16 January 2010, enroute to Santa Marta Colombia.

This morning at 2 am. we passed the South West point of Haiti and entered the Caribbean Sea, and a very wobbly sea it was. The normal trade wind which blows with a force 4 or about 16 knots was doing at least 20 with gusts of up to 25 knots. As we were on a nearly straight Southerly course, that wind was pushing full against the portside of the ship and that caused the Prinsendam to list slightly. With ballasting we could correct most of it but as the wind was gusty we could never find the complete balance. As this wind had been blowing already for a while, the swell and waves had reached average heights of 8 to 10 feet and that made the ship quite lively at times. However most of our guests are veteran cruisers and were for the most enjoying the ride.

The weather chart for the day. We had a bit more wind than this chart is indicating.

It would not be a good idea to make circles in this weather, the ship would list and lean considerably doing so, and thus I postponed the compass compensation plans until tomorrow. I will now arrive off the pilot station of Santa Martha at 4.30 am, and with being in the lee of the mountains we can do our turning circles without too much problems and still be on time for sailing into port.
The agent has just advised that we are docking at the opposite side of the harbour, the downtown piers being occupied and thus we have arranged shuttle buses to get the guests towards the port.

Our teak deck people have made good progress during the past night and this morning we could open up our walk around deck, deck 7. Although with this wind it was not advisable to do so but there are always a few die hards who have to try it. Thus we saw a fairly young guest, struggling around the corner and then not getting anywhere as the wind over the deck brought her to an instant halt. A few minutes later she was back where she started from as her slippery soles slid her back over the deck propelled backwards by the wind. However instead of giving up, a little bit later she was back again, now wearing proper training shoes with a good anti slip profile. This time she made it around the corner but after one lap decided to heed our warnings; that it was not such a good idea,

The social life onboard is on these long cruises almost as important as the sights that we will see and today I had the first two parties to attend. A special luncheon for the suite guests, those with the biggest balcony cabins, so that they could meet their neighbors and a cocktail party given by American Express who has a group of guests onboard. We have several travel agents onboard with escorted groups and sometime during the cruise they all have one or more get-togethers. Most of them send me an invitation to attend and as long as it is not around sailing time, I try to show up, even if it is only for a short while.

During the day, the swell abated and in the afternoon we had a fairly quiet ride. In the evening the “bumpiness” increased again but by that time, I was able to slow down and thus reduce the ships movement.

Normally I can plan my average speed quite well, as the average currents in this area are very well documented. But at the moment everything seems to be out of kilter. Last night we were supposed to have the current against us but we did not. Going through the Windward Passage we had 2 knots of current with us and that is not normal either. This morning we had the current against us, while it should have been on the side and this afternoon we suddenly had a following current and that is not normal either in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. No doubt it all has to do with global warming. Although I heard somebody on Florida TV talking the other day about the fact that there was another ice age coming. Which was of course was the way to explain why it was freezing in Florida.

Tomorrow we will be in Santa Marta with little chance of an ice age there. The temperatures will be in the mid eighties without a cloud in the sky.