17 May2012; Vancouver, Canada.

For me the best part of an Alaska Cruise is still sailing into Vancouver. Together with Sydney and Hong Kong I find it the most impressive port to sail into. Plus it is nice and sheltered and that means that if it is really blowing in Georgia Strait, then most of the time there it is only a gentle breeze in the port. Such was the case today. Georgia Strait was suffering under a real “funnel wind” exactly in line with the NW –SE direction of the Strait. Over 40 knots of wind on the beam, which must have woken up the balcony cabins on the portside of the ship quite nicely. However as soon as we lined up for the bridge and had passed Point Atkinson on the north shore, it became flat calm. We had overtaken the Amsterdam during the night as we had to go to the Eastern side of Canada place and then it makes sense to go under the bridge first and be out of the way for the other ship which has to make a shorter and earlier turn. Thus we passed under the bridge at 06.20 hrs with a scheduled first line ashore at 07.00 hrs

We did so accordingly and of course Murphy was among the organizers of the docking and we had to fuss around with the location of the gangway. Everybody is used to an S class ship docking on the West side so when we have to go to the East side the wheel has to be re-invented. The gangway had to go forward, then we had to go aft, then we were in position and then shore side found out that inside the terminal there was a big concrete pillar that blocked the other side of the gangway if we stayed in the position we had just been directed to. That pillar had been there since 1986 but was now re discovered and we had to move another 4 meters aft. Luckily Canada is metric and at least that stops discussions between shore and ship side about how many feet there are in a meter (quite often at least five) and by 07.30 all issues were out of the way and we could happily settle down for the day.

With the guests going off and the 3 day trippers coming on, the day would have already been sufficiently busy but we also had our yearly Canadian Port State Control Inspection. Basically a rehash of what the USCG did on 27 April. That took up most of the day of the deck and engine department, where the focus is with checking the compliance of the regulatory issues and various laws. The inspectors are always very accommodating in letting us set the time and location of the fire and the all crew boat drills and in that way we could minimize the impact on the guests cruise experience. The inspection lasted nearly all day but by 4 pm the inspectors left the ship in a happy state as they had done a good inspection and we were happy as they had observed that the Statendam was in a good state and order.
By 16.30 we had all 1,360 guests on board; this is a real full house with most of the sofa beds in the cabins occupied.

By 1700 hrs we pulled out following the Amsterdam outbound by sailing under the Lions Gate Bridge. The Amsterdam is doing a one nighter to Seattle to start her Alaska season and thus she was sailing with a sedate speed of 12 knots. I had a tight schedule to maintain to get to Astoria on time and came racing by with 21 knots shortly after. With the ebb current in the back, the ship was going even faster on occasion and I kept up the speed as much as possible while in sheltered waters. Later on tonight when we come out of Strait Juan de Fuca, I expect more swell and then we can sail a little bit slower and give the guests a more comfortable ride.
We said goodbye to the pilot at 22.15 and by 23.00 hrs I was in bed. It had been a long time since 05.00 in the morning when we approached the Lions Gate Bridge. Still Port State were happy and that made it all worthwhile to run around all day long.
The weather looks good for tomorrow, very little wind expected in Astoria and maybe even a bit of sunshine. I know the Astorians are looking forward to our call. Not enough ships are calling there and so the shopkeepers are building a sort of Flea market on the dock to rack in as many Canadian dollars as possible.

A sunny day in Vancouver overlooking the end of Canada Place. The ms Amsterdam can just be seen at her dock at 5 West. (Photo courtesy, Hotelmanager Bert van Mackelenbergh)