It turned to be a very choppy and a mostly overcast day. The temperature did not go down to what the locals had predicted but still for Belize standards it was on the cool side. For some onboard that was just pleasant for others not really what they had hoped for. It is amazing to see how far the weather influence from the North Gulf can reach into the Caribbean. The second cold front came over Belize during the day; in the mid afternoon and thus the weather of the morning persisted throughout the rest of the day.
There were in total three ships on the anchorage today and that made for a busy tender port in Belize City. The Carnival Miracle had 2600 peoples onboard and the Norwegian Pearl 2300, not counting crew, so with the Veendam included there were over 6000 guests ashore. All sampling the (overcast) delights of Belize. The Miracle arrived first. That ship remains on Miami time, so if they dock at 0700 local time is, it is already 8 am onboard. Thus they had the pilot 30 minutes ahead of us; with the Pearl following us an hour later. The Miracle was sailing at 1500 local time and therefore it made sense that she came in first. The Pearl left at the same time as we did but as she anchors closer to the channel, and I am not in a particular hurry to leave, she always sails first through the reefs back to open sea.
During the afternoon the winds gusted up to 35 knots, when the second weather front came over Belize. Luckily the holding ground for the anchor is extremely good. The bottom is a thick, almost mud like substance made up out of coral sand and it holds the anchor during whatever wind there is blowing. I kept the stern thruster on for the day and with the bow just into the wind. This created a lee side for the tender operation and our whole call was as safe as could be. Still the tender ride to the shore was a wobbly affair.
Somewhere in my blogs of last season, I mentioned that sailing through the reefs of Belize towards the anchorage is a very winding affair. There is only one deep water route from open sea to get to the anchorage and it takes between one and two hours to sail through. I normally calculate a time span of two hours, so I can have the Veendam go slowly around the corners and thus prevent the ship from listing. It will not do to have the soup go over the tables in the dining room, just because the captain wants to play speed boat.
Thus the ship has to wind it’s way in and out; and in the evening while the guests are having dinner, they can see first the lights of Belize City on the portside then on the starboard side and then on the portside again. The distance, as the crow flies, to open water is no more than about 12 miles thus the lights of Belize remain visible for a long time. It is just the winding channel that causes the extra time needed to get in and out.
The current weather is to remain with us for the coming days and will even influence the call at Santo Tomas. Normally the town is so sheltered by the Rain forest that it has it’s own climate but three days of consistent cold air coming in, even affects the steamy jungle. The weather front will cool things down there a bit during the day, basically down to a pleasant temperature but will cause some drizzle in the morning and then the sun should come out later.
The approach starts at 3 am in the morning for me, so I was off to bed early.
November 22, 2008 at 12:21 pm
🙂 . . . “I had surfed until the sun set” to find this channel through the longest barrier reef on the Northern hemisphere in the computer! Many thanks, Captain. I have my answer to my question.