19 April 2011; Puerto Chiapas, Mexico……….well almost.

 The Tehantepec wind behaved exactly according to our planning based on the weather forecast. It started blowing at 21:00 hrs and by midnight it was all over. Peak wind was 55 knots, which was a little bit more than we anticipated (45 – 50 knots) but as we were well prepared it did not matter that much. With wind still weather we arrived at the Puerto Chiapas pilot station listening to a very chirpy pilot on the VHF, promising us a wonderful day. Well it looked indeed very nice until I focused my binoculars on the entrance about a mile away. There I saw the swell exploding in 10 meter high foam eruptions onto the breakwater stones and that is not very nice. The low running swell was exactly under the right angle straight into the port entrance and once in, collided with the eastern arm of the breakwater. We were still in deep water so we did not notice the swell that much but once the swell started to cross the shallow area in front of the port entrance, it built up in height and then crashed in full might against the stones. A sort of mini tsunami but without the deadly consequences.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

It looked a bit like this at the breakwaters. Just subsitute the concrete for heavy stones and you have the right idea. (Photo courtesy; googled from the internet)

Still the consequences were grave enough for us. It started to itch at the back of my head and that is normally reason enough to have 2nd thoughts. A swell has a top and a valley so to speak and if the ship is in that valley then there is much less water under the keel, than when sitting on the top. I was starting to worry about that valley. After estimating the height of the swell between the breakwaters and the depth of the fairway (remembering echo sounder read outs from past sailing ins & out) I came to the conclusion that there would not be much water under the keel, maybe two feet or so at the maximum. Not a comforting thought. Then the pilot advised that there was a swell advice given out by the Mexican authorities of 2 to 3 feet above normal during the day; that clinched it. I probably did not even have those 2 feet under the keel. I was not going in.

This swell forecast was for the whole day and that meant there was no improvement expected and thus I said sorry to the pilot and turned the ship around. He was not a happy camper of course as he would have to face everybody ashore after having gone back inside. Not all landlubbers understand that a pilot is only an advisory person and has no say over the final decision. Still I felt sorry, as we are one of the few cruise ships calling here, so our money is eagerly awaited. Also cancelling a port in perfect weather does not feel right. But a potential bump (or two) is a bump too many and I am paid to avoid them.

So I made an announcement at 07:30 to advise everybody that we would spend the day at sea, while sailing slowly to our next port of call. Puerto Quetzal is further to the south so the swell might be less there and also the port entrance is under a different angle. The western breakwater catches most of the South Westerly swell plus it might have died down by tomorrow. On top of that the fairway is much deeper than Puerto Chiapas. High hopes for a better day.

Thus what does a captain do when he suddenly has a sea day? He goes back to his emails & paper work. The office has to be informed and a lot of other loose ends have to be tied up when suddenly a port falls out of the schedule. Once that was out of the way the hotel manager showed up with his planning for the 28 day cruise we are making in December. Although it is not an official Grand Voyage, we both want to make something special out of it, leaning heavy on our long cruise experiences of the past and thus the planning starts early. Topic was losing and gaining a day, when we go over the date line. On this cruise we do not even come close to the 180o meridian but for the time zones it has a very strange exclusion zone in it. We will be sailing right through it and thus we have to do the date line thing. More about that tomorrow. Tomorrow will be a very early day, as the fly tour to the ruins is taking off at sunrise which is at 05.47 hrs. To make that possible I have to be docked by 05:00 starting my approach at 04:00 hrs. Time for an early night. If the swell is good, it is going to be a perfect day tomorrow.