19 Aug. 2016; At Sea.

With a lot of bag pipe music on the pier, it was really the “massed bands” of Invergordon who sent us off, as it seemed they had asked everybody available to come out for the farewell of the ship. So we had a very nice and very Scottish sail away although the weather was a bit un-Scottish, very sunny. Next is our North Atlantic crossing towards Iceland. To get there we have to sail either through the Pentland Firth between Scotland and the Orkneys or go north of the Orkneys but that is a much longer distance. The Pentland Firth is a fairly narrow passage and the currents can be very strong there. 14 knots has been measured on occasion and 10 knots is not unusual. Thus the ships select the slack tide or the beginning of the Ebb tide when you sail through with the current in the stern. Saves fuel and you do not have to buck the tide.  

Our crossing to Iceland with the Norwegian Sea to starboard and the North Atlantic Ocean to port. The 18 islands of the Faroer remained several hundred miles away from us.

For us this was around midnight and the Koningsdam sailed a bit faster from Invergordon than the average speed needed to get to Iceland to get there at the most perfect moment. Once in the entrance it could go back to the average speed required and now we are happily moving along with a speed of 19 knots. Sailing through an area where normally a lot of depressions move through, pushed along by the Jet Stream and fed by the warm water of the Gulf Stream.  Hence me saying yesterday that I only believed the forecast for the little wind once I saw it with my own eyes.

The Shipping Forecast clearly shows that we are in the good area and somewhere south they are not in a very good area. We are sailing through a section called Bailey. (Courtesy the Shipping Forecast, England)

It did it start out that way; the North Sea East of Scotland was very nice. North of Scotland it was nice as well and when going clear of the coast, it was not bad either. Then the wind and waves started to increase. Not caused by any naughtiness in the area we are sailing in but influenced by mayhem in the south west of England. Here a wind force nine depression is expected to bring rain and wind into Ireland and from there into the English Channel. Although it will stay far away from us, a 976 millibar low pressure system (that is very low…………..) will always influence a large area as it draws the winds towards it from higher pressure areas. Thus we are now having winds which vary from the NNE to the ESE and that makes them following winds. Their velocity is about the same as the ships speed and thus there is nobody complaining as it is quite bearable on the outside decks. With the sustained winds there will be an increase of swell, also going with us, and it will be interesting to see how good a “surfer” the Koningsdam is. We have already found out during last cruise that she is a very good sea ship with getting very bad weather on the bow, now we will be able to find out what winds and swell on the stern do.

Our location at the moment is South West of the Faroer, the island group half way between the Orkneys and Iceland. They are just outside the current weather band and they had very nice weather today. We are somewhat in between, and further down to the south it is just plain miserable.  I am just happy that at home the balcony painting was finished before this wind and rain is starting to come over. The refurbishment of the outside of my apartment building is still going, and while away, I had organized for a painter to touch up a number of balconies where the Scaffolders (see May entries) had been less than gentle with their equipment.

On board, life goes on and we have a very diverse clientele on board not just because of Nationality but also in interest. There is a part ship charter for art on board (we have 80 pallets of paintings on board) for exhibition and to buy; and on deck 1 where we have the meeting rooms, there is a Quilt Seminar in action with ladies (although I think I saw two men as well) who are quilting their way from Amsterdam all the way to Iceland and back again.

It looks like Iceland is going to stay completely clear of the mayhem near the English Channel and so we are expecting partly cloudy skies and temperatures around 17oC, or 62oF and little wind. We are expected to dock around 2 pm. and then stay overnight. We will not be by ourselves, if the cruise schedule of the port is still correct, then we should be in port with the MSC Splendida which has 3300 lower beds, against the Koningsdam 2600. Luckily Reykjavik & Iceland is more than big enough to accommodate around 6000 eager explorers.  Might a bit tight at the blue lagoon though if they all went at the same time.

Question from one our our blog readers: How did we get those very long lines ashore yesteday in Invergordon? : By Boat.

Heavy work boat, big buoy, long ropes and lots of man power to get the Koningsdam safely moored.