I have to start with a correction; the last time there was a Super moon was not in 1942, it was in 1948. We have clear skies today so tonight around 22.30 to 23.00 at our location the moon is at its biggest and hopefully I can take a few nice photos. While we have lost the clouds and the sun returned but we have gained a low swell coming in from the North West. Roughly in line with Bermuda to Cape Hatteras.  Always the place where depressions are created and which then generates a wave field which rolls  all the way down to Puerto Rico.

I was Captain on the Maasdam in 2003 and 2004 and we were making cruises from Norfolk to the Caribbean. Unfortunately San Juan was our last port of call and during the months of January and February we often had to bounce for 2 days against a high swell to get back to Norfolk. On occasion arriving several hours late; instead of being docked at 06.00 hrs.  Although the guests from the Norfolk area were very happy with the Maasdam, it was a bit hard on the guests to bounce home for two days of the 10 day cruise and thus we stopped it. If we had turned it into an 11 day cruise we could have done the cruise the other way around (Surf with the swell instead of bouncing against it) but somehow marketing did not believe an extra day would sell. I am just a simple ship’s captain so I have no idea how they came to that conclusion but maybe it had something to do with flights etc. which often dictate what is possible or not.

The thing with the Super moon is optical trickery as the moon is not getting bigger or smaller. It was Super in 1948, it is Super now on 14 November 2016 and it will be Super again on 25 November 2034. I will have a look then if it is the same size as in 2014 otherwise I can tell everybody that Super moons were much better in the old days.

But what is happening? The moon circulates / rotates around the world but that rotating movement is not a circle. It is an oval. So when the oval is coming the closest to the location of the Earth, we get a Super moon. Hence NASA being able to calculate exactly the date of 24 November 2034. The moon will appear to be 14% bigger than we normally see it and about 30% brighter. So I will do a test if I can read a book in the moon light while sitting in a dark spot under the bridge where there is no ships glare.  A cruise ship is normally lit up like a Christmas tree and only the bow section is in the dark to ensure the Navigators can keep a sharp look-out.

We still have a day and a half in the open ocean before we enter the Bahamas. Then it is a day and a half to get to Tampa as we will have to sail all the way around Florida to get to the pilot station sometime after midnight, for the 4 hour run in to the dock. When are they going to cut a canal through Florida, straight from East to West? That would have a very positive influence on the cruise business from the Gulf of Mexico ports.

We are back in the blue area East of the white streak over Florida but in the South Carib it is getting interesting.

We are back in the blue area just East of the white streak extending over Florida but in the South Carib it is getting interesting.

In the mean time I am keeping a sharp eye on the turbulence in the Caribbean Sea. I mentioned yesterday that something might be brewing there and I am upgrading that opinion that something is brewing there. As you can see from the little chartlet above, the green and red spots are becoming more circular and that could mean a tropical storm in a few days from now. Maybe when the weekend starts or over the weekend. No worries thus for our arrival at Tampa, unless things really speed up, but it could will be of concern for next cruise.  But we still have days for us to think about it and days for the system to fall apart.