Today we are at sea after leaving the Netherlands two hours late. Reason, the lock door of the Main Lock in Ijmuiden did not want to open. Amsterdam can only be reached by deep sea ships via Ijmuiden and then sail via the North Sea Canal to the various cargo berths of Amsterdam Port or all the way to downtown where the Passenger Terminal is located. Which is a great location as there are not many big ports where you dock a 5 minute walk from the downtown area. Also for joining and leaving the ship it is great as Central (Train) Station is also only 5 minutes away. And if there are a lot of Dutch guests on board you can see long lines of “cloggies” roiling their suitcase down the street from the train to the ship.
They have now built the walls of the new locks and have lifted a complete dredger into the lock pool to clear out all the mud inside. (Photo Courtesy: Dutch Government)
But the locks are another matter. They are expanding the locks to be the biggest in the world and it seems that the old one is a bit upset about that and starts giving sensor problems. And without electronic sensors nothing can work nowadays. Not even a set of locks that are already over a 100 years old (The first one is from 1876) and must have worked a long long time without any electric wizardly. The Prinsendam was delayed 2 hours inbound two weeks ago and now again two hours while outbound. If it has to happen then outbound is better, as inbound it might affect the dis-embarkation & flights of the guests going home. Outbound there is most of the time sufficient leeway in the schedule to catch up again. And in this schedule on the way to Stavanger we have plenty of time.
I mentioned yesterday the Shipping Forecast. This is a service from the British Meteorological service for everybody sailing around the United Kingdom. There is also a Dutch version from the Dutch Meteo people but as most at sea speak a certain amount of English, it is normally the English Shipping Forecast they listen to. Its importance is starting to wane slightly as with modern technology you can go on line and/or take a subscription to various weather sites. Some of them which specialize in Maritime Weather. But as mentioned in one of my previous Zaandam blogs, they sometimes arrive at different forecasts for the same area based on the same data.
The area of the Shipping Forecast. Copy off the Internest which gives a constantly updated weather forecast for all the regions. It can also be heard on the Radio and on VHF weather channels.
But for the short forecasts, the Shipping Forecast is un-beatable and no doubt has saved many a fisherman his/her life in the past. Not to mention damage to larger ships and also the warnings that might have kept many a hapless six-pack navigator in port and in the bar. What is so useful about it is that the area covered is divided in sectors, so you can get the forecast for the area you are in or will be in shortly. So when I gave my weather forecast for this day, I simply looked at the sectors we would be sailing through: Thames, German Bight, Fisher, South Utsire, and North Utsire. Currently we are in Fisher and that gives the following forecast:
The short term weather forecast for the Fisher area. For the guests the Sea State is important and for the captain to be alert that there might fog patches coming, so he can prepare his navigation team.
Then we go further north and then the main interest is what the weather is going to be inside. As can be seen from Fisher, rain is expected as there is a band of rain lying all over the west coast of Norway. So tomorrow in Stavanger we will not be spared a bit of rain at times. Still there is not much wind expected as that would spoil the fun, making it hard for the captain to dock and unpleasant for the guests to walk around in. So we are expecting scattered showers, little wind and temperatures up to 64oF / 18oC.
As this is the final voyage of the ms Prinsendam, I am going to publish one photo every day from a group of the total Prinsendam team who are really focused on making this final voyage memorable and will at the end leave their beloved ship behind to go home or transfer.
The Navigation Team of the ms Prinsendam. To the far top right Captain Jeroen Schuchman and next to him Staff Captain Robert Hughes.
June 18, 2019 at 11:33 pm
Great idea to post a group picture every day
June 19, 2019 at 3:13 am
Captain,
Why are some of the deck officers in gray uniforms?
June 19, 2019 at 6:00 am
Thank you for reading my blog.
The grey uniforms are the charcoal version of the kakhi uniforms we used to wear when carrying out maintenance. This photo was taken during coffee
time and the boys had just returned from inspection runs for safety and lifesaving.
Best regards
Capt. Albert
June 19, 2019 at 3:22 am
Thank you for your comments.
One question about the locks at Ijmoden: when we sailed through we counted one, and only one. This lead to a lot of theories and speculation on how they work.
June 19, 2019 at 6:21 am
Thank you for reading my blog.
There are three locks and they are now building/rebuilding the centre lock which was the 2nd biggest one of the three into the largest Lock in the world. (A title held now by a lock in Le Havre) As the lock is nearly completed in its form it is hard to see how large it is as it is still obscured by all the building materials. But it is large enough to lift a complete dredger into the lock chamber to start digging all the mud out. When finished it will be able to handle the very large container ships or handle several ships in one lock transfer which will help loosing fresh water and reduce the amount of salt water coming in. Depending on the tide.
Best regards
Capt. Albert
June 19, 2019 at 4:24 pm
Hey Kaptein; thanks for including PRDM’s SECO Nath in that pic! Question please; in one of your most recent Zaandam blogs, you stated Capt. Pieter Bos was onboard for quality control. Is the “Formula One race fan” unretired and joining Capt. Jeroen Baaijens as Fleet Captain or just filling in? Thanks very much and take care!
June 20, 2019 at 5:59 am
Hallo Copper,
Peter Bos was on board for one sailing to observe how our new Captain Paul Adams was doing. Peter left with me in
Montreal and is now on his way to C-Smart for training courses.
Best regards
Capt. Albert
June 19, 2019 at 5:59 pm
Hi Captain Albert! What a bittersweet sailing. My husband and I love the Prinsendam. We have many happy memories of happy times aboard. She is our favorite ship in all the world. What is to become of her? Will she still be out at sea after her “final” Holland America voyage? So sorry we could not join all of you on this amazing voyage. Luckily (for them), our dear friends Karen and Lynn, who have been on several of Holland America’s around-the-world trips, are onboard, and we shall have to be content to live vicariously through their wonderful photos and your awesome
daily updates.