With calm weather we sailed up the Lynn Canal and joined the convoy. We were scheduled to be the last one to go in and that pleased me as it would mean that I could dock at the Railroad dock aft. As mentioned before we had to change from Haines to Skagway as the Haines dock was going to be reconstructed. I would have thought that they would have waited for the Cruise Ship Season to end, as we are bringing in at least a $100,000 per call for the local community, but they said that they could not and thus we lost the dock. So Skagway got another financial injection from the visit of the Statendam as they had a spare berth available. The pecking order today was, Norwegian Pearl, Norwegian Jewel, Diamond Princess and the Statendam. When I got my berth assignment I had a good look at it and that gave me the idea to park the ship the other way around than normal. Normally all the ships dock nose in but occasionally, when the weather is pleasant on arrival, they swing around for maintenance. Today my idea was not just maintenance but saving time for tonight. The plan is out outrace the bad weather and to be back inside again before the swell starts building up in the ocean. Wind is a much lesser issue than seas as it does not make the ship move. Wind only becomes an issue when going in and out of port as with a cruise ship you quickly drift all over the place.
When you are docked nose in in Skagway you have to swing on departure and that takes 30 to 45 minutes for the whole evolution. At least 30 minutes I could save now and use it tonight for racing down the Lynn Canal. It was interesting on arrival, as the moment we approached the dock, the white clouds came down and I had to do the whole maneuver on the radar until we were about 300 feet off. Then slowly the lights of the ship docked at the Railroad Forward came back into view again. But there was no wind and that was the only thing that mattered.
It remained a wind still day and if there is no wind at all, then the clouds tend to linger between the mountains and that is not good for the flight tours. So we lost some. Luckily the train was not affected and everybody could go up and down the mountain. A good thing as well, because as we are also losing Juneau we really are strapped for options to show the guests the beauty of Alaska. My staff captain was a happy camper today as well; as with being portside alongside, he had the chance to really work on the outside of the ship and two cherry pickers were in full swing all day long.
Skagway from the air. Top circle: Ore Dock. Middle Circle: Broadway dock, Lower Right circle: Railroad dock fwd. Lower Left Circle: Railroad dock aft. (Photo Courtesy, Official Website for Skagway)
The weather is slowly building up to the south but I am confident we will be able to be well back inside by the time that it really starts to blow. Then the next point of concern will be; can we make it into Ketchikan. The predominant wind is from the south East and that blows directly through the port of Ketchikan. If it swings more to the south then we have less of an issue as the mountains will shield us from it. But at the moment it does not look like it, so it will all depend on how strong the local winds will be. That is hard to predict in advance and we have to wait closer to time before we really know that.
I had set my all on board time for 18.00 hrs. here in Skagway, leaving as soon as the last tours were back and at 18.01 we started to pull out. Within 5 minutes we were off the dock and I put the pedal to the metal. Not many ships will have raced out of Skagway that fast.
So the plan is now to sail to Ketchikan as fast as we can. When we get there we will assess the situation and hopefully we will be able to get in. If not we will do some scenic cruising and await better times. We will be together with the Oosterdam and Zuiderdam, who are also amending their schedules due to the storm. In this case we are all in the same boat.
Weather forecast for tomorrow: Winds building up to 50 knots or more and Seas up to 21 feet, especially in the area near the border called Dixon Entrance, but that is a worry for tomorrow.
September 24, 2013 at 8:30 pm
Anybody feeling not safe after all the planning and weighing of possibilities the Captain is doing ? Unbelievable, how much you have to consider, such as docking with the nose out to gain 30 minutes! I’m moving to the edge of my seat to see what occurred in reality.