchor and if there are more, which happens quite often around the holidays, then the remainder of the ships will have to stay on the engines and drift.
So that will be the coming 14 day cruise going with the clock until we are back in Tampa on 09 December. When sailing out it will take us about 3 hrs. from the moment we let go the lines until the moment we pass the sea buoy and start heading south for our first port of call Key West, Florida. On the way out we will pass the American Victory a 2nd world war cargo ship which is now sporting a rather unusual paint coat. More about that tomorrow.
The ss American Victory, a museum ship in Tampa and docked behind us. For some time now it carries cammoflage paint on the hull.
The weather for the coming days is under the influence of frontal systems which are rolling in from the Southern part of the North Atlantic. So we might have some rain and wind on the way to San Juan. But first we will have a sunny day in Key West with partly cloudy skies, and temperatures of just under 80F or 26oC.
Caribbean weather. white bands over Cuba indicating rain systems coming over and a lot of rain in the aftermath of Otto in the south Caribbean.
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