19 Feb. 2018. Half Moon Cay, Bahamas.

As mentioned we left an hour late, due to late arriving guests and then we had to wait for the clearance. The procedures for this have changed in the last few years. In the good old days, you would receive your clearance paper indicating that you had fulfilled all obligations (read payments) of the port and you were allowed to go. You handed in that certificate in the next port and then you were cleared again there. In some Caribbean ports it still works that way.

But most countries have now gone electronic and the USA and Canada have been spear heading that process for a number of years. Now the passenger landing manifests are sent up to 96 hrs. in advance, to be merged with the CBP computers and they are then scrutinized for naughty people. And it has happened that there was a receiving party at the gangway when the ship arrived, sometimes with hand cuffs, guns, dogs and all. Sometimes for traffic violations or for busting parole; but also for more serious crimes or for not paying large fines.  (They do not send a welcoming party if you have a 25 dollar parking fine outstanding, it has to be worthwhile the man power)

Now we have had for about 10 years the ENOAD, the Electronic Notice of Arrival and Departure. The departure one was the important one yesterday. The system is run by USCG and the CBP. The Coastguard wants to know what the ships are doing along the coast and the CBP wants to know who is on board. They also want to know who is on board on departure.  Until fairly recently we could just sail and then send an updated passenger and crew manifest. Now we have to wait until everybody is on board, then send the manifest and then wait for the confirmation that it has been received and then we are allowed to sail. Normally that takes about 10 minutes but if the receiving computer is down or the email does not down load correctly it can become a long and drawn out affair and you are not allowed to sail until it has all has been sorted out. That can be very bad for the blood pressure of the Captain.  In our case the confirmation did come in within the 10 minutes and thus the Zuiderdam sailed an hour late but not more.

That hour did not have any influence on our arrival time at Half Moon Cay as the ship had sufficient speed up the sleeve to catch up. It was just a bit expensive for the Chief Engineer so to say. By 08.30 we were at the anchorage with what looked like a windy but very nice day. Windy for the ship, the guests are nicely sitting on the beach in the shelter of the vegetation so they do not notice it; but it was a steady wind and no frontal systems in the area. Thus the wind remained blowing from the same direction the whole day and by putting the anchor in the right position, the ship could lay on the wind without much issue.

I took the opportunity to take 3 cadets forward to give a bit of explanation about the anchoring procedures. They normally go forward with a 3^rd officer, who has often just finished his/her cadetship and is still gaining experience his/herself.  I have been around the block a few times, so they hear from me about the pitfalls and the near misses and what to look out for. We have four cadets on board, two gentlemen and two Ladies who are all on their 2^nd contract. Read 2^nd half of their cadet year. As they are all Dutch, they have a dual training at school, so they have to spend time in the engine room and on the bridge. Then when they are finished with their school and have their dual license, they will choose for upstairs or down stairs.  At the moment there are 3 upstairs and one lady down stairs so I could take 3 of them to the bow. Both on arrival and on departure.  Dropping the anchor is easy enough, just operate the winch. The complicated part of the job is to learn to be a bit cynical…………….. what can go wrong with every step………………. If you prepare, nothing will go wrong, if you don’t……………………… murphy loves anchors.

We stayed in Half Moon Cay from 08.30 to 16.00 hrs. and then set sail for Aruba, where we will arrive the day after tomorrow at 1400 hrs. Although we expect a lot of wind again, more than the normal Trade Wind strength; it should not bother us to begin with. We first have to sail through the Windward Passage and past Haiti before we encounter the proper Caribbean Trade Winds.