18 Nov.2016; Tampa, Florida–USA.

With nice weather and according to plan the ms Oosterdam arrived at the pilot station of Tampa Bay. Normally the pilot boards a ship at the entrance to the port or at an enclosed area but not here. The sea buoy is nearly 12 miles away from where the land really starts and the pilot boat is not coming that far outside. Thus the ship itself enters the fair way with buoys at either side and then when it comes to buoys 9 and 10, the pilot boat pops up.  From there the voyage continues under the guidance of the local pilot.  This pilot not only provides service for those ships which go to Tampa but also to Manatee and all the other docks and locations in and around Tampa Bay.

When the pilots are on shift duty, they stay in a number of little bungalows grouped around the pilot dock at the island which forms the boundary with Tampa Bay.  Sometimes they pilot a ship in and out and then return to their bungalow for some down time. But an in and an out is only possible if it fits in the maximum length of a shift time. When a ship goes all the way to the end of the Bay (such as we do as we go to the cruise terminal) then the pilot normally goes home and quite often we see the same pilot coming on board again for the outbound journey as we had for the inbound journey. He/she has then had more than 8 hours of rest and is well rested do the four hour stretch again back to sea.

From pilot station to dock was exactly four hours as the ms Oosterdam came alongside pier 3 in Tampa just before 06.00, the time which our agent prefers as it works well with the clearing process and the timely start of the unloading of the luggage. And with the unloading of the luggage this voyage really came to an end.  Normally the crew takes a turn over day in their stride but a first arrival in the USA after coming from a non USA port and after a long season away fills the crew with apprehension, as it brings with it a lot of extra work.

Thus we had the turnover, which is a full day’s work itself, and then there was the full crew inspection which takes work time away. The CBP / immigration rules require that crewmembers go through a full inspection every 90 days. Thus during a first call of the season it is a compulsory performance that we cannot get around. Today CBP was really stretched in clearing the guests and that delayed the crew inspection as well. But there was hardly any crew who could go ashore today and it being early or late did not matter that much this time.  No time to go ashore as apart from the crew inspection we also had USCG and USPH on board. Both for their mandatory inspections. However they also saw the amazing amount of things going on and thus they have split up their inspections. Today the USCG inspected the safety features of the ship and next cruise they will come back to observe the all crew lifeboat drill and the Guest lifeboat drill. USPH will also return for a more complete and regular inspection.

The training room on the ms Oosterdam. 40 seats for class room use and to the right , computer terminals for self study and certification.

Then we did not have all the crew available during the day, as almost 10% went on their well-earned vacation.  The new crew coming on board cannot start working until they have gone through their safety indoctrination and by that time it is lunch time. So it is not before 13.00 hrs. that the whole crew is back in full swing. Just in time to start looking after 1800 hungry guests descending on the food outlets and 3600 suitcases being loaded.

This is a recycle bag for glass. All glass bottles and jars are crushed on board, separated by color and then sent ashore for reuse. Money earned goes in the crew fund.

After a crossing, which means at least 14 days since a home port, there is heavy loading regardless of what ever pressure there is on the rest of the ship. Recyclables accumulated over 14 days have to go off and as the guests have eaten the store rooms empty, a full loading needs to take place. Normally a full loading takes place every 14 days but after a crossing you cannot postpone it because there is hardly anything left on board.

Tomorrow we are in Key West and it is a tight run to get there on time. Pedal to the Metal it will need to be. But it will be another sunny day with noon time temperatures of 79oF / 26oF.  with a moderate breeze throughout the day.

The weather gurus are still predicting a Tropical Storm to form in the south of the Caribbean but Otto is not in a hurry.

All eyes are on Otto to be. Will it become an Otto or will what was to be an Otto fall apart before we can call it Otto? It is around but the circle is not closing so not Otto yet.

As per Hurricane Centre for 18 November:

A disorganized area of showers and thunderstorms associated with a broad area of low pressure sitting a couple hundred miles east of Nicaragua will struggle this weekend against shearing winds aloft. This area will become more conducive for tropical development early next week as the environment becomes more favorable. Once this system becomes a depression, it should continue to intensify and there’s a good chance this system will become Tropical Storm Otto next week. During the past 20 years, most storms that formed in the southwest or western Caribbean went on to become hurricanes.