16 April 2012; Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

 We received a royal welcome today in Puerto Vallarta at least that was the way that it felt. But it was not meant for us. The President of Mexico had descended on the town for the World Forum and it had all the local authorities in a frenzy. As it is well known that Holland America guests are great in invasions (mainly into tourist shops……) so we had to be carefully checked out and thus we had a navy patrol boat buzzing around the ship and a helicopter hovering above. It seemed that we were not considered dangerous and we could continue our journey to the pilot station unhindered. As is normal early in the morning, there was no wind at all in the Port and that made arrival a real doddle. On request of the chief officer I docked today the other way around than normal, nose in, so he could do a lot of maintenance on the starboard side. Apart from San Diego, nearly all our ports are portside dockings and that leaves the starboard side hull a bit neglected. So when possible the chief needs the ship the other way around to keep up with it all.

This is not such a strange maneuver as in the afternoon, the warm land wind from the south West picks up and that acts as a natural thruster pushing the ship off the dock. So on departure we could practice the “blow away maneuver” after letting go the lines and I only helped with the engines to make it faster.

Bollards nicely spaced out and a good spread of lines. that is what a sailor likes to see.

The pilot is always the same man, who has the good grace not to interfere with the navigation or the docking but does ensure that shore side and his pilot boat are standby for information and help if needed. Mexican linesmen belong to the best in the world, as they work hard and fast and the pilots word is law, so when I want the ropes somewhere; that is where they go. In some other ports, there are always arguments, quite often slow go tactics and the ropes often go to the bollard that is most convenient for the linesman but not the best for the ship. Here in Puerto Vallarta we do not have that problem. The bollards for our ropes are nicely spaced out and the linesmen put the ropes where we want them, ensuring that the ship is docked in the most safe way possible.

The only problem/challenge we had was that President today. Because of his presence the local authorities had set up roadblocks and deviations and that affected our tours. Of course nobody had been advised of this and thus the tour operator and shorex manager here on board had to re-arrange departure times to deal with the nuisance. It seems that it is becoming more and more unhealthy to be a public figure if these sorts of precautions have to be taken. Reading a bit of American history, I found out that Benjamin Franklin could ride all alone on horseback to the White House and Harry Truman was put on the train by himself when his presidency ended. Now if the current President wants to go somewhere he has sufficient security with him to stage a small time invasion. Mexico has lots of problems with the Drug Cartels and that is one of the reasons that Puerto Vallarta was changed into a sort of Fortress today.

Still it is one of the safer ports to go to and the Mexican president must have thought the same. Hence we are here, while Acapulco, Mazatlan and Zihuatenego have been moved out of the cruise schedules due to the problems, Puerto Vallarta, although also a big place, is still safe.

Puerto Vallarta cruise terminal. Notice the cherry picker alongside near the stern, painting balcony’s.

It has a nice terminal and is easy accessible for tours going in and out. The CO can order cherry pickers for his maintenance and the chief engineer can buy cheaper gas oil here and recycle his sludge. The main attraction for the guests: Wal-Mart; just opposite the road. So it never comes as a surprise that we always have to wait for a few guests who cut it to the last minute before coming back on board.

Still we made it off the dock just before 5 pm and an hour later we were out of the Bahia de Banderas and back in the North Pacific Ocean. Tomorrow will be another relaxing sea day and then we will call at Hualtalco de Santa Cruz. The wind will abate during the night as we are following the coast and that coast line is veering away from the current wind track. I am starting to worry already about the Golfo de Tehantepec as the weather pattern in the Carib is not the right one for a quiet passage during the night after tomorrow.